De Dietrich DOP440X Single Oven Stainless Steel

We''ve had this oven for several years so have had time to make a fair assessment. Firstly there have been a few minor glitches, like screws in the back panel shearing off, a squeaky fan, and the control panel breaking (which cost a staggering £25 to replace a small part). As a previous reviewer has noted, even with the fan on the heat is not brilliantly consistent, with a much warmer area at the front of the oven. The pyroclean function is great in principle, but doesn''t completely get the oven clean, and I am afraid of using traditional cleaners as the instructions say they shouldn''t be used. Also once pyroclean is finished there is a layer of powder which cannot be cleaned properly from the top of the oven as you cannot remove the grill element. However, by far and away the worst thing about it is the stupid system of heating elements. There is one around the fan, one under the bottom of the oven, and the grill element forms the third. Fine in principle, however, there is NO option just to use the bottom element if you don''t want to use the fan function - you have to have the grill on as well - meaning anything at the top of the oven burns as it is getting direct heat from the grill. Effectively this means that despite it having numerous oven options available, the only one that I can ever use if I don''t want my food to burn is the fan oven. A triumph of style over substance. I can only say it cannot have been designed by anyone who actually does any cooking.

This is a stylish single oven, but the one we purchased is poor. From installation the push botton controls did not work properly. The service engineer could not fix it and after several visits and over two months later, including waiting for parts from France, the problem was discovered to be a incorrect fitting of the clock assembly. (presumably at the factory) The seal roud the door is ineffective leaking fat onto the door in the cuboard and draw below. Eleven months into its life the door handle is loose. When cooking the heat is not uniform with hot and cold spots in different parts of the rack. Most worryingly of all the racks supplied with oven do not sit safely in the oven when it is hot. We have already had a large joint fall inside the oven and fear someone could be seriously burnt.