6 Reviews

My last oven was a dud. I thought I'd done all the research and made a good purchase but it was another Ariston nightmare! I was reluctant to replace it because I worried that I might just spend thousands on another failure. It was great to be able to use Appliances Online to compare various products and to cross-match with CHOICE recommendations. In the end, I chose this beautiful Bosch for these reasons: 1. I bake sourdough and wanted steam 2. I wanted both pyrolytic (high heat) cleaning and an interior surface that resisted greasy buildup 3. I wanted slide out runners, having previously struggled with poorly fitting shelves that didn't slide smoothly 4. I wanted a high quality brand with a strong reputation 5. It needed to look good, and preferably not be stainless steel This oven ticked all the boxes and also came with a probe for cooking roasts which works brilliantly! It senses the different temperatures along the length of the probe and cooks meat to perfection. It also came with a surprising collection of beautiful baking ware, including a "universal pan" with an enamel coating, a stainless steel pan with slides into the runners and a pan especially designed for steaming. All three make maximum use of the oven's interior dimensions. There are also two smaller metal dishes for steaming. The quality of the cooking in this oven is next level. The grill browns evenly, and when baking there is the option of adding steam to keep baked goods light and fluffy or to ensure that roasts don't dry out. You can also use the steam on its own to prepare vegetables and rice or legumes. The only concern I had was that some reviews mention the controls are difficult to understand, but when you buy from Appliances Online and pay for installation it includes the installer giving you a walk through of how the oven works, including the controls. This made all the difference! I do think I would have found the controls a bit intimidating without this level of support. It's part of why I always buy from this company.

Approximately one month after installation, (June, 21) I am impressed with this multi-functional oven, Bosch HSG656XB6A/81. The 4D hot air mode seems significantly better than ordinary 'fan forced', because the shelf position is not so critical, allowing more food to be cooked at the same time. Lots of help / hints / tips, built into the colour control panel. Good points: a) Numerous 'Types of Heating' allow a wide variety of choice for the discerning cook. This will be too much variety for some users, who choose not to use the many features they have paid for, which, if used correctly, can improve the outcome of food prepared in this oven. b) The 'Assist' function actually works as proposed, with a bias towards meat dishes. This helps users unfamiliar with the many modes of operation, to achieve consistently good results. c) The 'Baking Sensor' works really well; just select the type of food, to be cooked {cakes, pastry, pizza or potatoes} on the control panel. Then press start. The oven looks after everything thereafter; heating type, temperature & duration. Close enough to magic, for this reviewer. d) The various 'steam' functions work well. Especially for bread 'proving'. Suitable trays are supplied for steam cooking. An efficient range hood near the oven is a very useful thing. e) The 'meat probe' works well, with 3 temperature sensors, for reliable results. Apparently, voids inside the bird no longer upset the meat probe function. f) Other modes such as 'Sabbath', 'Sous-Vide' & basic WiFi have not been used, by this reviewer. Apparently, the full cloud / artificial intelligence WiFi functionality, seen overseas, in other models, is NOT available in this model oven, in Australia. g) The oven operation and options can be customised to each owners' preferences. Example, digital or analogue clock, etc, etc. Less good points: h) The Instruction Manual is difficult to comprehend, without intense, prolonged study. Possibly because this oven has so many overlapping modes and features. The manual is laid out and organised from the oven point of view, not the cooks' point of view. Example; The user will have a certain food to cook and wants to know what oven features are available to do so. But, the manual describes heating modes first, and , then the types of food suitable for that mode. No single page (or, index!) lists all the oven modes / features suitable for a particular food; poultry, for example. i) The 'Assist' function may work against cooking a whole meal at once, as the specific 'Assist' settings may not suit the cooking of the other dishes in the oven at the same time. Overall meal planning becomes more important. Use of the 'Assist' mode is optional. j) The danger of using silicon bakeware is understated. If used, apparently, it harms the baking sensor. k) The nonstick optional Bosch trays may not be dishwasher safe. l) The water tank, for steam operations, needs to be emptied & dried after each use, &, the oven then set on a 'Drying' cycle. After which, the door needs to be left open for a brief time. m) Allegedly, over use of the 'Ecoclean' function may shorten the life of the oven. The oven will remind the user when to use 'Ecoclean'. n) Descaling, after a certain number of steam cycles, is required. No substitute for (expensive) Bosch descaling solution is offered, or, a sample supplied. Perhaps citric acid is OK? Who knows? Local water hardness needs to be set on the control panel, at the time of installation. o) The 'Dishes' chapter of the manual is mis named. It should be 'Assist'. p) The oven package includes a free cookbook offer. Apparently, this cookbook does not cover steam modes of operation. q) Some terms used in Bosch marketing are not used in the manual. e.g. Perfect Bake, Autopilot, or, Perfect Roast. This makes a comparison of features between Bosch models, very confusing. On top of that, it seems that 'Assist' means 'Perfect Bake' in some other ovens, but this is not clear. In summary, good value for the high price, IMHO. In selected circumstances, the 4D hot air mode may allow cooking of quantities of food more often associated with much larger 90cm ovens.

Great looking oven. Replaced 22 year old Bosch. Still to use steam function but hoping for good results