The latest high-tech oven features - CHOICE

Our latest review of wall ovens (member content) revealed ‘smarter’ models with a host of new, fancy features that turn ovens into extensions of our smartphones and cookbooks, promising to change the way we cook.
But are all these bells and whistles worth dishing out extra dosh for? Or are they gimmicks that can’t really take the heat?

7 Likes

Interesting!! I do like the idea of being to activate my pre-heat on my phone (say from work etc). At the moment I program it in the morning, but the morning is a massive rush and it also means I have to think too far ahead!
We’ve had a Westinghouse pyrolitic oven for a few years now, which we got at a steal at an EOFY sale. We do a lot of roasting, baking chips on a perforated tray (which tends to make a mess of the oven) and are quite fond of yorkshire puddings (which make a HUGE mess in there) and being able to just slide out the racks and turn on pyro clean before we got to bed and then wipe out the ash before it’s next use is LIFE CHANGING.

The other features seem a bit gimmicky…; but we love gimmicks lol

The remote vision and control aspects are to me rather marginal. Generally when the oven is on I am cooking a meal, I am in the kitchen so I don’t need a camera to see what’s going on. It may be nice once in a while to be able to turn on the oven remotely to preheat but how often? You still can’t put food in or take it out remotely.

You can’t leave food in the oven all day safely in preparation for heating/cooking it on the way home. If the rolls are nice and brown they need to come out now not when you get home in 15 minutes. All this says to me you cannot be far away, so why bother with remote control if you can just walk down the hall?

If you are on a budget.
Are any of the recommended products affordable for the average home?

I did find three from as many different brands that were not too far down the list. With RRP around $1,000 mark the in store pricing looks attractive. They scored within a few percent overall of the recommended best.

A ‘Best on a Budget’ Recommendation/s buy might be a good option for the review. There are slightly lesser scoring products that should be just as serviceable and reliable as the $7,499 option in the Recommended products list.

IE which of the cheapies compromise least in what matters most?

2 Likes

Well considering I’m already programming the oven to preheat before I get home from work (which is relatively time consuming with children and early work starts in the morning), and I’m doing it 3 or 4 times a week… probably a worthwhile feature I would be willing to pay extra for.

I can see some benefits of the camera, if I have something in the oven that doesn’t have a set time limit but comes out when it LOOKS brown (like bread), and I’m out the back mowing the lawn or playing with the kid on the weekend, it might be nice to be able to check my phone every 5 minutes instead of coming back inside every 5 minutes to check it. Whether I’d do that often enough to pay for just that feature is debatable (although lately its every weekend), in a package with the remote control and pyro clean, Id probably go for it.

I guess it depends how big your house/yard is (how far away from the oven you tend to get while using it), how busy your life is (do you eat a lot of roasted vegetables, or oven baked or roasted meat (because theyre delicious and very healthy!) need to be on the table by no later than 6 (because kids) but you only finish work at 5), or just how lazy you are :joy:

Thanks for the suggestion @mark_m. I’ll pass this on to our content team for consideration.

The reviews page has the option to sort by filters, such as price in this instance. This means you can always scale whats shown to your own personal budget, rather than a preference set by us. This leaves the choice in your hands when deciding what you’re willing to compromise to save on price.