Cooking

Ovens with a Pyrolytic function are Electric Ovens, running at ultra-high heats of up to 500°C to completely burn off grease and grime coating the walls, ceiling, racks and door. This leaves behind ash for wiping with a moistened cloth once the self-cleaning cycle is complete.

Pyrolytic Ovens are completely safe as the door locks for safety during these super high temps. Be sure to remove any baking trays as these are generally not pyrolytic safe and wait until the oven has fully cooled down before wiping away the ash.

Some Ovens have catalytic liners fitted on the oven walls instead which work by absorbing fat spatters. The grease trapped in the liners will need to be burned off regularly by running the oven on a high temperature (consult the Oven's manual for more information). Then once the oven is cool you can wipe down the liners with a damp cloth. Doing this regularly ensures the liners keep working effectively. Remember that any unlined surfaces need a regular clean, so always check the lining before buying.

There are three types of Cooktops: Gas, Electric (which can have Ceramic surfaces) and Induction. Gas Cooktops provide instant heat control with precise temperature adjustments. You can also use the size of the flame to differentiate between high, low, and medium heat at a glance. They tend to be more expensive to run and if your home doesn’t have a mains gas connection, you'll need an LP Gas model with many also including a conversion kit.

Ceramic Cooktops are easy to clean with a flat uniform surface. Their heat is not as precise or instantaneous to control as other Cooktops, but they are better than Gas at maintaining a steady, low heat for delicate cooking. There are also Electric Cooktops with solid hotplates as cooking zones.

Induction Cooktops use a magnetic field to heat your cookware fast. Unlike Ceramic, Induction Cooktops do not need to get hot to heat Cookware, making them the safest and most energy efficient Cooktop option. They’re the most expensive to buy but the cheapest to run and are easy to clean.

Rangehoods work by either filtering and recirculating the air or by sucking the grease, heat, smoke and steam through ducts, expelling them outside through the roof. Ducted Rangehoods get the best performance but will require a more complicated installation.

Before making a final purchase and organising an Installation, always get an accurate measurement of the space it will be filling and the size of the Cooktop that will be resting above. Make sure you buy a Rangehood that fits in the kitchen and is an appropriate size for efficiently extracting all that hot air above the Cooktop.

All Rangehoods regardless of type require a licensed electrician for installation. Keep in mind that if ducting works are required, additional charges will apply to have that routing set up. For convenience you can take advantage of our Home Services for professional Rangehood Installation. We’ll even clean up and take away all the rubbish!

Built-In Dishwashers are installed within kitchen cabinetry to sit below the kitchen benchtop. They do not have side and top panels and will need to be enclosed and anchored to prevent them from moving or tipping. Integrated Dishwashers are also essentially Built In however these can be semi integrated or fully integrated, both offering the option to seamlessly match the front panel to kitchen cabinetry with the help of a cabinetmaker.

Dishwashers are a fantastic alternative to handwashing as they use much less water. Always compare the Energy Rating, the WELS Water Rating and the water consumption in litres per cycle of models with the same number of place settings (which refers to how many dining places the Dishwasher can wash at once). This gives a like for like comparison on how efficient the Dishwasher is according to its capacity.

As a convenient way to save time and effort on cleaning dirty dishes, pots and pans there's also a range of other features and benefits to using a modern Dishwasher.