First in the firing line we have the CDA Built in Steam Oven – SV410SS. The Stainless Steel built in steam oven comes equipped with interior light, touch controls, electronic timer with LCD Display, 2 preset temperatures, removable 1 litre reservoir, door safety lock, 23 litre capacity and 1800W power.

CDA Steam Oven

Second in line is the Smeg 45cm High Compact Steam Oven – SC45V2. This Smeg Steam Oven comes fully equipped with 6 functions including, manual steam cooking, meat cooking, fish cooking, vegetable cooking, re-heating and sterilising function, defrost, digital programmer, electronic timer with end of cooking alarm, removable door for ease of cleaning, cooling fan and 24 hour delay timer.

Smeg Steam Oven

In at a comfortable position 3 is the Neff Series 3 compact built in Steam Oven – C47D22N0GB. The features of the Neff steam oven are child safety lock, easy clock, automatic on/off programmer, interior light, 4 shelf positions, de-scaling programme, water tank empty indicator, temperature display, temperature proposal and safety switch off device.

Neff Steam Oven

In at a respectable 4^th place is the Siemens iQ500 built in Steam Oven – HB24D652B. Fully featured with day/night glass and metal fascia, control dials, blue indicator lights, push buttons, electronic control and clock, timer, interior light, water tank empty indicator, safety lock and automatic safety switch off device.

Siemens Steam Oven

Bringing in the rear at position number 5 is the Baumatic Premium Compact Steam Oven – BGS460SS. Featuring steam cooking as well as a handy grill, interior light, full LED programmer, touch controls, stainless steel cavity, triple glazed removable door and full inner glass door.

Baumatic Steam Oven

5. Coming in at number 5 is this bargain hunter’s favourite, the Bosch Freestanding 800W 17 litre microwave. It’s the most affordable oven on our list but it still performs brilliantly every time. - HMT75M461B

Microwave Oven

4. Next on our list is this Bosch 800W Microwave with Grill. Still brilliantly affordable, it not only offers a microwave function but also comes with an integrated grill! – HMT75G451B

Microwave Oven

3. Bronze medal position goes to a microwave oven that can’t quite stand up on its own! We’re talking about the Neff Built-in 800W Microwave, which is so stylish it’ll fit perfectly into any kitchen. – H53W50S0GB

Microwave Oven

2. Just missing out on top spot is another Neff; the Neff Combination built-in microwave oven and grill. Featuring hot air grilling and 41 automatic cooking programmes, it would be the ultimate in microwave cooking… – C57M70N0GB

Microwave Oven

1. …if not for the De Dietrich Microwave Combination Oven! Featuring both microwave and fan oven capabilities, alongside a powerful grill and an endless list of functions, this is without doubt the best microwave oven on the market. – DME799X

Microwave Oven

5. Our entry level offering is this Bosch Electric Built In Single Oven, which is ideal for people who want a great value cooking solution – it’s effective and it won’t break the bank. – HBN331E0B

Bosch Oven

4. Taking a step up from our first entry is this Bosch Classixx Electric Built in Single Oven, which, as the name suggests, comes in Bosch’s classixx styling and represents a more contemporary option. – HBA13B250B

Bosch Oven

3. Next on our list is another Bosch Exxcel Electric Built in Single Oven, but this one offers even more features than our last. With 8 cooking functions, you’ll have more control than ever before. – HBA53B550B

Bosch Oven

2. Our second best Bosch comes with two ovens for the price of one. It’s the Bosch Classixx Electric Built in Double Oven, and as the name suggests, it offers you twice the cooking of a single oven. – HBM13B251B

Bosch Oven

1. Our best Bosch offering is this Bosch Exxcel Electric Built in Double Oven. Comprising two top of the range oven compartments, it offers you complete freedom over your cooking. – HBM53B550B

Bosch Oven

Oven Accessories

For those of you who value your Italian cuisine there’s the Baumatic Pizza Stone. Don’t try chomping into this mineral delight because you’ll smash your teeth to bits; it’s designed to give your home-made pizzas that stone-baked Mediterranean authenticity straight out of the oven. Gone are the days when your pizza falls to bits on a baking tray, or dribbles melting cheese all over the bottom of your oven; now you can enjoy your favourite dish like it should be enjoyed. Alongside the pizza stone, there’s the Smeg Pizza Shovel. Just name makes it sound heavy duty; it’s perfect for transferring your mozzarella marvel from the pizza stone to the plate with minimal mess.

Oven Accessories

For those not into pizza though, the humble baking tray will suffice. But why settle for second best, when you could be enjoying non-stick nirvana with the Neff Non-stick enamelled baking tray. You won’t have to worry about your favourite dishes cementing themselves to the tray in the oven, because the Neff non-stick enamelled baking tray is specially designed to make sure your food slides straight off without any hassle. You can even combine it with the Neff Small Grill Pan Set, which will bring BBQ style cooking from the outdoors inside, to the comfort of your kitchen. Whatever you need, there’ll be some oven accessories to suit you.

On top of performance, Hotpoint Ovens look stunning too; their stylish curves and simplistic designs belie the great value price tag. Hotpoint has been a staple appliance in British homes for decades, so you can be confident that when you lay your hands on a Hotpoint oven you’re going to be getting the reliability that comes from years of experience. As per usual, we have a favourite Hotpoint oven; one that stands out from the crowd and combines all the best features of Hotpoint. The oven in question is the Hotpoint 60cm Electric Built In Single Oven; one of Hotpoint’s cheapest and most stylish offerings.

In its classy black chassis, this Hotpoint Oven will look great in any kitchen, modern or traditional; you won’t have to worry about where to place it, it’ll look good anywhere. It’s got a large oven capacity too, so you can cater for all your prospective dinner guests with consummate ease. There’s no need to worry about the environment either – this Hotpoint oven comes with a B class energy rating, saving you both money and power in comparison with similarly priced units from other manufacturers. If you’re looking for quality cooking on a budget then a Hotpoint Oven is for you.

Neff ovens place a particular emphasis on performance. Neff have been responsible for a number of different breakthroughs in technology that have helped to revolutionise modern cooking – it could even be argued that Neff invented the whole concept of the modern fitted kitchen, so you know that when you buy a Neff oven you’re putting your food in good hands. If you’re an aspiring chef then a Neff oven is a must; Neff employ dedicated chefs to explore new ways of cooking and to help produce better results.

Neff Oven

Neff’s flagship product is their single oven, which as the name suggests is a Neff oven with one oven compartment. The series 1 Neff oven is a particularly popular model, offering Neff’s trademark quality at an affordable price. It’s got a fancy pop-out oval control knob that makes function and temperature selection quick and easy, and the inside of the oven itself is covered in something called Titan Enamel, which means you can wipe it clean with no hassle! Like all Neff ovens though, the 1 series won’t just do wonders for your food; it’ll do wonders for your entire kitchen! With its brushed metal fascia it has a sophisticated and classy appearance that will suit any modern kitchen.

Introduce some real quality into your kitchen with a Neff Oven.

The first fuel on our radar is electricity. Electric built-in ovens are the most popular ones out there, but if you don’t mind jumping on the bandwagon, they’re a good choice. Electric built-in ovens use clean energy, and can be very accurately set using the built-in technology, so you can take advantage of all the nifty pre-set programs installed by the manufacturer. Although nobody ever actually does that, do they? That’d require reading the manual.

built-in oven

Conventional electric ovens, and by conventional we mean old, have their hot bits either at the top and bottom or on the sides. They’re hotter at the top too, because as GCSE science taught us, heat rises! Those ovens though, are less effective than their more impressive cousin; the fan oven. These culinary behemoths have a heating element around the fan, so they can cook your Michelin starred masterpieces faster and at a lower temperature than their conventional relative.

If you’ve got a phobia of electricity (hey, it could happen) then don’t fret, just get yourself a built-in gas oven! Surprisingly, these built-in ovens are run on natural gas, and work in a similar way to the conventional electric oven. Had problems with dry-as-a-bone roasts? Then a gas oven could be the answer you’ve been searching for; the burning gas creates a moist atmosphere, which stops your prospective banquet from going dry while it cooks. You can even get your hands on fan-assisted gas ovens!

So there you have it; if you’re looking for a built-in oven then there’s choice out there for you.

The technology itself, based on high-frequency electric fields, was first mooted back in the early 1930s, however in those ancient times its use in the culinary domain had never been considered. In fact, the early microwave oven was concerned more with something called dielectric materials. No, I’ve no clue what they are either, but I’m pretty confident they’re not edible.

The actual heating effect of the microwave oven was discovered completely by accident, when an American engineer called Percy Spencer was building magnetrons for use in radar systems. As he was hard at work with his microwaves, he noticed that the peanut chocolate bar in his pocket had started to melt. Curiouser and curiouser, he thought to himself. Probably. To double-check that he wasn’t going absolutely nuts (get it?) he crafted a metal box to focus the microwaves, and had another pop at it. Surprisingly enough, it worked!

By 1945, Raytheon, with whom Spencer was associated, filed a US patent for the microwave cooking process, and shortly afterwards the very first microwave oven was installed in a Boston restaurant. Hardly the most glamorous of debuts for the future of speedy cooking, but it clearly didn’t do the microwave oven any harm as it was soon to spark a culinary revolution.

Without warning, the microwave oven market exploded. Not literally, as that would have been catastrophic. By the 1960s there were a large number of different companies manufacturing microwave ovens, and technology had improved to such an extent that prices were dropping through the floor in comparison to the early models. That trend has continued, and current estimates suggest that over 90% of households in America own a microwave oven. Some lucky people even own more than one.

So there you have it, the history of  microwave ovens! Hopefully that hasn’t fried your brain.

It’s inevitable that as technology progresses, we’re going to move away from the traditional gas and electric ovens towards a new means of cooking. But what is that going to be? Well, Electrolux have thrown their hat onto the hob, with their concept design for an oven that cooks food using lasers. That’s right, lasers. As you can see from the picture (Fig. 1) the actual design looks nothing like an oven; it’s open for a start, with no door. The chef directs the three built in lasers onto the central grill, on which sits the food they want to cook. It might sound like terrifying, but there’s no chance of you lasering off your arms; the lasers are completely harmless!

Ovens

The Electrolux laser oven is quite a long way off yet (it’s only in the concept stage), but there are some new designs a little closer on the horizon, most notably the Intelligent Oven. It won’t be winning university challenge any time soon, but it’s a heck of a lot smarter than your current oven that’s for sure! These ovens can be controlled remotely, either using your computer or your mobile, so you can start making your tea before you even leave work. How will you get it out of the fridge and actually into the oven though? Well, you won’t have to. The intelligent oven can turn from a fridge into an oven in an instant. Oh and they’ve thrown a big LCD touch screen in there for good measure.

Aside from the lasers, there’s nothing much lined up except refinements to the current electric and gas ovens that we’re accustomed to. You can be sure though, that as soon as we hear something new, you’ll be the first to know!

The concept of the oven has been around for tens and maybe even hundreds of thousands of years, basically since those very first cavemen decided they liked their steak well done, as opposed to raw. The first ovens went hand in hand with the newly discovered and rather nifty control of fire, and shortly afterwards simple masonry constructions (holes, to you and me) started being used to hold the wood and the flames – the very first ovens.

Oven

Obviously different cultures had different oven designs, but their rudimentary nature means that few survive to this day. Disappointing, eh? Jumping forward in time a few thousand years though, to around 3200BC we begin to see evidence of the oven becoming more commonplace; the clever people of the Indus Valley had ovens in every single one of their mud brick houses. Obviously these weren’t fancy electric ovens; we’re not quite up to that stage yet, bear with me.

The Ancient Greeks took ovens to the next level through their love of bread (they invented over 70 different types apparently) and many different styles of oven came into use, each with its own special purpose or function. Jumping forward in time even further in our oven-shaped time machine, we reach the late middle-ages, around which time cast-iron ovens began to be produced en masse. Slightly closer to the oven we now call our own, but not quite there.

It wasn’t until 1826 that the gas oven reared its blue-flamed little head; patented by British inventor James Sharp, it became the first successful gas oven to appear on the market. By the end of the First World War gas ovens could be found in millions of homes across the globe! They were soon to be challenged though, by the increasing popularity of the electric oven. These sparky little beauties had been around for a while, but it wasn’t until the 1930s that they began compete on the same scale as gas. It was a heated battle. Quite literally.

During their tussle for domination, a futuristic (at the time, not really anymore) competitor crept up the inside; the Microwave Oven. This was discovered by accident, when a peckish scientist noticed that during some radar tests his chocolate bar had melted. After a bit more research, the Microwave oven was born. Fun Fact: It’s now estimated that over 90% of households in the US have a microwave. The fun’s over for now, we’re up to the present, but next time we’re going to look at what the future has in store for the humble oven.