Erm nearly 40 and don't understand whether I can just get a new oven or the whole shabang!

[feedmewinenow]

The oven has died. Looks like it may be the element as only half appears to be working but as it's ancient (and desperately needs cleaning!) the time has come to get a new one...but this is where I show myself up!

Do I just need to replace the electric oven? Or do we have to replace the gas hob as well? I'm presuming these are separate but have no idea!

Secondly, we have the tiniest narrow kitchen ever and it was an inherited bodge job. The gap between the other worktop appears to be the same as the oven depth so I'm not even sure how they got it in! Or how we'll get it out!

And finally, if you're still awake, it appears to be plugged in to a standard plug socket. Everything I've read says that they need to be hard wired in...erm this means nothing to me so can anyone explain in very simple terms obviously we'll be paying for installation but does it limit our choice of oven!

Thanks if anyone can help and I'm mortified by my lack of oven related knowledge!

Show us a picture!
It's probably a standalone electric cooker so you replace the whole thing.

It will have to be wired in. Are you sure there's just a plug?

It'll be a single oven if it plugs into a standard socket. If the gas hob is part of the oven you will need a gas safe registered person to disconnect the old one from the gas supply and connect the new one.

Ooh it looks grubby! hopefully the picture should work.

It appears to just be plugged in to the cupboard next door. I was convinced there was the usual red switch but I appear to have imagined that!

The oven doesn't appear to be attached to anything as it just pulls forward. But it's a little warm now so we can't fully try to get it out yet.

Please excuse my absolute ignorance but if the oven just pulls out and I do believe it's just a cheap standalone single oven. Why would the gas hob need replacing too? Aren't they separate entities?! I have no clue.

Right you've got a gas hob with a single electric standalone single oven under it. You can replace the oven bit, it pulls out and there may be a cable that's hard wired (No plug) into the wall.

Gas hob doesn't need replacing.: )

The plug may be the ignition for the gas hob. Try turning it off to see if it still works.

Brilliant. Thank you!

Right, so I'm presuming that it'll just be a case of ordering a normal single oven with the right measurements and if I pay the installation fee it'll just be a normal job? Will it be an issue that we don't have the usual red oven switch off point that every single other kitchen has? (And I was convinced we had until I had to look for it!)

The hob will stay - that looks like a single built in oven, a standalone would be standing on the floor and it looks like that's slide into a unit. It's probably standard sized but recently replaced ours and can't remember seeing any with a plug not a hardwire

Yes. I've never bought one but we had one in our old house. The red switch must be around somewhere! You need to make sure it's not a built in type single oven.

I think they are called built under ovens.

So after searching high and low, there is no red switch. However it's definitely a normal plug as we've discovered two plugs. One is for the gas hob ignition and sadly, the other one is the oven. From looking at all new ovens they do need to be hardwired so would this mean we'd need some electrical work doing or would the installation person be able to sort that?

It's not a free standing oven as it slides into the unit below the hob

Ah OK. Yes you might want the fitting changed. Should be straightforward.
And if you are happy it's built in you will probably get more choice.

The installation man will on connect the hard wires to the new oven (it's very expensive for what they do) so you will need an electrician to change the plug for a red switch thingy....they might be able to wire the oven in at the same time.
If you measure the gap you may find a double built under oven will fit - we just switched ours so I can have two things st different temperature

The installation people might not hardwire even if you have the fitting's. Just remembered that was excluded for our dishwasher. Check the t&c on it.

You will need to get an electrician in to install the new one as they'll need to make changes to the wiring.

feedmewinenow - are you me?! I have exactly the same problem (but a different looking oven).
I'm looking at 'built in single ovens' and can't work out how they are wired, though I can see how you'd remove the existing one. Pretty sure my current one is plugged into a socket - it is 20 years old, though, so don't know the current rules!
Hopefully someone who knows about these things will post

@Craftypuss I am so glad it's not just me! I promise I'm not as dense as I'm coming across!

Luckily there appears to be plenty of folk who know their stuff!

So, I'm down to the fact that I need a single built in oven. All new ovens need to be hard wired it would appear so I'm thinking I'll need an electrician to fit a red switch thing and then see if they can hardwire it in! It's appears to be £90 for a bog standard installation so I reckon an electrician and a new socket won't be a huge amount more (said praying with fingers crossed!!!) thanks all and thank you more for not taking the proverbial

Ooh so in my googling frenzy it would appear you can still purchase an oven with a normal 13amp plug as long as it's below 3kw...this may be the solution!

I was just coming on to tell you what you've already discovered. I was disappointed when I discovered this as I wanted a 'better' oven but it was ok buying a Smeg, it's not gone wrong in 3 years so far.

Ooohh, thanks feedmewinenow, will start hunting for ovens below 3kw!!!

And yes, it's a relief to find I'm not alone in this - and I'm 50! Never had a cooker die on me before!
Good luck with your search. - once the oven is sorted!!

If you have a look on Currys website you can filter out ones that need to be hardwired and there are still some that either come with a plug or a plug can be attached.