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Zanussi Gas Oven ZCG7551
by wendybull
When we moved into our house we brought the cooker that was already there from the previous owners as we did not have one and thought it made sense to make do with the old one until we got round to shopping for kitchen appliances. Finally six years later we are getting there and have brought a lovely new shiny cooker. I have been ... producing amazing meals on it for around seven months now (Ok maybe not amazing, it’s not that clever!) but feel I have enough experience to let you know what I think.
We chose this particular model to begin with as it had a glass lid that closes over the hob. Originally I wanted a Halogen hob as I thought they looked really smooth and sleek, however after hearing some bad reports on the actual cooking abilities of them, we decided to go for a gas cooker through and through. So having the black glass lid meant I had the same effect as a Halogen hob but without the hassle in cooking.
The hob itself is great. I was used to having an old gas hob before, with four separate racks over the burners, but this only has two racks. Each one covers two burners so it is much easier to clean. The burners themselves are extremely easy to take apart and put back together for cleaning as well and I have actually managed to keep it looking like new, which is pretty good going for me as I usually ruin the hob and have to get a professional in to steam clean it. There are two average size burners; both at the back of the hob and these are the ones I cook on the most. The ones at the front are an extra big one and an extra small one. The small one is good for mushrooms or courgettes that you want to cook gently and the big one is good for a frying pan or large based pan, although to be honest, unless both back burners are being used I don’t really use the front ones much.
The top oven/grill is a little on the small size for me. I would have preferred it to be slightly larger so I could fit pans on both the shelf and the bottom of the oven space, as I often end up cooking more than one variety of meal and it is often imperative that I have both ovens on at different temperatures and therefore need to utilise every scrap of oven space. The grill pan doesn’t actually come with the cooker for some reason and we had to phone Zanussi and get them to send it through. It was free but make sure you ask for the grill pan, the wire rack and the grill pan handle. We thought it would be altogether and were sadly let down, having to make separate phone calls and orders. There is only one height bar in the top oven, which I feel is slightly too high and the distance between the grill flame and the contents on the grill pan is too close. We counteract this by having the flame on a lower setting but even then, if you are cooking something with a high fat content, it will spit more than normal and spatter the top of the oven, causing the flame to really go a bit mad at times. The door opens down, providing a kind of shelf to put the grill pan on when turning food etc. This is very helpful because if I have food on the hob too I am limited for space, so the door is ideal.
The bottom oven is larger, with three areas to put tins inside. The top, obviously the hottest, the middle and the bottom of the oven provide plenty of areas for may needs. The sides of the oven are made from what feels like a stone substance and the wire racks make a horrible (nails on blackboard) sound when you remove them. This provides me with the perfect excuse not to remove them for cleaning actually and allows me to call in the oven cleaner to tackle this problem – hee hee. The door opens from a side catch on the right hand side and this has proved to be a little bit tricky at times. The catch seems to be not aligned properly and instead of being able to simply push the door closed, you have to lift it very slightly to get it to click shut completely. This is not hard to do but I am sure it was not meant to be that way. Each oven has a clear glass window in the front panel do you can see what is cooking in there but it does get greased up extremely quickly and I would advise you to wipe over with a hot cloth and some liquid soap after every use to keep the grease down.
The controls are all located at the front of the cooker and while this is practical and looks nice, it’s not really child friendly as they are in perfect reach of little ones and to be honest they are very easy to turn, which could be a problem as it is a gas cooker. The lid does however have a cut out function so if it is down, it will not allow the burners on the hob to be turned on, and likewise it will cut out the gas if the lid is closed whilst they are on. I always keep the glass lid down in case one of the kids turns a knob by accident. All controls are simple dial style knobs, with one for each burner, one for the grill/top oven and one for the bottom oven. All except the bottom oven need to be sparked alight after turning on, using the spark button. The bottom oven will spark itself though and I often wonder why they didn’t just add this option for all of them.
There is also a timer control on the end of the panel and I have really been in my element with this. Sad as it is I have never had a working timer on an oven before and it ha really changed the way my cooking turns out. Before I would put stuff in the oven, but forget to look at the clock so ended up guessing on how long things had been in the oven, either burning or under cooking food on a regular basis. The timer is so simple to use by simply turning a little dial to timer and then turning the dial next to it to the required number of minutes. That’s it. When it has counted down to zero it lets of a beep beep noise, which is fairly loud and will be heard in another room. This continues to sound until you turn it off. I have used this a lot for boiled eggs and other things that don’t take too long to cook.
It also has a digital clock function, which I have found handy on numerous occasions and this is displayed at all times on the front of the oven, unless the timer or other functions are being used. It does offer other functions like an automatic start time for cooking over night or through the day while you are at work but I find it hard to trust this. I am sure it would be fine but I would be worried it wouldn’t work and I would be left with uncooked food or a blown up oven.
Cleaning is extremely simple. If you do it regularly it will be easy as pie and Zanussi recommend using Cif cleaner for normal soils and a soap filled pad like Brillo for tougher stains. It is essential that you do not clean the sides of the oven though as they are coated in a self cleaning material that allows them to maintain their cleanliness if you follow the cleaning cycle every two weeks. To do this simply take out the shelves and “cook” an empty oven at gas mark 5 for 30 minutes and then gas mark 7 for 2 hours. This encourages the self-cleaning material to work. Otherwise everything else is easy enough to deal with using hot soapy water and CIF if needed.
Overall, it has been a pleasure cooking on this oven and my cooking ahs improved, simply because of the gadgets on here, like the timer. An excellent door seal on the main oven means that food is cooked on time and my family are happier with their dinners then they have been in a while. This wasn’t the cheapest oven on the market and we paid £499 from Curry’s last Christmas, although you can get it for around £435 now and I would recommend it if you are looking for a nice sized oven that looks stylish and cooks marvellously.
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Neff B1421B0GB
by mattygroves10
The Story of the Life of my Kitchen - or - Appliance Jinx Re-Visited
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I AM the appliance jinx of SW London. The reason we bought our Neff oven is related to our tales of woe.
Years ago, we moved into our house. I HATED the kitchen (avocado, badly designed), had a little spare money, so ... we had the kitchen re-done literally within a week of moving into the house. We did NOT buy an oven before the kitchen was re-done. I knew what would happen if we did. We'd wait and wait to get around to having the kitchen done, and meanwhile spend the money allocated to the kitchen.
We thought we'd save a bit of money by not purchasing the appliances from the kitchen fitters; rather, we'd go to Comet (I think) and buy cheaper ones there. Big mistake. We bought a Pro-Line oven that never worked properly from day one. Finally, the fan AND the grill gave up the ghost (this may have had a little to do with the fact that we rarely...very rarely actually cleaned it well).
My mother - oh how I am grateful to my mother - offered to pay for the replacement oven around 3 or 4 years ago. Off we trot again to Comet, order an oven, it never arrives. We wait, and wait, and finally cancel the order and (lesson learnt), went to our LOCAL independent appliance store (support your local high street traders, folks). They undercut Comet, delivered, installed AND took the old one away. We were now the proud owners (and all for just around £400) of a NEFF B2421 built in electric fan oven.
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Story over, Matty - tell me about the OVEN - THE BASICS
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Right. Sorry. You can wake up now.
As I mentioned, this is an electric fan oven. This means that a fan in the oven distributes heat more evenly (in theory, anyway), thus allowing cooking at a slightly lower temperature and for a shorter time. According to the instruction booklet, it also means you don't have to pre-heat the oven (but I don't believe them, and pre-heat anyway, most of the time). There is also an internal grill.
This is a good sized oven (and no, I've never MEASURED it - I'm not that sad!) - as it's a single oven, I can fit large joints - if I took out extra shelves, I would have no problems fitting a good sized turkey in it - but I don't COOK good sized turkeys - there's only three of us, for crying out loud! We did look at under counter double ovens, but the main cooking area is just too small - even for just the three of us. I'm told that it's has one of the larger cooking cavities around for its overall size. (And thanks guys, for the suggestion that size matters!)
There is a timer which can be used in one of three ways (four, if you include the normal 24 hour clock) - as a timer (to time things that aren't in the oven, say), as a cooking timer (when cooking time is finished, the oven shuts off, and the beeper goes), and as a start/finish timer (you can decide what time you want to eat, and set the oven to come on when appropriate and to shut off the oven and beep annoyingly at you when it's finished.
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Cooking Options
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On the front of the oven are two dials - one for cooking method, and one for temperature. Going in reverse, the temperature setting is pretty obvious and straightforward - you set the temperature at which you wish to cook in degrees C ranging from 50 - 250, with markings for the grill from L(ow) - H(igh).
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***WARNING - digression - weird story time - skip this bit if you're just interested in the oven***
Years ago, my mum came over to England, and decided she'd cook us a roast. She shouts to me from the kitchen, "Kate, what am I going to do, we'll be eating at midnight!" I said, intelligently, "huh?!" "Because," replied mum, "the oven only goes up to 250!".
I thought about that. "That's CELSIUS, mum." "Ah..."
*** END OF STORY ***
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There is a de-frost setting (which I've never used - that's what a microwave is for), the grandly named 'Circotherm' (fan setting by any other name), the 'radiant' grill, and 'Circo-roasting'.
GENTLE DEFROST - as I said - never used. The instruction manual tells me it's recommended for 'delicate pastries only'. Whatever.
CIRCOTHERM - fan oven. This is the setting most frequently used. The fan comes on and supposedly moves the heat around. According to the instructions, in addition to the advantages listed above, it also allows 'cooking on up to 3 shelves at once'. To be honest, I'd do that anyway if I really wanted to - but I don't have three pans or tins that would FIT on three shelves anyway, so two is the most I use.
Does It Work?
The fan and fan cover need cleaning from time to time to ensure that the fan remains effective. They probably need cleaning more than they get cleaned in our house. However, the fan oven does, generally, cook evenly. BUT, I DO need to remember that cooking times and temperatures are less in a fan oven. I've dried out a few casseroles by forgetting this important fact. Dry pork chop casseroles are GROSS.
CIRCOTHERM GRILLING - this is exactly the same setting and little picture on the dial as Circotherm. There's a difference? Beats me. Apparently, using this instead of the grill for steaks and sausages and stuff means you don't have to turn them. Again, whatever - I'm a traditionalist - if I want grilled sausages, I'll either grill them or, better yet, get hubby to do them on the gas barbeque!
RADIANT GRILL - does what it says on the tin. The top element only comes on - you use it for grilling things (cheese on toast, sausages yadda yadda).
Does It Work? Yes. Like any other grill. Just fine. The oven came with a grill pan. It works - what can I say? You can use the wide metal rack for things like sausages, or, if you're cooking something flat, narrow and slippery (like bacon), you can use one of the wire racks from the oven shelves - they fit in the grill pan. I hate cleaning it - especially the wire racks..
CIRCO-ROASTING - I've never used this (though hubby may have - he does a good deal of the cooking in the house). Neff tells me that 'with Circo-roasting, the fan and the grill elements are activated alternately...this...gives an effect similar to spit roasting'. Yeah, if you say so.
ANYWAY - I think you get the point - more settings than I need - I grill and cook. That's it. Still, the little pictures on the dial look nice.
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Timing Options
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This oven has a digital clock at the front (24 hour time). It's lit in green light, and, coolly, dims after 10.00pm. In case you sleep in your kitchen, I guess.
Needless to say, it does more than tell time. You can use it to time your dinner. There are two ways of doing this.
RANDOM TIMING - You are boiling eggs on your hob. You want a three-minute egg, and your watch has no second hand. You can use the timer on the oven as just a countdown timer. Just press the little button with a picture of a little bell, turn the dial so the display reads '3 minutes', and voila! After three minutes it dutifully beeps. And beeps. And beeps. In fact, it keeps beeping until you turn it off. This can get annoying, and this is true for all timing options. Oh well....
SETTING THE COOKING TIME - You're cooking a stew that needs to be in the oven for two hours. Easy peasy - turn the oven on, choose your temperature, press the button with two lines and an arrow (not forgetting, of course, to put your stew IN THE OVEN. It won't cook on the counter), turn the dial to the required cooking time. Now, not only will that increasingly annoying beeper beep after 2 hours, but the oven will switch off.
AUTOMATIC SWITCH ON AND SWITCH OFF - You can time when it finishes, and you can set the time you want it to start (actually, you set the finish time and the cooking time, and it decides when it needs to start). WARNING - only use this option if you're cooking something that will look after itself. If you need to check, baste, or otherwise interfere with your meal, stay home and look after it! Warning over - the method is similar, except you press yet ANOTHER button in addition to those above - an arrow with one line. With the dial you set the cooking time and the finish time. Now you can go to the pub, and when you get home, your dinner will be cooked, the oven will be off, and your dinner will be ready. Assuming, of course, you haven't come home three hours late - in which case your dinner will be cold. You can set the end time up to 23 hours 59 minutes in advance. As if you'd want to....
I use the second two a lot. I go to the pub a lot. Once, I didn't heed the warning and cooked pork loin steaks unattended. Burnt, not nice, nasty. Lesson learnt. However, remembering which buttons to press in which order is tricky - I still have to look at the instruction booklet (which, handily, is open next to me as I write this). Thankfully, the instruction booklet is clearly written.
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But does it work? Matty's Verdict
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Yes it does - admirably, and without problem for several years. The door removes for easier cleaning (which, admittedly, happens very seldom). The fan grille comes off for easier cleaning (ditto). Nothing has broken. It all works. It's kept working - which is more than I can say for the Pro-Line. The door doesn't get too hot on the outside - a bonus when you have children.
It cooks, and it cooks reasonably evenly. Frozen pizza can occasionally be a problem - sometimes I get burnt crust and chilly inside, but I have less problems with that if I remember to actually stick it in the middle (moving the racks, don't ya know).
I don't know why they put windows in ovens - they get gross in two days, and stay gross (at least in my house). If you don't wipe it down IMMEDIATELY...well...yuck. I wish I had a self-cleaning oven, but never mind.
I was very happy with my oven for several years. It was mid-priced, and, for us, good value for money. We have, last week, moved house. Since the oven was (and no doubt still is) a built in oven, we left it there. There is an Electrolux built in oven in our 'new' house. The timer isn't as clever, and for some reason, the previous owners took the grill pan. But only time will tell how it performs as compared to the Neff.
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And Finally - amusing warnings from the booklet
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I am not making these up - these are really in the instruction booklet:
"The appliance should only be used for the preparation of food." OK - I won't dry my cat in it. Glad you told me.
"The surfaces of heating and cooking appliances get hot." Nooooooo, really?
Cheers!
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Indesit K642VSXG
by neilstead
I bought this cooker about 18 months ago, and I've been very pleased with it. However, the graphics surrounding the controls for the oven, timer, and burner are not very permanent. Within a few months they had started to deteriorate, and it's now at the stage where I can't read any of the oven temperatures, or the timer ... minutes.
I should stress that this is NOT due to over-enthusiastic cleaning. The control panel is only ever cleaned with a soapy cloth, never with anything abrasive.
I sent an email to servicedirect@merloni.com (the address for customer service enquires given on their website), to ask whether it was possible to get replacement graphics. After 2 weeks without a reply, I sent another email. Still no response.
I then contacted their customer service telephone number, and after about 10 minutes on hold, I got through to someone who promised to send out replacement graphics in the post.
A month passed, and still no graphics. I contacted them again, and was told that they had no record of my previous request, but would send out replacement graphics straight away.
Another couple of weeks, still no graphics. I phoned them again today, to be told that I can't buy the graphics decals - only the complete control panel, at a cost of £26.63!
I queried this with their service department, who confirmed that, yes, that's right. Because the decals on my cooker (which probably cost about 50p) have rubbed off, I have to pay £26.63 for a complete new control panel!! Unbelievable!
So, if you're going to buy this cooker, be prepared to fork out another £30 or so every 18 months to replace the control panel.
Other than that, it's a good product, and I would recommend
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