Westinghouse 60cm Multi-Function 10 Pyrolytic Oven WVEP6716

We purchased the WEST 60CM MULTI 10 PYRO OV SS mainly for its Pyroclean feature. After using the self-cleaning function, the internal paint was damaged. We were later told this happened because the trays were left inside — something that was not clearly warned anywhere on the oven. It is unreasonable to expect consumers to remove standard oven components when using a self-cleaning function. Very disappointing product quality and unhelpful customer service response.

So this was recently installed in our rental property because the old Omega oven was dying. What do I think of it, now that I've had a few weeks to test it out? It's OK. I had it as a 3-star rating - but knocked it down due to some serious safety issues. Read on to find out more! I don't have a thermometer to test it, but it feels like the temperature is a little lower than what is displayed. I've been writing a cookbook for years, and I've used a few different ovens in my home in that time (5 to be precise). I've had to increase the heat again back to 180 degrees for quite a few baked desserts in my book. Previously, 170 degrees seemed to be fine, but with this oven, the heat just isn't quite as much - so remember that when you're baking. Err on the higher side when it comes to setting the baking temperature. The Fan Forced setting seems to heat much higher than the Bake, even at the same degrees. But at least this oven HAS a Bake. The old oven did not, and I seriously missed that for baking things like bread! Fan-forced baking can dry out your food, so it's not always the right choice. When cooking muffins, though, I have had to use the very bottom rack, and the middle rack. In every other oven I've used, the second top and the second bottom racks were ideal for muffins. But if I do that in this oven, it overcooks my muffins up top! So yes, the Fan-forced setting is definitely much hotter than the Bake setting, even at the same temperature. Go figure. I do like that the screen shows you where it's up to with temperature, and it does a quick beep when it reaches the desired temperature. That beeping is OK. But the beeping when it's finished, with a timer, almost does my head in! It's a really annoying sound! So of course it always drives me to take my food out of the oven! But the preheating takes a long time with this oven. So if you think you can just set it to 210 degrees and have it ready to pop your lemon meringue in in 10 minutes' time, you will be sorely disappointed! For lower heat, you can give it only 15 minutes, but for higher heat, give it at least 30 minutes to preheat. This oven is a slow preheater. Some of the screen icons are very small, and I can see how they might be confusing for some people. Luckily I have good eyes so it's not a problem for me. However, this oven's touch buttons all made perfect sense to me, even before reading the manual. So extra marks for that! It's not completely intuitive, but it makes sense, and I like that. With the Pizza setting, I find it leaves the pizza a bit too...wet. I'm thinking I might need to use Fan Forced or even Grill for 5 minutes at the end, just to dry things out a little more? Even though the manual says the Pizza setting is a combo of Fan Forced and Base Heat, it doesn't seem to be...quite right. And the Pizza temperature is set at 210 degrees, but I had to move it to 220-225 degrees for a better cooking temperature. Again, this oven tends to cook things slower and cooler than I'd like. So if you can remember to just UP the temperature by at least 5-10 degrees, you'll get better cooking out of this one! Any roasts I cook have to be at 200 degrees in this oven. Normally in other ovens, 180 degrees is about right. Not in this one, though. Now, as to the pyrolytic function. I have never used one of these before, and although it makes sense to make sure you remove any baking dishes first, I was surprised to learn you have to remove ALL the trays - and that includes the oven shelves, telescopic rails AND side racks! How irritating. And FYI, if you don't remove all of them first, the oven shelves and side racks turn out fine, but the telescopic rails get stiff and they, along with the front of one rack that says "Air Fry" go a goldeny colour. So, to avoid any discolouration and potentially ruining your telescopic rails, PLEASE remove ALL the oven racks/rails before using the pyrolytic function!!! It would be good if this was noted more specifically in the manual. Early on. But it was only mentioned as an aside, halfway through the manual (which I had to download and print off, by the way, since the oven doesn't even come with its own manual. You're getting slack, Westinghouse!). I think for this sort of function, there should be a 'warning' leaflet put in with the manual. Otherwise people are going to ruin their oven rails in no time at all! It was kinda cool how the oven flashed the little broom icon at me, though, to say it wanted a pyrolytic clean. However, I'd only been using the oven for a bit over 2 weeks by that stage, and it didn't look dirty. And there was NO ash after I'd run the pyrolytic clean, either, so I don't think it really needed it. Perhaps it just flashes that at you after X amount of uses, akin to the 'drum clean' cycle on a washing machine? Given I use the oven most days, I guess the oven was programmed to say it needed a clean because, who knows, maybe I'd put a messy roast or 5 in there in all those uses?! But I had not. Anyway, next time it tells me it wants to be pyrolytically cleaned, I'm going to use my better judgement and make that dependent on whether it LOOKS dirty! Since I'm not a messy cook, I doubt I'll need to clean it very often! Just as well, having to remove all the racks and rails first. Oh, and the oven locks when it's super hot in the pyrolytic phase, you can't accidentally open it. It unlocks when it's cooled down enough. I guess that's a good safety feature. The Grill/Maxi Grill function works well. Got some yummy lamb cutlets out of the oven the other day. Haven't tried the AirFry function yet, but plan to! It looks like it should work well, and the gadgets you get to do the air frying look like fun! Actually, this oven comes with a lot of gadgets: multiple baking dishes, an air fry tray, two oven racks, and telescopic rails! The telescopic rails are actually quite useful - BUT - if you pull out the rack too quickly, it falls off the telescopic rails and risks sloshing your super hot food all over you!! DANGEROUS DESIGN! My daughter accidentally did that recently. It's just lucky that what was being cooked didn't have liquid in it. Luckily she had a quick reaction time and managed to catch it with the oven mitts. Now, the reason the telescopic rails are so dangerous is that the back of the telescopic rails have a little raised metal stopper, just shy of 1cm high. But it's not high enough. The rack placed on the rails JUST sits in front of it. Any shifting of that rack and BAM! It's liable to 'jump' the stopper...and then the rail dislodges and your hot food falls, too! Whoever 'designed' this should be fired. I honestly do not know how it passed safety regulations. I also have a major gripe in that the oven racks themselves have this lip at the front. You CANNOT slide in your creme brulees in water dishes. You must first risk the water sloshing into your creme brulees! And forget it if you've got a super heavy roasting dish to slide in. You have to LIFT it over the lip first! Seriously, what is with that?! People are going to burn themselves having to work around those lips on the oven racks! Again, who 'designed' this?! Yes, the lips keep the food inside the oven, so it can't accidentally fall out - but how is it going to? It's behind an oven door! But to get your food in there in the first place requires lifting it OVER a burning hot ledge. Marks off for that. I've never come across an oven where the oven rack stops you from being able to slide heavy and/or awkward items straight in. If you're weak or old or both, do not buy this oven. You will hate the racks! I am neither weak nor old, and I still hate these badly designed racks! Overall, I have found the Westinghouse ovens I've used tend to cook on the cooler side. You need to jack up the temperature by a good 5-10 degrees. Once you account for that, this oven seems to do a reasonable cooking job. It's got all the right bells and whistles that are useful for a busy family. It does take a while to preheat, though, and the front of the racks are a dangerous design, and the telescopic rails are not safe, and some of the beeping sounds are irritating, but otherwise, so long as you don't mind some major safety issues, I guess it's not a bad buy...?