Food & Drink

We have a stainless steel double oven in our kitchen and it’s been a fantastic investment, it’s beautiful and we love it.

We have a big family -  two adults, 4 children and  grandma who lives in the adjoining annexe, so it gets a lot of use.

We’ve also got a big kitchen because as a family we spend the majority of time in there, it really is the heart of the home and the oven with its double width hob is the centerpiece.

If you’re going to be spending a lot of time either looking at it or using it then it has to look good. You’re going to need to love the idea of looking at it because for most of us it’s a major purchase, and not something we’d be looking to change every year.

So it suits us and our kitchen but if you think you need a big kitchen to warrant the purchase of a double oven, you don’t.

They are quite big, but they don’t dominate the room – even a small kitchen would look good with one of these installed.

So like a said, we have a big family and we do a bit of social entertaining so we found it an easy decison to buy one.

But even if we didn’t have a big family we would still have gone for one because we like to cook interesting dishes that the TV Chefs create. Life is short – you have to try these things!

So if you enjoy cooking, if food is your passion you may feel inclined to buy one.

Most of the time ours is used for the functional day to day cooking of family meals, but if you did fancy yourself as an amateur baker or chef, you definitely need one of these.

I say need because I mean need. If you’re at all serious about cooking you really should consider getting one. The additional capacity allows you fo put together some complex and interesting dishes where quite often the different components require different cooking methods.

I might also add that as an affordable alternative to a professional caterers oven and a quality twin oven is good enough to operate a small home baking business – which quite a few people seem to be doing these days.

So our double oven is pretty much essential, and whilst we could get by with just the one it would make life difficult. The time we have available to actually stand at the stove on most days is minimal so it’s not practical to bake one thing, then keep it warm while the next thing is cooking.

One feature that we hadn’t considered when we bought it was very apparent on Christmas day last year. We went to put one of the ovens on to cook the turkey and discovered it wasn’t working. The electric element burnt out, and of course, had this been our only oven we’d have been eating sandwiches for Christmas dinner.

Fortunately our appliance has large oven capacity and we were able to get by with just the one.

One mistake we made when buying ours was getting smoked glass doors. It looks fantastic but in order to see how the food is cooking we have to open the doors, which of course lets all the heat out and spoils some of the more delicate dishes. When we come to buying our next oven we’ll be going for clear glass doors!

As far as great features are concerned, one of the best has to be self cleaning. You can do without it, but having a self cleaning oven makes a world of difference. Don’t forget, you have TWO to clean! This was one of our deciding factors when we bought ours. We didn’t go for self cleaning so we got the smoked glass doors and we reasoned we didn’t want to be looking at a dirty oven – and let’s be honest here… when you have a young family you don’t have time to clean it every day – we should have gone for self cleaning and clear glass!

Consider also opting for doors that open up and slide back into the oven housing – it’s great for enclosed kitchens and helps to prevent accidental burns when the oven doors swing back on you.

Go for a combination of fan oven and conventional oven. This is the best of both worlds and gives you more options when it comes to baking specialist dishes, cakes, pastries and breads.

Do you want a wall mounted oven, or do you need a free standing double width oven and hob?

A double height wall mounted oven is absolutely ideal if you’re short of floor space, but if that’s not an option for you, you can get free standing single width ovens with a standard width hob. The top oven functions as an oven and as a grill.

Our oven is double width. Like I said we have room for it and it looks good. The large hob gives us more flexibility with the additional rings and warming plate. Plus we have a separate grill (broiler) so we always have access to both ovens when the grill is in use.

In addition there’s also a compartment to store baking trays and pans which keeps them handy for use and keeps your kitchen units and cupboards free of cumbersome clutter.

Ours is electric with a glass hob and halogen elements. Gas or electric? It’s not that important when you’re buying a good appliance – quality goods provide a quality cooking experience – but it really is down to your own preference.

Technology has moved on a bit since we bought ours 8 years ago and now many ovens come with digital control to get precise temperature settings. this wasn’t important to us (and still isn’t) but it might be important to you.

The best thing about a double oven? You’re going to think it’s trivial… pizza night! There’s so much room and so many shelves you can cook all the pizzas at the same time!

I told you! Life is short and small details like this matter a lot and add to the joy of life.

Our decison to invest in one of these was one of the best decisions we ever made for our home.

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