National Pizza Day: Your Guide to Picking the Ideal Oven

Creating a new kitchen? Or considering replacing your oven? We thought National Pizza Day would be the ideal time to put together a guide to picking the ideal oven for your kitchen.

So while you’re cooking your pizza today (other dishes are available), have a look at our handy guide.

Built-in or freestanding?

One of the first things you should do when you’re picking a new oven is work out whether you want an integrated one that’s built into your kitchen, or a freestanding one that’s part of a cooker.

Built-in cookers give you the chance to separate your oven and hob. This is a brilliant practical solution if there are often multiple people cooking in your kitchen. It also gives you the option to fit your oven higher up if you don’t want it on the floor.

If you get a freestanding cooker, this will mean that your oven(s) and hob are attached. Freestanding cookers are popular because you can often take them with you if you move house. Some cookers need more space than built-in ovens, as they can be wider, and they have to sit on the ground.

How many ovens do you want?

It’s also useful to determine how many ovens you want. If you tend to only cook one dish at a time in your oven then you probably only need one. But if you often find that you want to use the oven and grill at the same time, or want to cook several dishes at different temperatures, then you could need more than one oven.

Remember that if you want more than one oven they don’t have to be attached. Many people choose to have a single oven in one area of their kitchen, and a compact oven with a grill in another part. This is an excellent option in you have limited space or are after a particular kitchen design.

What size oven do you need?

Oven size is also crucial. Most built-in ovens are usually 60cm wide. This is a standard width for kitchen appliances. But oven heights and capacity can vary quite a bit,

Most single built-in ovens are around 60cm high. This makes them fairly flexible – they don’t take up much space so you’ve got more choice on where to put them. Double ovens tend to be 72cm or 90cm tall, and single compact ovens are 45cm tall.

Don’t forget that two ovens can be the same size on the outside but have different capacities. So if you’re comparing two standard single ovens, for example, make sure you work out what their capacity is.

The ovens in freestanding cookers usually vary in size more. Look into the oven sizes for individual cookers and makes to work out your options.

Consider how much food you usually cook in your oven at one time when you’re deciding on oven size. Ideally, you’ll need one that you can fit a whole roast dinner in or enough pizza for the whole household on National Pizza Day! Of course, you can pick something smaller, but just remember that it might make cooking large meals tricky.

Electric or gas?

Of course, not everybody has the choice of what fuel they use for cooking. But if you do, it’s worth choosing carefully.

Electric ovens are popular because they have good heat distribution and more accurate temperature controls than gas ovens. There are also plenty of types of electric oven to choose from.

A gas oven is perfect if you want something cheap to run, as gas costs less to cook with than electricity. But built-in gas ovens can be difficult to find and where you put your oven may be limited by your gas supply.

So once you’vee answered these 4 questions, you’ll have a clearer idea of the ideal oven for your kitchen. This should be one that suits your kitchen design, cooking habits and home. If you want to get in contact with a professional for more advice, fill in our online form. We’ll put you in touch with up to 4 local contractors.

Happy National Pizza Day!