Wall Oven Review

Wall oven performance and reliability

When it comes to wall-oven reviews, we are most impressed by Consumer Reports' neatly detailed methodology, which includes testing ovens for baking, broiling and oven capacity. Choice (an Australian magazine) and Which? (a U.K. magazine) are both similar in thoroughness to Consumer Reports. Although wall ovens reviewed in those two publications aren't available in the U.S., they should be your first stop if you're looking for wall-oven reviews from the U.K. or Australia. The general information on Choice and Which? is helpful to U.S. shoppers, however.

Both Consumer Reports and J.D. Power and Associates compile customer-satisfaction and repair ratings based on large owner surveys. These are helpful in gauging long-term reliability. Surveys show there's significant variation in terms of repairs. While most mainstream brands have similar reliability rates, high-end brands like Jenn-Air, Thermador and Dacor are far more prone to serious breakdowns. LG currently leads the pack in overall customer satisfaction, according to the 2008 J.D. Power and Associates kitchen appliances study.

Kitchen designers and home-improvement television shows love the Thermador brand for its high-dollar commercial look. However, performance is a mixed bag. While Thermador wall ovens, including the Thermador ME301EB (*Est. $2,200), cook and broil as well as or better than most wall ovens, Thermador has the dubious distinction of having a terrible repair record compared with the competition. According to owner surveys, about one in four Thermador ovens will have a serious repair issue. In June 2007, about 42,000 various Thermador wall ovens were recalled. There were reports that the insulation had gaps, which posed a fire hazard in self-cleaning mode that could heat nearby cabinets.

Thermador isn't the only manufacturer to recall wall ovens because of fire hazards. In December 2007, about 92,000 GE and Kenmore microwave/wall oven combos were recalled because of an overheating door switch. In May 2008, Frigidaire recalled 7,500 Kenmore gas-powered wall ovens because of fire and explosion risks when using the broiler. In November 2008, GE recalled another 244,000 wall ovens because of door attachment problems that could cause nearby cabinets to overheat and catch fire during the self-cleaning cycle. You can find out more about these and other recalls on the website of the Consumer Products Safety Commission, CPSC.gov.

Manufacturers continually try to find new angles in speed cooking, which has historically been a tough sell, according to Consumer Reports. Maytag discontinued its line of Accellis ranges -- which used a combination of conventional heat and microwave heating to cut baking and roasting times - because, the company says, those models simply never caught on. Some owners apparently felt there was too much of a learning curve with the Accellis.

However, the GE Trivection ovens, including the GE Profile single oven JT930SKSS (*Est. $2,800) and double oven JT980SKSS (*Est $3,800) use a similar concept and are still available. The Trivection combines conventional heat, microwave heating and convection heating (which involves circulating warm air through the oven) to decrease cooking times, and reviews say the Trivection generally lives up to its claims. The GE Trivection is different from previous iterations of speed cookers in that it doesn't convert to a microwave, although it does use microwave technology. It looks much like a regular oven. While the Trivection oven is capable of slashing baking and roasting times, it also costs more than most other single wall ovens.

Although the consumer feedback we read about GE's Trivection is positive overall, other models perform as well or better and have a larger oven cavity. Therefore, we haven't included the Trivection in the ConsumerSearch Best Reviewed section. In a review at Newsweek magazine, decreased cooking time is the Trivection's only advantage. Editors taste-tested turkeys roasted in the Trivection and three other ovens. While the Trivection cooked the fastest, the meat from other ovens was equally tasty.