Bosch HBM56B551B/47

I have owned this for over 5 years and it still works like a charm.

I thoroughly enjoy this product as it is incredibly durable and beautiful to look at. I have owned this for over 5 years and it still works like a charm.

Had to replace my old uneconomic to repair oven. Great at last I can get a double oven. Been such a boon using the top small oven as a warming draw, cooking those small non-family meals or doubling up when fully stretched. Same width as standard but of course slightly taller than a single oven. Capacity of both bottom, similar to by old single, and the generous top oven was right, except the rack positions allowed meant much of the volume couldn't be used. Installation straightforward. Sufficient information in manual to understand how to use. The hard bit was learning how to use it to my advantage.

Top oven is old fashion technology with two pop-out knobs, one clicks to oven functions the other imprecise a vague temperature dial with one light that goes out when temperature reached. Knobs cannot pop back until the oven is switched off, a small plus.

Bottom oven is controlled by a mishmash of pop-out xknobs, up down buttons and a touch sensitive screen and digital readouts. Works well enough when you grow familiar with it, except two major flaws. Having switched the oven functions on, then chosen all the right settings you then have to switch the oven on, again! Number of times I have come back to put food in the oven only to discover it was cold, start over again. Second flaw for me, maybe because I am left handed, after selection oven function then navigating to temperature and back to know to change up or down I kept on triggering the touch screen with the timer settings, then not knowing how to get out of it! Frustrating, but am getting used to it. Can cope with cooking timer settings, still haven't found out how to check actual/ residual temperature and frankly too scared to try out a memory heating selection.

I went for the fully extending racks (bottom oven), what a boon well worth the extra for the ease of seeing and lifting off baking. Website suggests there is a top oven extendible rack also which due to high height would be well worth it but could not track it down.

A quiet oven, with a fairly good even cooking temperature, some hot spot areas, so not perfect.

Worse aspect for me is it is a dirty oven. Sure the back, sides and top self-clean. The oven doors are no worse than others to lift off and to clean. But the enamel floor seem to attract all the grease and fat vapours, settle then congeal on the floor. Far worse than my previous old oven but my cooking hasn't changed. I suspect it how the oven air is contained within the oven. I have had moisture leaking out of the bottom oven on occasions.

Finally there is a trim ledge below the open oven door that is impossible to get to, collects all the crumbs and dirt and is hard to clean even when the door is lifted off.

So pleased in many directions, a good solid well built oven with some good technology but also let down, it is a dirty oven and has some irritating habits!