Range or eye level ovens??

[bumbledeedum]

On going debate in our house, do we stick with our (lovely) range or move to eye level ovens and separate hob?

I'm team eye level as I would prefer not to have to lift in and out of the lower ovens and I feel like there's always a bit of a gap around none integrated appliances where food/spills inevitably end up.

OH is team range because he thinks it gives us better oven capacity and not having to have two tall units would give us better worktop space.

We're all electric/induction either way if that makes any difference.

Can anyone help with our dilemma??

We have side by side ovens like this so neither!

I will have one of each! Just rejigging the kitchen plans, have an oil Rayburn (winter and volume cooking) plus currently an old Stoves cooker with ceramic hob - which is going, separate hob elsewhere plus built in Neff Hide & slide both on electric (no gas here) for summer use. I also have a Panasonic combo microwave which can be used in convection oven mode only.

Currently have a range. We are rebuilding and extending the whole house and I'm going to have 3 eye level ovens. It seems much more practical - my one concern is that oven units have a smaller volume than range cookers (hence the need for 3).

This is one of our concerns/my OH main concern, we currently have a 73l and 82l oven in the range, looking at eye level the biggest is 76l so not a million miles off but the layout is used very different as we have 5 shelves in our 82l so can cook everyone's pizzas at once 😂

Interesting that it mainly seems to be the lifting/bending issue most people prefer. My biggest concern is food/spills in the edges between a range and the units

We went from a range to built in when we did our extension. We have 2 built in ovens in one tower unit, so one is eye level and one is slightly lower. I much prefer it. Partly because we went from a combi range with gas hobs to induction which is so much easier to clean. But also, as you say, there was a small gap on either side of the range, and the times we pulled it out to clean it was manky.

You can get shelves to cook multiple pizzas as once in Aldi at times

I'm an eye-level oven fan. It's better for viewing your food - moving it around. I have a Range in my new house it was there when we moved in and to change it to eye level the whole kitchen needs to be redesigned - I hate it. It's all good looks with poor performance.

I have a little rubber strip that’s designed to sit over the edges to stop spills - DH got it from Amazon

I'm late to the party but here's my two-pennorth worth.
We bought a house in 2017 with a range oven, and had a new kitchen (eye level + induction hob) last year. I hated that range oven with a passion. Ovens too small & I was much more wary lifting a heavy cast-iron casserole out having had to bend down to open the oven than I've ever been with the new one.
A decent supplier/fitter will sort you out if you want your oven a tad lower than the standard units allow for.

Another advantage is that it's much easier to keep an eye on your food.
And I definitely agree that you get the casting vote.
(My husband had no part in the design - mostly by choice ;) - other than giving his opinion when I chose the worktop & the colour of the splashbacks.)

I much prefer an eye level oven. Much more convenient. Especially if you have small kids. We stayed in a lodge that had an oven at "normal" height and it was so stressful worrying about my son playing with it or getting too close when it was hot or I was taking stuff out.

@bumbledeedum Miele have 76l and 5 shelves available . Mine didn’t come with 5 identical racks but you have 5 slots for them and Miele specify you can have 5 shelves. I have a standard grid, solid shelf and roasting double shelf. I love my oven!

I prefer an eye level type oven for practicality but in our old farmhouse it would look odd so we have a range. If I had somewhere modern I would definitely choose two eye level ones.

@TizerorFizz I've pointed this out to DP that we can get more shelves for an eye level. I think he knows he's going to lose this argument but I'm not rubbing it in too much at the moment 😂 to be fair to him, if we get really stuck with counter space (which is a legitimate concern for him) we will stick with the range but I think we can make work having two eye level ovens side by side 🤞

The ranges take up more counted space than a hob. I do have a wide induction hob but I’d never have a range from a cleaning point of view. I also have a built in microwave/oven above the Miele main oven and this could cook 2 pizzas as well. So we are a 7 pizza house!