How to Choose the Best Cooker for Your Kitchen: Buyer's Guide

A cooker is afreestanding appliance that combines one or more ovens with a cooktop (burners or hob) on top. An oven is the built-in cooking compartment used for baking, roasting, and grilling. This appliance can be a single oven or a double oven, but it does not include a cooktop.

For more information about ovens, explore our Oven Buying Guide.

Every Smeg cooker includes at least one electric oven cavity with precise temperature control, as well as several specialised cooking modes to give you reliable, repeatable results. Here are some of the key functions our customers love:

• Circulaire (Fan-Assisted Convection): Smeg’s Circulaire technology circulates hot air for fast, even, multi-level cooking with excellent browning. Because the air is circulated effectively, there’s minimal flavour transfer, so you can cook delicate and strongly fragranced foods at the same time.

• Top & Bottom Element (Static): Heat from the top and bottom elements only; best for items that need gentle, even heat like fruitcakes, bread, and pastry.

• Top & Bottom + Fan (Fan-Assisted): The fan helps distribute the top-and-bottom heat more evenly and speeds cooking; ideal for slow roasts, casseroles, and dishes that benefit from steady, controlled heat.

• Grill: Direct, high-heat element for crisping and browning the top of dishes – great for finishing gratins, toasting, and getting a crispy crust.

The right accessories make your cooker more versatile and improve results, whether you’re baking, roasting, grilling, or trying something new. Here are the most useful items for your cooker:

• Cooking Stone: A cooking stone sits in the oven to create a crisp, evenly baked base for pizzas, breads, and flatbreads, replicating the results of a traditional stone oven.

• Pizza Shovel: The pizza shovel makes it easy and safe to slide pizzas in and out of a hot oven or onto a pizza stone without losing your perfect crust.

• Teppanyaki Grill Plate: The teppanyaki grill plate delivers restaurant-style searing for meat, seafood, and vegetables, ideal for stir-fries and high-heat cooking.

• Deep Oven Tray: A deep oven tray is perfect for roasting large joints, catching juices for gravies, or baking dishes that release liquids while cooking.

• Air Fryer Rack: The air fryer rack allows hot air to circulate evenly around food, producing crispy, golden results with little or no added oil.

• Griddle: A griddle provides a flat, high-heat surface for cooking steaks, vegetables, sandwiches, or pancakes with perfect sear marks.

• Wok: The wok fits gas burners for high-heat, wok-style cooking, ideal for stir-frying or tossing vegetables and noodles quickly.

• Child Lock: The child lock prevents accidental use of the cooker’s controls, keeping little hands safe and your kitchen worry-free.

To ensure you buy the correct-sized cooker for your available kitchen space, follow these steps:

• Width: Measure the finished aperture (inside faces of walls/cabinets) in mm; top, middle and bottom to check for twists.

• Depth: From the wall to the front of adjacent counters; include splashback and handle projection.

• Height & Hood Clearance: Floor to underside of any cabinet or extractor; keep manufacturer clearance in mind.

• Service Positions: Measure locations of gas inlet, electrical socket, and extraction flue from the floor and from a fixed side (in mm).

• Access: Measure doorways, corridors, stairs, and lifts (height × width) so the delivery can reach your kitchen.

To keep your cooker looking and performing at its best, wipe down the hob and oven surfaces regularly with a soft cloth and mild detergent once they’ve cooled. Avoid abrasive cleaners that can damage enamel or stainless-steel finishes.