Cooking performance
There’s very little difference between electric ovens when it comes to straight cooking performance. Fiona put 11 ovens through a range of tests, including cooking chicken, pizza, toast, scones and meringues. On the basis of cooking performance all the ovens are worth considering but none from this round of testing make it into our What to Buy list – they’re not as easy to use as our top-rating models. The three What to Buy models, all from our previous test, are exceptional, setting the benchmark for electric ovens.
A kitchen essential, and a purchase you’ll want to get right the first time, your new oven should not only cook all your dishes to perfection, but also be easy to use and clean. It should be reliable and able to last through endless hours of food preparation.
For more information on Ovens and cooktops, see Kitchen.
CHOICE usually tests multi-function ovens priced over $1000. However, sales data tells us that cheaper ovens are high-sellers, so we’ve included some in this test. Although these ovens lack some of the functions that multi-function ovens offer, such as fan assist and top and bottom element we found they perform well.
In this report we compare multi-function ovens, with and without self-cleaning features such as catalytic liners and pyrolytic functions. Most are standard 60 cm wide single ovens, with three extra wide options.
Brands and models tested
60cm wide ovens
- Bosch HBG73S550A
- Electrolux EOEM61CS
- Euro Appliances EBC46S
- Euromaid 7 Multifunction fan forced BS8
- Fisher & Paykel OB 60S9DECPX1
- Miele H 4412BP CleanSteel
- Omega OO651XR
- Samsung BF1N4T015
- Smeg SAP 399X-8
- Westinghouse POR668S
- Whirlpool AKPM759/IX
Previously tested models
60cm wide ovens
- AEG-Electrolux B5741-5-M
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Belling BI60MFS
- Bellissimo TB60FSS-3
- Baumatic BO6FS
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Baumatic BO67MS
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Blanco OE606X
- Blanco BOSE6APX
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Bosch HBA63B450A
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Bosch HBA73B550A
- Bosch HBA63S451A
- Chef EOC627W (The results also apply to the Chef EOC627S. It's technically similar, the only difference is it has a stainless steel exterior)
- Chef EOC647S
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Delonghi DE60PYROS
- Delonghi DE60MS
- Electrolux EPEE63CS
- Euromaid 8 Multifunction Oven MS8
- Fisher & Paykel OB 60SCEX3
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Fisher & Paykel OB60SCMX3
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Fisher &Paykel OB60S9DEP
- Miele H 4810 B CleanSteel
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Miele H 5240 B
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Miele H 5241 BP
- Miele H4402B
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Neff B46W74NOGB
- Omega OO 612XN
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Omega OO651XN
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Siemens HB43AU550A
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Smeg SAP109M-8
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Smeg SA 304X8
- Smeg SAP 306X-9
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St George 8500200PS
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Westinghouse PORS663
- Westinghouse POR667S
- Westinghouse POR883S
90cm wide ovens
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Blanco BOSE902X
- Delonghi DE91MPS
- Omega OO971XN
See our full range of ovens and cooktops.
How we test
To compare the ovens' performance our home economist Fiona Mair, cooks a range of delicious meals, including cooking chicken, pizza, toast, scones and meringues. She tests the ability of the ovens to perform over a range of temperatures, times and functions. As a result of what you told us in our Product Use Survey, we’ve removed two tests from the program – grilling sausages and baking custard tarts. The survey, which had more than 2500 asked CHOICE members about how you typically use your oven, and what factors are important to you.
In the past, we’ve split the performance score into a separate grill and oven score, however in this test we’ve combined them into one overall performance score (equally weighted between cooking scones, meringues, roast chicken and pizza and grilling toast). The scores of the previously tested ovens have been adjusted accordingly.
Oven performance
- Multi-shelf cooking - scones are baked over two shelves to test how evenly the ovens perform at a high temperature over a short time.
- Low temperature - Meringues are baked to assess cooking ability at a low temperature for a long period.
- Roasting – Fiona roasts a whole chicken to assess baking a non-uniform food at moderate to high temperature over a long period, whilst retaining moisture and crisping the skin.
- Base cooking - she also cooks a freshly prepared pizza at a very high temperature for a short period to assess the ability to crisp and brown the base and evenly cook the toppings.
Grill performance
- Fiona toasts bread to assess the speed, evenness and heating area of each grill in a short time.
Ease of use
Ease of use is based on using of the controls, clarity of the labels, using and cleaning the grill and the oven.
Reliability
To see how reliable the top performing ovens are from this test as well as reliability information in 21 other appliance categories, check out the latest results to our appliance reliability survey.