Built-in cooker versus separate hob & oven

Hi all,

We need a new cooker, as the old electric one is mucky and half broken. We'd like to go dual-fuel, i.e. a gas hob and electric oven. I've already fitted some kitchen units - but not the worktop yet - and I can't decide whether to go with a separate hob and oven or a free-standing 'slot-in' cooker.

Does anyone have any opinions? It seems that buying a dual-fuel slot-in can be cheaper than the two separate bits - for example this one:

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a double oven as well.

Also, anyone have any manufacturer recommendations in the cheap-but-not-so-cheap price range? I've had new cookers before in rented houses where the printed legends rubbed off after three applications of JIF.....

C
Reply to
Charlie
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Personally I would go for all-gas. Electric fan ovens are overrated IMO. Gas has the advantage of:

(a) much more rapid warmup, which is good for just bunging frozen stuff in the oven without all that 15 minutes warm up you get with 2.2kW electric fan ovens.

(b) temperature variation from top to bottom. This is useful when cooking items that require different heat in the same oven. Set to the highest temperature required and put item on top shelf. Lower shelves then are useful for items requiring lower heat. Less of an issue with a double oven, but still more energy efficient to use just one oven when possible.

(c) Gas grills are actually useful for something other than making your house look like you've been burning tyres, which is the affect of cooking any meat on an electric grill. Any fat gets treated as free fuel, rather than a source of smoke and mess.

That's a pure personal preference.

BTW, the link you posted is exactly the same as my mother's cooker (except for the colour, which is white). She's had no problems with it to my knowledge. It's a dream compared to her old horrible Halogen/Ceramic monstrosity.

Christian.

Reply to
Christian McArdle

I'm sure it will be cheaper buying the slot-in job; also presumably you haven't included the ridiculous cost of a base unit in which to fit the oven, and maybe an extra metre of worktop?

Most of this is simply about fashion - the vogue is for built-in appliances (fridge/feezer/dishwasher/oven etc), and you pay a premium for that. Any estate agent will tell you that buyers want built-in stuff, and a slot-in is likely to affect sellability of your house. If that's not an issue for you, and you don't inherently mind a slot-in oven, then I should go for that!

David

Reply to
Lobster

Me too, but they are harder to find cos the default option seems to be gas hob and electric oven for some unknown reason

Get a base unit with separate oven and grill spaces in it. If you don't you will wish you had done so

Free standing are great for collecting gunge down the side

The base and hob pair I bought for my last house was excellent. Trouble is I can't remember the brand so I'm hoping someone will mention it so I can go 'me too' It was reasonably priced, made in England I think and a had good quality enamel hob with the knobs at the front. Why do they generally put the knobs at the side so you risk igniting your arm to get to them?

Anna

~~ Anna Kettle, Suffolk, England |""""| ~ Lime plaster repairs / ^^ \ // Freehand modelling in lime: overmantels, pargeting etc |____|

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01359 230642

Reply to
Anna Kettle

£28 for B&Q units. But when I came to install my Belling build-under oven (£399 with gas hob from Currys - genuinely good value for once) it came with two lengths of angle which could be screwed to the adjacent unit sides thus making the oven housing unnecessary (I had of course fitted it by then!). Personally I think the built-in arrangement is much the better.
Reply to
Tony Bryer

One of my pet peeves! And the ones that have a cluster of knobs (often five) at the centre top.

They must be designed by non-cooks - or by folk who only use tiny pots and pans.

Sheila

Reply to
S Viemeister

My experience is complete opposite. I use gas and electric ovens, and gas takes very much longer to heat up. Just timed my electric oven: 170C in 4 minutes, 190C in 5, 210C in 6, 225C in 7, 230C (max) in 7.5 minutes. Gas oven is in a different house which I can't check now, but it's at least twice as long, and probably 3 times as long to get to max temperature.

A gas oven leaks loads more heat into the room -- perhaps useful in winter, but not in summer.

You get the same in an electric oven which can operate with the fan turned off (but beware not all can -- some have the element outside the oven cavity and require the fan to pass the heat into the oven).

This is worse if the grill element is in the oven cavity and gets splashed with fat when using the oven -- this then burns off when you next use the grill.

Reply to
Andrew Gabriel

I disagree - after sixty odd years of using gas ovens. We bought a dual fuel cooker three years ago and I love it. Mine has a fan which ensures even heating/cooking throughout. No hot spots, no cool parts.

It doesn't take 15 minutes - but I don't bung food anywhere and wouldn't dream of putting frozen food in any oven. It's quite easy to thaw it first.

That's the classic sales pitch for gas ovens. But it's not at all useful if you don't want different temperatures - which is most of the time for many of us. Having to load the oven with three shelves of bread tins and having to keep shifting them around in the gas oven was a real pain. Being able to load once and take them all out at the same time - using the efficient timer if necessary - is a joy. I wish I'd succumbed to an electric oven before ... what a waste of my culinary life :-(

Tonight I cooked pork steaks, sweet potatoes, red cabbage, coriander parsnips all in the same oven - my wonderful electric one. Everything was cooked to perfection.

Oh what a nonsense! Perhaps you should learn to cook. There are different levels of height and heat in my electric grill.

You need more experience.

I agree.

I wouldn't choose an electric hob under any conditions. If I didn't have mains gas I'd use butane or charcoal.

But it's a personal choice.

Mary

Reply to
Mary Fisher

Mine has all controls at the front, I wouldn't use anything else. And I have four different sizes of hobs which has increased my control no end.

I agree.

Mary

Reply to
Mary Fisher

I don't. I want to be able to roll out the cooker to clean behind it. And I want to be able to clean the sides of the cooker.

Mary

Reply to
Mary Fisher

We are dual fuel dual unit (gas hob, electric double oven).

One reason is that the oven is at chest height so it is safe and easy to get stuff in and out, and easier to look through the glass door to see what is going on. I have never liked bending down to an oven under a hob. You can also have two people doing stuff - one at the oven/grill and the other at the hob - without invading each others space.

We are very happy with our Creda double oven (fan in the lower oven) and find it cooks quickly and evenly. You can also put stuff in when the oven is cold, then use the timings for a conventional oven, so no need to wait for it to warm up.

Personal preference, but I like electric fan ovens for their even heating and I like gas hobs for their controlability plus the ability to still use pans when the base isn't absolutely flat :-)

Looks as though the reasons that Christian doesn't like fan ovens are the same reasons we like them :-)

Cheers Dave R

Reply to
David W.E. Roberts

In message , David W.E. Roberts writes

Yep, that is the main reason I prefer separate ovens

Yep, I much prefer that set up. On the whole I'm much more likely to want to cook things at the same temps, rather than different. And if you like to cook using wok, then electric really isn't so good.

Reply to
chris French

But you have to have space in your kitchen ... :-(

I've never felt that a low oven is unsafe though, why should it be? I wouldn't be keen on taking out a very hot casserole at head or chest height. I agree about seeing into the oven but we don't really *need* to do that, surely?

Mary

Reply to
Mary Fisher

In message , Mary Fisher writes

But if you have an inset hob and built-in oven there is no behind or sides to worry about cleaning anyway.

Personally, I prefer either built-in or for a free standing cooker to be far enough away from worktops cupboards so that it is easy to clean around it.

Reply to
chris French

Thanks for all the comments. I think we'll probably go for built-in after all (the comments about buyers liking built-in are pertinent - also we already have the 'stand' and it will make worktop fitting a wee bit easier).

Does anyone have any particular likes/dislikes of particular brands? We're unlikely to be able to afford Neff etc. but won't be going for extra cheap rubbish.

Charlie

Reply to
Charlie

Perhaps I'm a messier cook than you :-)

Can you absolutely guarantee that nothing, ever, will spill down the sides? Or that fluff and other less acceptable stuff will never accumulate behind it?

Ours is the latter. In fact all our appliances (fridge, freezer, dishwasher, washing machine) can be rolled out for cleaning round.

Ahem.

They don't move often ... :-(

When they do I'm appalled at what we find ... but I do keep the sides of the cooker clean.

Mary

Reply to
Mary Fisher

In message , Mary Fisher writes

Errr, a inset hob has no sides to get dirty....

Errr... If it's built in it's just like another cupboard in the kitchen, do you suggest dismatling the cupboards to clean behind them.....

Good reason for not movign them IMO....

Reply to
chris French

One comment I have heard is to avoid them in rented properties where appliances seem to break more often anyway, and you really don't want the extra hassle of trying to fit replacements into the fitted units.

In my family, there's a 5 year old Smeg hob and oven which have given no trouble (they were bought in France as they were cheaper there at the time and parts of my family live in France anyway and come over regularly). There's also a Manor House (Wickes brand?) oven and hob which have been fine for the 5 years we've used them, although previous owners had problems with the oven fan motor burning out a couple of times. All the others around the family that I can think of are free standing (a giant dual fuel Smeg, and an older gas-only Cannon with foldaway eye level grill) and also have given no trouble.

Reply to
Andrew Gabriel

So where do spillages go?

We don't have cupboards. Well, one, which doesn't need to be dismantled, just emptied, vac'd and re-filled. Spouse built it, its back is the tiled wall, it's floor is the, um, floor.

Occasionally things are dropped down the back and need to be retrieved, sometimes plumbing needs attention.

Sh*t happens.

Mary

Reply to
Mary Fisher

The hob will have a lip to catch most of it, but if you really go beserk and overflow the lip, then spillage goes all over the worktop, and ultimately (because it's going to sealed to the wall at the back and sides), all down the front of the units. The hob is sealed to the worktop - think of it as being an extension to the worktop.

But again, if the appliance is fully-fitted / built-in, there simply

*isn't* a back for anything to fall down!

David

Reply to
Lobster

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