Two Italian names, two very different propositions.
If you have got as far as comparing Bertazzoni and Smeg, you are almost certainly looking at a range cooker as the centrepiece of the kitchen rather than just something to cook on. Both brands are made in northern Italy, both have been at it for the better part of a century, and both will give you something considerably better looking than a standard 60cm freestanding cooker.
But they are not really competing for the same buyer, and the honest answer to "which is better" depends almost entirely on one question: how much do you want to choose?
The short version
Smeg gives you options. Five different range cooker families, widths from 60cm all the way to 150cm, gas, dual fuel, induction and mixed fuel, and prices from around £1,400 to just over £7,000. If you have an awkward space, a particular fuel supply, or a budget that is firm, there is almost certainly a Smeg that fits it.
Bertazzoni gives you one answer, very confidently. The Professional Series 120cm dual fuel twin oven, at £6,499, in gloss white or gloss orange. It is a statement piece, built to look like a professional kitchen range, and it is not trying to be anything else.
That is the real decision. Everything below is detail.
Where the two brands come from
Bertazzoni is a family business from Emilia-Romagna, the same corner of Italy that gives you Ferrari, Lamborghini and Parmigiano Reggiano. Six generations of the same family have been making cookers there since the 1880s. The Professional Series is built to look the part — heavy knobs, a deep bullnose front edge, the kind of proportions you would see in a restaurant kitchen.
Smeg is from Guastalla, about forty miles away, and made its name on design. Most people know Smeg for the fridge, but the range cookers are the more serious end of the business. The styling varies enormously depending on the family — the Victoria range is traditional, with a classic fascia and control knobs; Portofino is contemporary, in matt colours; Opera is the professional-looking flagship.
Neither brand is the "budget" option. Both sit above the mainstream, and both hold their appearance far better than a cheaper cooker will after five years of heat and steam.
Size: this is where they genuinely differ
This is the most practical difference, so it is worth being blunt about it.
Smeg range cookers we stock run 60cm, 90cm, 100cm, 110cm, 120cm and 150cm.
Bertazzoni Professional Series range cookers we stock are 120cm only.
A 120cm range cooker is a serious piece of kitchen furniture. You need the floor space, you need the worktop either side to look deliberate rather than squeezed, and you need a hood wide enough to cover it — a 120cm cooker under a 90cm hood looks wrong and extracts badly.
If your run of units is 90cm or 100cm, Bertazzoni is simply not in the conversation and Smeg is. That decides it for a lot of people before anything else does.
Before you commit to any width, measure the space properly — including the route through the house, which catches people out on a 120cm cooker more often than the kitchen itself does.
Fuel: what you can actually have
Bertazzoni Professional Series, as we stock it, is dual fuel — gas burners on top, electric ovens below. That is the classic professional configuration: the responsiveness of flame for the hob, the even heat of electric for roasting and baking.
Smeg covers everything. Dual fuel across most of the range. Full induction on the Victoria 100cm and 110cm, the Opera 90cm and the Portofino 90cm. Mixed fuel — gas burners alongside an induction zone on the same top — on the Opera 150cm and Portofino 120cm. Gas with a pyrolytic oven on the Concert 60cm. Ceramic on the Concert 90cm.
If you have no gas supply, or you have decided against gas, Smeg has induction range cookers and Bertazzoni, in our range, does not. That is another decision made for you.
If you are still weighing the fuel question itself, we have covered it separately in Induction Hob vs Gas Hob and in the range cooker buying guide.
Price, honestly
Here is what the two brands actually cost in our range today.
Bertazzoni
| Model | Size | Fuel | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| PRO126G2EBIT2 Professional Series, Gloss White | 120cm | Dual fuel, twin oven | £6,499 |
| PRO126G2EART2 Professional Series, Gloss Orange | 120cm | Dual fuel, twin oven | £6,499 |
Smeg — a selection across the range
| Model | Size | Fuel | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Portofino, Matt Black | 90cm | Dual fuel | £1,399.99 |
| Concert | 90cm | Dual fuel | £1,830 |
| Opera | 100cm | Dual fuel | £3,597.99 |
| Victoria | 110cm | Induction, four cavities | £3,931.99 |
The Smeg range extends further in both directions — the Opera 150cm mixed fuel with an electric griddle is £6,333.99, and the Portofino 120cm mixed fuel with a pyrolytic oven is £7,090.
So at the top of the market the two brands meet. Below about £6,000, Bertazzoni simply is not an option in our range and Smeg has a dozen.
What you are paying for at £6,499
It is a fair question, given you can have a 110cm Smeg Victoria in induction for £3,931.99.
The Bertazzoni PRO126 is 120cm rather than 110cm, and it is a twin oven — two separate cavities, which matters enormously if you regularly cook a full meal at two different temperatures. The build is heavier. The gloss finishes are properly done, and the orange in particular is not a colour many manufacturers would commit to. It looks like a professional range because that is exactly what it is styled on.
What you are not getting for the extra money is more cooking technology. A Smeg Opera or Victoria at £3,500–£4,500 will cook just as well. You are paying for size, for twin cavities, and for presence.
If presence is the point — if this cooker is going to be the first thing anyone notices about the kitchen — that is a legitimate thing to spend money on. If you want the best cooking result per pound, it is not.
Which should you buy?
Choose Bertazzoni if:
- You have the space for 120cm and the wall for a 120cm hood
- You want a professional-look statement piece, and gloss white or orange appeals
- Twin ovens genuinely suit how you cook
- The budget is comfortable at £6,499
Choose Smeg if:
- Your space is 60cm, 90cm, 100cm or 110cm
- You want induction, or mixed fuel, or gas with pyrolytic cleaning
- You have a budget under about £4,000
- You want to choose a style — traditional Victoria, contemporary Portofino, professional Opera
- You want a colour beyond white and orange
For most UK kitchens, Smeg is the answer simply because most UK kitchens are not 120cm-shaped. But if yours is, and the look is what you are after, the Bertazzoni is a genuinely different object rather than a more expensive version of the same thing.
Do not forget the hood
Whichever you choose, the extraction needs to match the width. A range cooker with an undersized hood above it looks unfinished and does not clear steam properly.
For the 120cm Bertazzoni, the matching KT120P1AXT Professional Series 120cm T-shaped hood is £1,039 and is designed to sit with it.
For everything else, our cooker hoods guide covers extraction rates and sizing.
And the installation
Both brands, in dual fuel form, need a Gas Safe registered engineer to connect the gas. That is a legal requirement, not a recommendation, and it is not something you or a general handyman can do. An induction range cooker avoids the gas question but usually needs its own electrical circuit, which brings its own rules.
It is worth reading what actually happens on delivery day before you order, so there are no surprises about what arrives and what still needs doing.
Browse the range
Not sure which is right for your kitchen? Message us on WhatsApp — we answer seven days a week, usually within half an hour.
