Tell me about your oven!

[guilty100]

I am buying 2 built-in ovens for a new kitchen and I don't have a clue what I am doing. I have only ever had older ovens before, of the kind that get hot and you bung stuff in them. But there seem to be dozens of different programmes and functions that you can have these days! Do I really need these? What is useful and what isn't?

Also, does anyone have a Samsung Dualcook? It is an oven where you can divide it in two and have two different temperature zones. I am skeptical whether this would actually work in practice, though I think it might be quite useful.

I've ordered mine today and managed to get £78 knocked off the price by doing one of those chat things and asking for a discount because we were buying two. I've ordered 2 Samsung's, one of which has the divider. I wasn't really bothered about that but it has pyrolytic cleaning and a telescopic shelf which I wanted the other has steam and catalytic cleaning and a telescopic shelf too. I anted one with pizza setting but doubt I'll use many settings beyond that, fan and grill but the bells and whistles seem to come on all of them that have the other bits I wanted.
Good luck because I've spent months comparing and researching.

Pyrolytic cleaning is the only function you need!

I have and love my Samsung Dualcook steam John Lewis link to spec .

I tend to use just half the oven most of the time so its quick to heat and more energy efficient than heating the whole oven.

The dual temp zone does work but doesn't work quite as well if you have one on very low temp and the other on max. Something I did once trying to fast proove some homemade dough balls whilst heating a pizza stone on max in the other bit. I had temperature creep between the two so the 40 for bread was probably more like 60. With hindsight I didn't need any heat in one section the warmth from the other would have surficed.

Split sections works well towards the end of the roast when i've taken the joint out and have yorkshires and roasts on 220 in one and a crumble or pie on maybe 170 in the other. When the savory comes out that section can be turned off and the pie keep cooking ready for when the main course is finished. Likewise when the joint goes in for a few hours i only use half the cooker during that time.

The one time it doesn't work is when you have something in one section where you don't want to open the door i.e. sponge cake or merringues and something in the other that need attention like a joint that needs basting or something thats done and needs to come out. Its one of those things you learn. Its not two ovens but offers lots of flexibility. If mine packs up I'd replace with the same.

I get bouts of OCD ( mental health goes up and down) and scrubbed the numbers/settings from my cooker in a cleaning frenzy.

For the last three years I've guessed the setting (quite fancy, has different settings for cakes, pizza, fish and so forth) ) and temperature ever since.

Food still cooks, no one's got food poisoning, therefore I have concluded that the setting and temperatures are irrelevant. It all cooks eventually.

@KingJoffreysRestingCuntface I did that on my last oven, not in a cleaning frenzy just over time. I found a google image of the positions and rough sharpy pen marked them back on.

I love our new dualcook! Haven't used the various programmes yet but love that it's split as we rarely cook an oven full and when we do it's always different temps needed. Only regret is not getting telescopic pull outs

if you scrub the markings off, you can sometimes get a plastic overlay with big numbers or embossing. They are intended for people with sight problems.

A Stabilo write-4-all pen works on difficult surfaces including glass and is usually permanent.

This is REALLY helpful, thank you all so much for taking the time to answer.

And yes, pyrolitic cleaning is a must have! Cleaning the oven is one of my absolute least favourite jobs.

I am seriously tempted by the Dual Cook. What difference does a steam setting make? Is it worth the extra £?

KingJoffrey - sorry to hear about your OCD. You sound really upbeat about it, but I know it can be very debilitating