Top five best single ovens for 2021

The best ovens will make cooking a breeze, reliably turning out tasty meals for years on end. But it's impossible to tell before you buy which ones will take ages to heat up, whether they'll leave you with uneven, poorly risen bakes, or if the temperature you select is really the one you'll get.

Here, we've rounded up our pick of the five best built-in single ovens to help take the guesswork out of choosing. 

If you'd like to see all our oven recommendations, head to our Best Buy ovens for some excellent options.

Only logged in Which? members can view our recommendations in the table below. If you're not yet a member, you can get instant access by joining Which?.

If you need more cooking space, head to the top five best double ovens for 2021.

Don't Buy ovens

When you see an appliance going for a song, it's easy to be tempted. But a budget price doesn't necessarily mean it's a bargain. Here are a couple of cheap ovens that failed to impress us in our tests.

Not found the product for you? Browse all of our built-in oven reviews.

How to choose the best oven for you

Electric oven or gas oven?

Nowadays, electric ovens dominate the market. The best electric ovens warm up quickly to the correct temperature and spread heat evenly, meaning your cakes and bakes come out well, whatever shelf you put them on.

Gas ovens will always be hotter at the top than at the bottom, as they don't have fans. But you can use this to your advantage by, for example, cooking a roast at the top and a crumble near the bottom.

The best grills spread heat across more than 90% of the grill pan, while the worst can leave more than half of your bread untoasted.

What size oven should I buy?

Single ovens have one spacious cavity, while double ovens have one larger oven and a smaller one on top. This means you can use two ovens, or the grill and oven, at the same time. 

If you need two separate ovens but are short on space, a built-under model may fit the bill. These are designed to fit in the space below your kitchen worktop.

If you want the flexibility of a double oven, head over to our guide to the top five double ovens for 2021 to find a model that will cook efficiently and evenly across both ovens. 

Can a cheap oven be a great oven?

The price of ovens varies from around £150 to well over £1,000.

More expensive models tend to offer more self-cook programs, touch controls and a self-clean function. If you don't mind sticking with the basics, though, you can spend less. We've found several Best Buys around the £200 mark. 

Head over to our reviews to find out which models from the likes of Bosch, Hotpoint and Zanussi made it as affordable Best Buys. 

Should I get a self-cleaning oven?

The best self-cleaning ovens we've come across are pyrolytic ovens. These use a high-temperature program to burn off cooking spills from the oven walls. All you then need do is sweep or wipe away the ashes.

Pyrolytic ovens can be pricey though. Ovens fitted with catalytic liners are often a cheaper option. These speed up the break down of fatty residues, when you are cooking at temperatures of more than 200°C, which are then easier to wipe away.

Other ovens harness the power of steam. They often feature a shallow depression at the base that you fill with water. When the oven heats up, the steam loosens the cooking grime, making cleaning easier.

What other oven features are worth having?

Here are some other features to look out for that make your oven easier to use.

• Telescopic runners
• Child lock
• Programmable timers
• Oven that can be controlled remotely using an app

Head to how to buy the best oven if you still uncertain about what kind of oven you need.