Built in eye level or range cooker

[CookieKegs]

Hi all - am currently extending and have to to start final plans on kitchen - only I am soooooo confused. Currently have a range cooker which I like the look of as a focal point in the kitchen BUT am toying with the idea of now going 2 built in ovens side by side. Never had an eye level oven and really love all the they offer these days. Really really want pyrolytic cleaning and possibly added steam function which just aren't available on many range cookers. I have only really found one which offers what I wanted - a Smeg 90cm oven with pyro but its £2500 and I would still need to buy a further oven as definitely need 2 ovens. Nervous about Smeg as read some bad reports. Going for this and another oven will set us back over £3k. Much more cost effective to go built in which gives all the bells and whistles. Just nervous I wont like them.

My question is to anyone who has had both types of oven in their kitchen can give pros and cons or what you liked and disliked.

Thanks

When we bought the house it had a range cooker which I loved. Or at least I thought I did. It slowly went wrong, and I grew to hate it.

When I had the kitchen revamped I had two ovens put in, a compact one at eye level and a full size one beneath it. I use the compact one all the time (often just the two of us) and only use the big one when I have son back from uni and/or friends over.
Eye level is lovely and so easy, would not go back to crouching again.

Thanks quitmoaning Saw hubby putting a casserole in the bottom oven yesterday and he really had to crouch down - he really wants eyelevel and there is so much choice - I just worry how modern they look and they are in your face. Have ruled out the Neff slide and hide as they are just too modern looking - all that black glass - does the drop down oven door get in the way when checking food etc and do you find it easier removing food from oven?

We moved 2 weeks ago and the new house has a Britannia range cooker - two ovens side by side. In our old house we had a Neff double oven built in at eye level.

Both ovens in the Neff cooker were larger than the corresponding oven in the Britannia range. They heated up faster and, as you say, no having to squat on the floor to take things in and out!

On the whole I prefer the eye level. I would go for Neff or Bosch or AEG over Smeg though. I didn't go for the slide and hide on my Neff - I just got the series 3 multi-function.

My compact oven is a Neff one and has a grill/microwave/plate warming/circutherm etc but not slide and hide. I don't find the door gets in the way but it doesn't stick out much as it is the compact.

The big oven does have slide and hide and I do quite like it but part of it is just saying 'Slide and Hide' in a silly voice which I do every time I use it (luckily no one hears me do this weird thing)

The big oven (also Neff) has just about every feature including pizza cooking, steam cooking etc. I am working through them and enjoy it (it is about 2 months old).

We have a smeg range with pyro. One no oven, one skinny.

Bloomin marvellous and was just under 1k from ao

we were not sure which to go with either .. but the eye level and the capacity of the ovens won the day ..i did not want to crouch down ....we have 2 neff hide and slide on top of each other .. fabulous ovens .. pyrolitic too .

Thanks jigster01 I still don't know what to do and going to need to make a decision as electrician in a couple of weeks - still like the look of a range but love the idea of all the bells and whistles of the new built in ovens - what kind of hob did you go for?

I like the look and size of the range cookers, but can't be bothered with squatting down to get stuff in and out. Much more convenient to have ovens at eye level in my opinion. I had a Skegness's double oven previously but wouldn't recommend, it was noisier than most. Just ordered neff compact and slide n hide for new kitchen.

We got a 5 ring neff induction hob ..and yet I really wanted gas ...DH preferred induction so I asked mumsnet for advice and it was unanimously induction ..tis fabulous and nice and easy to clean !
I'm trying to post a photo but it's going wrong ..but I posted one on the 2nd extension thread that's going atm ...

Thanks jigster Cant find other thread - but having a play on induction next week at a friends house so will see if I can be converted! So thats now 2 decisions to make!!