A New Oven

So, it turns out our oven is broken and cannot be repaired. The exact phrase was:

"It's over 10 years old so the parts aren't made anymore".

What?

It is stainless steel - it can't be that old. But no, apparently 10 years is over the hill in oven years (perhaps they age similar to dogs).

The current oven is gas, but I think I want an electric one. I have checked out CHOICE and read their reports on ovens and apparently gas is no longer all it's cracked up to be. Electric ovens have improved over the years and an electric oven can have so many cooking options that they can be much more versatile than a gas oven.

Here is my wish list for my oven:

• Non marking stainless steel (for grubby little finger marks)
• External Grill (or super duper internal grill that won't splash fat through the entire oven)
• At least three shelf positions
• Cooking options like fan or different elements on or off
• Self cleaning - but will heating the oven to high temps damage my timber kitchen?
• A side opening door sounds really nice but not at the expense of other things on my list
• A door with a large window so I can see the food without having to open the door during cooking
• Shelves that won't tip when they are half pulled out and have safety stoppers so they won't come all the way out by accident.
• A smokeless grill tray (especially if we go for an internal grill)
• A non-tilting grill tray with stoppers like the oven shelves as well as a grill tray that comes out far enough to reach food at the back of the tray.
• A shield on the front of the grill element to stop burnt fingers

Other things to check:

• The inside dimensions
• Energy Efficiency
• How easy it is to get to the bulb
• Ease of removing shelves for cleaning plus lack of nooks and crannies on the inside of the oven.
• The warranty length
• Service times etc.

So that's my check list for today. Hopefully by the weekend we will have purchased one. I had no idea how much I rely on using an oven.