Your cooker is the heart of your kitchen. From weekday dinners to Sunday roasts, it decides how easily you can actually cook — and it's the appliance you'll live with longest.
Before anything else, there's a decision most guides skip: do you want one appliance, or two? Everything else follows from that.
The two routes: range cooker, or built-in oven plus hob
Freestanding cookers — the 50cm and 60cm all-in-one units that slot between two cupboards — used to be the default. We no longer stock them. The market has split in two directions, and both are better value than the old middle ground.
Route one: a range cooker
One appliance, one gap, hob and ovens together. Ranges start at 60cm and go up to 150cm, and the wide ones give you two or three separate cavities so you can roast, bake and grill at different temperatures at once.
This is the route if you want the cooker to be the focal point of the kitchen, or if you cook large meals often. Our range starts with the Smeg Concert 60cm dual fuel at £1,216.99 and runs up through the 90cm and 110cm models.
Route two: a built-in oven and a separate hob
Two appliances, fitted separately — the oven at eye level or under the worktop, the hob cut into the surface. This is now the more flexible and usually the cheaper option.
You can pair a CDA six function fan oven at £249 with a Montpellier 59cm ceramic hob at £159 and have a complete cooking setup for around £410 — less than most freestanding cookers cost.
It also means you can spend where it matters to you. A serious cook might take a modest oven and an excellent induction hob; someone who bakes might do the reverse.
Choosing a built-in oven
Ovens are sold by cavity count and by how they clean themselves.
Single or double?
A single oven is one large cavity, usually 65–73 litres. Cheaper, simpler, and plenty for most households.
A double oven gives you a main cavity plus a smaller second one, typically with its own grill. The real benefit is cooking two things at different temperatures — a roast below, potatoes crisping above. The CDA built-in electric double oven at £609 sits at eye level; the built-under version at £599 goes beneath a worktop.
How it cleans itself
- Enamel — wipe it yourself. Fine if you're not precious about it.
- Steam clean — softens residue with water and heat, then you wipe. A genuine help, not a miracle. The CDA thirteen function with steam clean is £469.
- Pyrolytic — heats to around 500°C and burns residue to ash you sweep out. The only one that really removes the job. The CDA thirteen function pyrolytic is £499. Worth the premium if you roast often.
Functions
Six functions covers fan, conventional, grill and defrost — everything most people use. Twelve or thirteen adds pizza settings, bottom heat, eco modes and slow cook. Useful if you'll use them; ignore the count if you won't. The CDA twelve function multifunction at £399 is the sensible middle.
Choosing a hob
Four types, and the right one depends mostly on what supply you have.
- Gas — instant heat, visible flame, works with any pan. Needs a gas supply and a Gas Safe engineer to fit. From £239 for the CDA four burner with wok burner.
- Ceramic — the cheapest electric option. Flat, takes any pan, but slow to heat and slow to cool. From £159.
- Induction — faster than gas, instantly responsive, and roughly 85–90% efficient. Needs ferrous pans and usually a dedicated circuit. The CDA 60cm four zone is £349.
- Plug-in induction — runs from a normal 13A socket, so no rewiring. The Montpellier MINH59-13A at £198 is the answer for rented flats and kitchens you're not gutting.
Our complete hobs guide covers cut-out sizes, zone counts and electrical supply in detail, and the induction vs gas comparison settles the question most people get stuck on.
Don't forget extraction
A hood should be at least as wide as your hob, and ideally wider. It's the part people leave to last and regret first. Our cooker hoods guide covers extraction rates and ducting.
Before you order
- Measure the aperture, not the old appliance. Built-in ovens need a specific housing size; hobs need a cut-out that is smaller than the hob itself and varies by model.
- Check your supply. A full-size induction hob normally needs a dedicated circuit, not a 13A socket.
- Check delivery access for a range cooker — they are heavy and wide, and a tight hallway or a turn in the stairs is worth knowing about beforehand.
Our measuring guide walks through all of it, and the built-in vs freestanding guide covers the trade-off across the rest of the kitchen.
The quick answer
- Tightest budget: a CDA fan oven at £249 and a ceramic hob at £159.
- Best all-round: a multifunction oven around £399–£469 with a 60cm induction hob at £349.
- Cooking for a family: a built-in double oven at £609 — two cavities, two temperatures.
- You want the cooker to be the centrepiece: a range cooker, from £1,216.99.
- Can't rewire: a plug-in induction hob at £198.
Browse range cookers, built-in ovens and hobs, or tell us your kitchen dimensions and supply and we'll tell you what fits.
Prices correct at September 2026.
