Neff oven

[OAPswanseA]

Anyone having problems with top oven. Recently purchased new double oven from Neff. When I tried to use top oven to bake a sponge the outer grill comes on and burns the cake!!! The grill keeps coming on intermittently throughout. Neff engineer came out and said it was normal for grill go come on to keep the temperature. He told me NOT to use the top oven for baking (which the manual clearly says I can). Just does not make sense.

That can't be right. It's not an oven if it's using the grill element when used as an 'oven', surely? It's not only baking where this would be a problem. Having said that, I've always found top ovens to be totally crap and replaced my last double oven with two singles because it was so awful.

We've had a Neff double oven for years and never had this problem. I'd get in touch with the retailer you bought it from if I were you.

Thank you for feedback. We have been in touch with retailer and waiting for a reply (2 weeks since). We have asked them to take this one away as it is not fit for purpose. As you rightly say, it is not a double oven but an oven and a grill. Also I think the bottom oven is dangerous in that as soon as you open the door you get a blast of really hot air. I will never buy a Neff oven again.

Yes, I telephoned Neff service department ASAP and they told me the grill coming on during baking was normal. Still not satisfied I went to Currys (we bought it online from Currys) and complained. They arranged for Neff engineer to call. The engineer could see that part if the grill was coming on during the baking mode but said that it was normal and suggested only using the main oven to bake in the future. I am banging my head against a brick wall. We went back to Currys as we were not satisfied. They contacted Neff again who said that they had already sent out an engineer and would not send out another one. At the moment we are now in dispute with Currys as the retailer and are requesting a refund and to take this oven away. I posted this thread to find out if anyone else had experienced this problem because there is no way in my view that this top oven is "normal". It just doesn't make sense. Thanks to all who have replied to my post.

Sorry, yes, we do have a warranty

I have an older Neff double oven, now discontinued. The top oven uses heat from top and bottom elements. It's only recommended for baking items on the lowest shelf position, because using the higher shelf position can lead to things getting burnt on top.

My user manual includes detailed recommendations on shelf heights and cooking times and temperatures for specific items in each oven. Does your oven come with similarly detailed instructions? If so, are you following them?

Can you re-jig your kitchen unit to make room for two ovens?

I think most brands are wrongly described as a ‘double oven’ when the top bit isn’t really a proper oven. That’s why I chose to buy two full sized ovens and fit one on top of the other so that the top one is the perfect height with the slide and hide door feature. It makes it easy to move a heavy cast iron dish from the oven across to the kitchen island.

I rarely use the bottom oven unless I’m doing lots of batch cooking/baking or cooking lots of mains, but it’s very hand to have it.

Hi, and thank you. No instructions in manual for where to place items, but I did use lower shelf to bake sponge which got burnt. Unfortunately cannot rejig kitchen for two single ovens which sounds a really good alternative. We have come to conclusion if no satisfactory outcome from retailer it will be small claims court.

It'll probably hang on what the manual says you can do re baking.
Personally I wanted a cooker with a large oven with a grill in it if I needed one, not a double oven. You can get them in other parts of the world, but the UK market is stiff with crappy double-oven cookers, where the bigger one isn't big enough for serious baking, & the small one with the grill is too small to be much use for anything.

Hi, the manual says you can bake small cakes and scones. The bottom line is, the grill should not come on in the middle of the baking cycle every 6 or 7 minutes. It just doesn't make sense. My previous double oven did not do that and none of my friends' grill comes on when the oven is set to bake. When I posted the thread in the beginning, I wanted to know if anyone else had a top oven that did the same as mine I.e. does the grill come on when set to bake. Whether it was a Neff oven or another make.

The top oven is a conventional oven so the top and bottom elements will come on and off throughout cooking. The top cavity is very small are you cooking on the right temp? I would suggest you call Neff customer care and discuss it with one of their people who use and demonstrate these ovens every day.

The outer part of the top element is not the grill. It is the top oven element. It only becomes the grill when the outer and inner parts of the element are on at the same time. Confusing I know.

I think the bottom oven is dangerous in that as soon as you open the door you get a blast of really hot air.

Er... what do you expect to happen when you open the door to a hot oven?

Thank you user 1498572889. I keep calling it the grill when I should be saying top element. Do you happen to have a Neff double oven? If so does your top element come on intermittently during baking and burn the food? It even burns the oil when baking roast potatoes. In any event does the top oven element come on in whatever make oven you have?

Are you sure that you are using the oven functions and not enabling the top element/grill by mistake? Here's an explanation of various oven symbols for Neff. I have an AEG and there's a knob to select a function (various symbols) and another knob to set the temperature. It's possible to have a function with both fan and grill (goodness knows why).

Also you may be cooking at too high a temperature hence the burning. Or maybe there's a fault with the oven thermostat.

Fan ovens do give a blast of hot air when you open the door. It's perfectly normal.