Built under ovens - two small ones or one big one?

[Winceywoo]

I'm still at the research stage for my new kitchen, but I already know that given the smaller space I won't have enough wall room for a wall tower of ovens. Would rather devote that tiny bit to extra space for work tops. I have looked at 'double' built under ovens but the capacities seem on the small side. Would just a single oven be enough? I could have a second oven elsewhere in the kitchen (built under) but that may look odd. Any thoughts gratefully received.

I have two single ovens, side by side. They are fantastic. I tend to use one for "smelly" cooking, like roasts etc. and the other one for puddings and baking. I absolutely love them.

If your option is to have 2 single ovens in different places in the kitchen, or a double oven, I'd have a double oven. But then again, I'd rather have a wall tower of ovens or side by side single ovens than extra workspace. You can always use a trolley / table / island for extra workspace.

Yes I agree a tower makes such good sense but we have lots of windows in a small L-shaped space, plus another work top area which I want to use for toaster/microwave. I could put a second oven built under that area for extra capacity but it may look weird. Should I be bothered though as we have no plans to move?

We have one large single oven 74l or similar as prev had a double and both were smaller and never used both at once! We have used the extra space gained to have a pull out drawer under the oven that stores all the baking trays and roasting tins. I love it...so much easier than pulling then out of a lower cupboard !

Thank you for replies so far, much appreciated. Also forget to say that floor space restricted so can't have an island :(

I'd go for one big oven. I have two, but only ever use the second as a microwave, and it is less effective than a dedicated microwave anyway.

I'd go for two small ones with the best energy rating you can find ! I hate having a large oven on just to do a single tray of something. But I guess if I was better at batch cooking... I'm the queen of the microwave (recommend having it in a wall unit rather than taking up counter space).

Watching with interest. We had this debate for our new kitchen and decided on one bit one mainly as the 2 small ones were quite small so not great if we wanted to cook something big. I imagine it might be more economical for cooking small things though as it's a smaller space to heat and give the advantage of being able to grill at the same time as bake.

Reastie, is your oven built under the work top? And does anyone have either a slide away door or a side hinged door? Also, regarding wall mounted microwaves, I had a look at a couple of models in a showroom and the capacity seemed tiny. Looked nice though!

Yes wincey it is under the worktop. It's a neff one but not with the fancy slide away doors sadly, just a regular hinge.

We looked into getting a built in microwave oven in addition to a single oven (these are larger than just microwaves and have a conventional oven in) but they are deeper than regular microwaves so need the deeper undercounter space rather than wall unit space to put it in. We didn't have the spare space but you might??

Thanks Reastie, and sorry didn't reply sooner. Have had many thoughts regarding ovens. Think I will have one single cavity built under oven and on the other side of the kitchen (where I often plate up) I'm thinking of putting a deep warming drawer under the work top which I'm hoping will be a good solution. Tbh, my main reason for wanting two ovens is to use one for keeping things warm anyway. Now I just need recommendations please for decent ovens please?!!

I think this comes down to what kind of cooking you do. I regularly want to cook at two different temperatures so it would be two standard size ones.

We have a single oven side by side with a combination microwave. They are fab.

I do like LittleFish's smelly cooking idea