Smeg SA304X-8

Poor quality oven – This Smeg 60cm oven with vapour cleaning function was installed by the builders (Core Building Group in Canberra) as we bought our house off the plan. We’ve been using it quite regularly for over a year now. In our opinion, it’s a cheap, bottom of the line oven with a number of flaws: (a) The oven is loud when the fan is on and even when… Read more

cooling down. Okay if you have a kitchen separate to living area but if you have an open plan living arrangement, avoid these ovens.

(b) It’s impossible to see what’s happening in the oven when the grill is on. The window space is too small and the door has to be closed when the grill is operating. If the door is left open the oven automatically switches off. For instance, melting cheese on Shepard’s Pies under the grill is challenging as the rack has to be midway up and once I put the pie container on the shelf and close the door there is no visibility of how the cheese is going so I have to peek inside every couple of minutes. We never had this problem with our old Fisher & Paykel oven.

(c) The oven only comes with one rack. I had to buy a second one at a cost of about $77. Who sells an oven with only one rack?!

(d) This model has a double-window with a gap in between which is a magnet for spills and drips. Once there are stains in between the two glass panes, one has to remove the door then remove the glass to clean. Very time consuming.

(e) I’ve used the vapour steam function but it seems more of a gimmick unless it’s meant to be used after every use in which case it’s too time consuming to be useful. So, don’t buy this oven because you think it’ll miraculously self-clean. You need to get a pyrolytic oven if that’s one of your priorities.

On the plus side, the oven does get to temperature reasonably quickly.

SMEG SFA7390X – I have literally just bough a smeg oven the SFA7390X and in 3 days had to have it replaced by Appliances on Line who came out with a SMeg technician. the technician said...I quote I dont care what you do...fix it or replace it. They replaced it with the same Oven and it it making an even worse noise than the first one. The fans on both machines… Read more

have been rattling and vibrating making an unbearable noise. I have waited around now a total of 8 hours at home waiting for technicians to come out. I am indeed feeling like I have been sold a 3100.00 Lemon of an oven and would never buy another Smeg. I am now still waiting for a Smeg technician to come out and fix the problem....and have to wait another 10 days in order to get a first in the morning appointment so that I do not have ot take another day off work....

WOW Smeg Really – I purchased a Smeg oven thinking I was buying quality which I now believe to be far from the truth. We purchased our Smeg SA710X and It has been the biggest disaster ever imagined. We are now on our second oven, had the same fault 4 times and need to replace the oven for a third time. It over heats and ceases to work any longer. The handles have… Read more

become extremely hot. Dinner parties cancelled and missed because we had no oven. I have lost income as days now maybe even weeks have added up over the years as repair people require someone home and don't work after hours therefore you wait all day on them. I mentioned this to your company and was sent a oven tray. My family and I felt insulted after what we have been through. I am now going to have to have our kitchen cabinets altered to allow for another model to be installed all together. I have also been a fool and purchased an extended warranty each time the oven is replaced and I never get this money back even though there is clearly something wrong with it. Would never touch a Smeg product again nor would I recommend them.

Very disappointed with product and customer service – I don't like writing reviews however I really felt as if I had to for smeg ovens. We bought a smeg oven which was supposedly "the best" of the ovens however it most definitely was not! When we had it installed by the electrician and plumber we were told this beautiful "new" oven was a faulty item. A brand new oven - faulty? You have got to be… Read more

joking. I called up the customer service team for smeg to get a technician out - surprise surprise there were no technicians available until the next week. My husband then called and all of a sudden there was a technician available the next working day.

Which was fine, they came and "fixed it" then a week later I had a couple of friends and family over to show my new smeg oven off and half way through the electrics had cut out. I had to throw away the food which was half cooked!!! Not impressed at all. When I called for another technician to come out, once again, surprise surprise the technicians were ALL busy! I now do not have an oven/stovetop to cook food for my family until another couple of days, in which once AGAIN I have to take time off work so a technician can come and fix it.

Really not happy with the results as I was not even offered any kind of compensation and definitely will NOT recommend a smeg oven to anyone.

disappointed – bought brand new oven cooktop and dishwasher when we built in 2004. chose smeg as had heard it was top of the range. had issues with the thermostat and buttons on the oven 5 years later and then the dishwasher blew up at the same time. smeg was very accommodating and replaces the dishwasher entirely whilst had the oven fixed for us. it was great.… Read more

in November last year the oven stopped turning on completely and the igniter switches constantly ignite even after ensuring they are clean. overall not satisfied with the preformance of the oven at. haven't replaced the oven yet and haven't contacted Smeg as I figured out goods are now 10 years old. overall the products I did not love. On the up side Smegs after sale service after the first five years was impeccable; which is more that I have read of other brands.

Four years on and starting to pack it in – I put smeg products in my newly built house 4 years ago. Oven is now starting to break down. My smeg dishwasher handle snapped off when only three years old. I would not choose smeg brand again. It costs a lot of money just in call out fee to fix items. May as well replace them with another brand.

Satisfactory at best – The indicator markings keep rubbing off. We dont use solvents or abrasive cleaners. We have replaced 3 oven motors . The oven motors are fairly quite for a while but become quite noisy. I would not buy another Smeg oven. The Smeg Gas cooktop on the other hand has been terrific and I would buy another one if required.

very good oven – this has to be the best oven i have ever used it has the most accurate temp settings and doesn't dry out food as much as others i have used, and the self cleaning is one of the best i have experienced it was well worth the extra money and is the best feature of my new kitchen accurate temp settings and self cleaning stainless steel isnt as fingerprint proof as id hopped

Rusty – The stainless steel is obviously made for Germany. Our 'faceplate' is rusting nicely from the bottom after 3 years. I mean, it could be worse, but we paid a lot for something that should look good for more than 3 years. Still, if you buy a Smeg, maybe we deserve it. It works like a much cheaper oven:) It looks like a European product:(

SA3 Series – I am frustrated with SMEG appliances in Australia , they break within few years and the repair costs is excessive, a cooktop ignition repair costs me $250 , range hood repair costs $290 and a SMEG oven thermostat replacement has been quoted for $248. Think before you buy. I have the repair and quotation proof. European glamour Poor quality and bad agent

Best In Price Range – Paid $1192.00 at Winning Appliances 5/10/12. Discount price plus special sale offer at the time (by redemption) of extra 70% telescopic shelf rods (normally you don't get any) plus a baking dish. (These still to arrive but are still within the 6 week ETA.) As this oven is for Grandma (and us too) we paid $159.00 for an extra set of 70%… Read more ·  1

telescopic shelf rods to make using the grill and oven easier without her having to swap them. (The 1 set of rods we have so far are really worthwhile. They make tending roasts much easier - especially as an under-bench install!) We looked at the 100% extension rods but didn't think they gave much better access especially for their extra price.

So far oven has been installed 1 month and we (Grandma, Wife + I) have cooked a few roasts and a cake or two. We are all experienced cooks (wife is a pro). Also used the grill for steak.

This oven/grill is really, really efficient. It does what it's supposed to do (cook!) very well. It especially cooks roasts very thoroughly and quickly.

It has all the combinations possible of oven/fan/grill and you can use any and all in all possible combinations - you are not just limited to just a few choices by the manufacturer.

We like the way the grill has a shield above the element and that the bottom element is sealed below the oven floor. This helps with cleaning.

The grill tray and oven shelves unfortunately are a bit clumsy/sticky but no worse than others in this price range. (Another reason why we got the extra telescopic shelf-rods - with these there is no stick whatsoever!).

We have tried the Vapour Cleaning system and it works quite well (we didn't trust Grandma with the pyrolitic version plus it was more than she would let us spend but we have heard the Smegs are good for pyrolitic also).

We didn't buy the Pizza Stone accessory as it was way too expensive (approx $210). Instead it looks like the $10 one we got from Aldi - or any other one - may fit just fine!) That you can sit a Pizza stone directly on the bottom of this oven is a great idea. Yet to try this but should be fine.

The salesman told us the Smeg SA304X-8 had the lowest heat loss of all in this price range (it keeps its heat inside itself) and even better than many more expensive ones - due to better insulation, seal, triple-glass doors and overall design. This seems to be quite true. The 30yr old oven this one replaced did heat up the bench and under-bench surrounding area quite a lot - to a point of concern for fire although this never happened. This unit keeps this area not hot, not warm, but cold (room temperature) which is a great relief for us when Grandma is alone with it!

The door *and* surrounds *and* trim do not get hot which is great. This is due Smeg's well designed and located mandatory venting fan which all under-bench and wall mounting ovens must have. (I'm not referring here to the other internal oven fan for fan-assisted cooking!) BTW this gentle venting draft is never hot at all (only warm) and is felt from between the top of the oven door and the bottom of the control panel which seems to also help cool the rest of the surrounding trim as mentioned above.

The triple layer glass door is never more than warm to touch - you can leave your hand on it for as long as you like even after the oven has been on for hours.

The control icons are a bit small - especially for Grandma but not impossible (see "cons" below) but Grandma didn't want any digital-displays etc and anyway those versions of this oven are also a fair bit dearer.

The countdown time only goes for 90mins but we realise this is actually a safety feature and respect the manufacturer's decision.

We weighed this oven up against a heap of others in this price range and our decision came down to the one that actually cooks the best, doesn't heat up the surrounding area, and is efficient.

Still seems best value-for-dollar in this price range. Efficiency. Vapour-Clean. Cool-touch door. Good looks. If mounted under bench can be a bit difficult to see exactly what controls are pointing to - especially temperature indication. Controls icons also are quite small.

Best purchase – This is one of best purchases that I've made. Paid special price $1100 to good old Harvey Norman. It took me 6 months to choose. European brands use to be my priority & I compared price vs quality and functions, I'm very picky person, love perfectly designed and easy functioned goods but I'm not the one who would spend $ just because have spare… Read more ·  1

and was not planning spend over $1k as don't have time to play in my kitchen also don't like to cook. But 8 months Smeg in use can say it worth every $. Oven fast heating up, always cool door, easy to use, wider compare to other brands, looking stylish, light just right w, easy moving recks

recent problem but it was fixed very quickly – had a recent issue with this oven (only 12 months old), but after my builder put a service request through it was fixed in a week. very happy with the oven and the builders service. im glad i decided to go with a quality brand over some of the cheaper no name brands. i guess you get what you pay for, easy to use after a small fault , its woking again. Show 4 replies

I don't like to cook but My Smeg does it so well that I can't stop cooking!!! Well done Smeg – Smeg was not my first choice, because I do not like to cook and because the price too high as well as I hardly ever use oven. But had had to replace my old hadly ever working Chef oven, that's might be I did not like do to anything in the oven. I did like the Smeg's design but planed to get Blanco because of the price. So I purchased the Blanco… Read more

gas Top first, and I hate it, even more after a year of using it. After that, no more Blanco for me, so decided to spend more money on an oven and get something better like Smeg. And I've got a good deal $400 discount that makes me even more happy

I love it!!!

First time in my life I can make beautiful rosts, well made cakes. Temperature stays all even, and food well cooked. Door always cool, has 3 layers of glass, easy to clean. It safe with my kid as to turn it on all three nobs should be in position.

Well done Smeg!!! Design, performance, well made, easy to use, easy to clean. Time goes only to 90 min, and oven would turns off

SMEG = Brilliance – Georges design. Brilliant oven. Best oven that I have ever had. Looked at the other more expensive Smeg ovens but I did not want a clock on my oven so I chose this one. I have a Smeg Microwave /convection oven and am about to purchase the Smeg steamer and as they all have clock on them I thought that 3 clocks in a row was a bit silly! Teamed with… Read more

the other 2 appliances I think that my kitchen is perfect. I also have the Smeg dishwasher and everything just blends in so well together. It is Smeg. and i am just such a huge fan.