We’ve reviewed dozens of self cleaning ovens and listed our 10 best options
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One of the most dreaded tasks in a home has to be cleaning the oven; it takes time, patience and usually some pretty nasty cleaning products, alternatively you can hire a professional company to clean your oven.
As you start your research for your self-cleaning oven you will soon be faced with a list of options from pyrolytic technology, catalytic cleaning to other self-cleaning mechanisms.
When writing this self-cleaning oven review we set out to research 10 best self-cleaning ovens that are available for you to buy now, it soon became clear that self-cleaning ovens offer a rather complex technological solution to cleaning your oven.
To help, at the bottom of this review we have compared pyrolytic Vs catalytic cleaning and explain how they differ and work.
Bosch is a celebrated brand throughout a number of electrical markets and with good reason. They are always offering the most reliable products which also offer fantastic quality, and this pyrolytic self cleaning oven is a fine example.
The HBS573BS0B model is one that possesses cleaning innovation, multiple pre-sets, a unique fan system and automatic functions.
It not only has a fan system that circulates air throughout to heat up each shelf evenly, but it also provides various settings that ensure you can perfect your recipe. 3D air circulation is unique, and will help to not only cook food faster but also much more reliably. When the job is done, a timer will sound so you will never overcook or burn your food again.
These reasons made it high up in our review. It has everything we could possibly wish for and is available for under £500, which is a fab combination.
The Neff N70 B57CR22N0B comes in at less than half the price of some of the top end models on our list. Yet, it is far more than just an oven that cleans itself; it also comes with a number of other indispensable features which will make meal times a breeze.
The Neff oven showcases a multi-functional programme selection, a ‘Slide&Hide’ door and fast uniform cooking.
Let’s break down some of the aforementioned features and what they actually mean for us. The multiple functions allow you to pre-set the oven and seamlessly cook your food regardless of what you are preparing, without having to guess the sweet point. Then the B57CR22N0B is a great addition as it not only contributes to the sleek design but also helps you make space in your kitchen when the door is open and makes the entire process safer.
The reason this protégé made it onto our list is not only due to the vast range of useful functions but for the impressive price and how cost-effective it is too. There is a lot of oven for your money with this one.
This oven is the perfect mid-spot between something which is simple and easy to use, and also has all of the little extras and mod-cons you require to make dinnertime much easier. Zanussi have a great reputation for electric ovens and the ZOD35802XK sits at a good price point.
There is a main electric fan assisted oven, which is great for circulating hot air and especially if every shelf is taken up with a tray of food as the hot air still circulates evenly. It also has a second fan oven which is perfect if you need a bit more space or want to give something its own chamber so the temperature doesn’t fluctuate when you check on everything else.
In this second chamber is also an electric grill. The Set&Go timer will help when you have to put dinner on for 6.30pm but have a mountain of washing to do, the dog to walk and the garden to water while it is cooking; just let it tick over, and it will alert you and turn off when done.
And, if you are like me and loath cleaning the oven, especially after cooking bacon and other fatty foods, then the ZOD35802XK makes easy work with catalytic lining, which burns any fat, grease & spills at 220oC, so you can just wipe away with a damp cloth when the oven is cool enough to do so.
Samsung specialises in the Dual Cook feature that enables you to cook two meals at different temperatures in one single chamber. As it is a double oven, this means even more space.
If you are shopping for quality but are on a budget then this Samsung Dual Cook oven is your pick. It has Catalytic liners and is simple to clean. You can easily wipe all of the grease from the oven within minutes, as it won’t stick too much.
This is a great oven for a big family with its 75-litres of capacity and A+ Energy Rating, which will keep long-term running costs down. The divider allows for multiple meals, snacks and side dishes to be cooked simultaneously. You could even use the Dual Cook function to heat up a particular space of the oven and therefore not waste unnecessary energy, if you are only cooking a small dish.
This is a remarkable oven for the price and we had to include it in our top 10 review. As a bonus, the dials are retractable and the display is digital, so it is easy to see what is going on at a glance and when you need to wipe the outer, the dials won’t get in the way.
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If you’re searching for a double oven, big name, stylish design and self-cleaning innovation then this should be your pick. Double ovens are perfect for cooking more than one meal at a time, which is ideal for busy homes.
Cook up a tasty lineup of snacks, appetisers and desserts at the same time without hassle. This big kitchen essential comes with two cavities and of course, Pyrolytic Technology saving you a chore of cleaning out the oven if there is a spillage.
In total it brandishes over 100-litres of capacity, with its main cavity offering a spacious oven of 70-litres, well appointed to cook up all of your meals at once. In addition to that, it has a cool to touch system keeping the exterior safe during cooking and also has a lot of different settings to help you cook everything that you need.
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This Siemens oven has a catalogue of essential features, from self-cleaning settings to a unique fan rotation system which can evenly distribute the heat for perfect cooking.
With the ability to use the top and bottom elements separately, you can roast and crisp dishes to perfection. There is also a very powerful grill setting, for those cheese on toast snacks.
As mentioned, the fan system can spread the heat evenly over the four shelves. 4D Hot Air gets in to every corner, no matter what it is that is cooking. Once the oven is switched on, CoolStart technology will get it warmed up in super-quick time, so you’re not waiting for ages until dinner can even be placed in there.
As well as the Pyrolytic cleaning, the inner glass is removable so any dirt can be removed. It will slot nicely into an undercounter or eye level space, so is flexible to suit your layout.
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Clever sensors which adjust temperatures and timings automatically as well as 71 litres of space makes this one of the best self-cleaning oven picks on the market for those with large families who don’t want to have to do too much struggling.
It is multifunctional giving you more ways to cook everything you need from the banana bread for the snacks throughout the week to the lasagne you’re making for dinner. If you’re concerned about safety, there is a control panel lock so it can’t be turned on accidentally and children can’t open the door when it is in use.
Touch control makes adjusting settings simple, and it is easy to clean and wipe down too. There is a meat probe so you can have a restful Sunday lunch, and it will fit either under counter or at eye-level.
The Nef N70 B27CR22N1B is a stylish built-in electric single oven. With a 71L cooking capacity its perfect for large families. Food is cooked quickly, evenly and without transferring flavours and odours, this means you can cook salmon on one shelf and Mediterranean vegetables on another.
The main fan oven is ideal for baking cakes and the fan assists to cook your foods evenly and with the handy grill function you can cook your lasagne the finish off to a bubbling crisp using the grill function.
As a multifunctional oven, it gives you more ways to cook, and you have a choice of 12 functions. Including a dough proving function and low-temperature cooking.
With the accurate thermostat, you can simply control the temperature in 5c intervals with the press of a button and at the end of your cooking, you can use the powerful pyrolytic cleaning cycle to burn away any grease and dirt.
AEG’s pioneering single electric oven is a self-cleaning model with a pyrolytic inner, making it one of the easiest ovens to wipe down and maintain from meal to meal.
This integrated (built in) model, with four available shelves, makes it nice and easy for you to cook multiple items at once.
We think it looks great in its stainless steel finish which also helps to keep it easy to clean on the outside, too.
This is one of the best single ovens for energy-efficient around, with a fantastic rating of A+. A simple timer and LCD will help you keep track of how things are cooking, and this model also benefits from a fantastic twin glazed window to help you keep an eye on things.
This tends to be a solid choice if you are looking for an oven to carefully cook things to perfection.
An oven from the Hotpoint x Jamie Oliver partnership, this model is as advanced yet user-friendly as you’d imagine.
There is a programmable timer so you can keep a check on your food without monitoring the clock, and the finger resistant coating will keep it looking like new without you having to schedule in a cleaning session. Multiflow technology gets the air spread evenly throughout the cavity, so when the food is done, you won’t have to double check.
We like the tilting grill feature, which pulls outwards and then down. This makes it ideal if installing in an eye level cabinet, as it makes the food easier to see and remove from the cavity. There is also a 71 litre capacity, so families are covered.
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A great oven pick for under £500 if you have a maximum budget. The Hotpoint Class ranges are top-quality and perfect for your home, and this has everything to keep your home running.
It is multifunctional so you can cook just how you need, whether it be baking Victoria sponge cakes on a Saturday or getting fluffy roast potatoes on a Sunday. The hot air evenly circulates throughout the entire chamber, so you get consistent and reliable results.
The timer can ensure you can get on with other things as the food cooks, and it will turn the oven off when done so nothing will burn either.
If anything bubbles over or spills, the pyrolytic cleaning function will reduce it all to ash so it can be wiped away with no scrubbing.
With the emergence of self-cleaning ovens, the majority of them are put into one of two categories- either Pyrolytic or Catalytic cleaning. Both are types of easy-to-clean technologies but they work slightly different from one another.
What is Pyrolytic Cleaning? It is the more rigorous option of the two, as it leaves no stone unturned.
It boosts the temperature to 400ºC during its cleaning cycle, leaving nothing but ash that can be simply wiped out of the cavity. You can automatically set this cleaning programme using a dedicated setting, and some models will also do it automatically after the oven has been on for a while.
It is safe, locks the door to stop anybody getting burned and only opens it again when the object reaches a safer temperature.
On the other hand, catalytic cleaning is when an oven is fitted with special liners treated with specialised chemicals which prevent grease and dirt from becoming embedded in the walls. It will usually allow the dirt to just sit there, so it can be wiped away when cool.
A fantastic self-cleaning oven isn’t just one that you found for sale at John Lewis. It’s one which is likely to give you plenty of hassle-free weekends where you’d normally have to spend time scrubbing deep and hard to get the worst ground-on stains off.
Therefore, look for pyrolytic ovens, catalytic liners – all the cleaning cons you can think of – but don’t forget about that max litre capacity, and whether or not it has a grill pan!
While it’s tempting to try and look for a self-cleaning oven purely on the basis of pyrolytic tech, you’re going to need to look for all the standard oven, cooker features and functions along the way, too.
Looking for a big litre capacity oven? Why not find one that self-cleans? We hope the picks we’ve brought you in this list can help!
Still unsure what self-cleaning ovens are all about? We’ve written a guide to help: What are self-cleaning ovens?
I had the idea for Which Kitchen Appliance? In 2016 when a friend was planning a new kitchen and asked me to help her choose her new kitchen appliances. She knew that I had trained as a chef, had a passion for cooking and an interest in interior design.
After hours and hours of trawling websites looking for a double oven, built-in microwave, hob & extractor fan the excitement that was soon waned…we were bored and frazzled. But finally, we succeeded and she got her new kitchen.
This led me to think that there must be a better way of researching kitchen appliances, if only there were somewhere that you could go and find kitchen appliance reviews and helpful hints and tips on getting the best from and look after your appliance under one roof with information that was comprehensive, easy to understand and that you could trust…and so WhichKitchenAppliance? was born. I now work full-time on WhichKitchenAppliance?