Cooking & Dishwashers

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; leaving 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. Just be sure to remove any baking trays as these are generally not pyrolytic safe (double check the manual) and wait until the oven has 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 (again, consult the manual). Then once the oven is cool you can wipe down the liners with a damp cloth. Doing this regularly will ensure the liners keep working effectively. Remember that you will need to clean any unlined surfaces, so always check the lining before buying.

There are three types of cooktops: gas, electric (sometimes called ‘ceramic’) 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 (many gas cooktops also come with 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 the 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. For everything on installation and for more on cooktops in general, check out our cooktop buying guide.

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

Before making your final purchase and organising your installation, you should always get an accurate measurement of the space it will be filling and the size of the cooktop it will be resting above. This is to make sure you can buy a rangehood that fits in your kitchen and is an appropriate size for efficiently extracting all that hot air above your cooktop.

All rangehoods regardless of type will require a licensed electrician for installation. Keep in mind that if ducting works are required, this is an additional charge to have that set up. For convenience you can take advantage of The Good Guys Home Services for your professional rangehood installation. We’ll even clean up and take away all the rubbish, so you don’t have to.

Built-in dishwashers are installed within your kitchen cabinetry to sit below the kitchen bench. 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 either be semi integrated or fully integrated; both offering the option to seamlessly match the front panel to your kitchen cabinetry with the help of your 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 litre consumption per wash cycle of models with the same number of 'place settings' - this gives you a like-for-like comparison on how efficient your dishwasher will be according to its capacity.

A convenient way to save time and effort on cleaning your dirty dishes, there's also a range of other features and benefits to using a modern dishwasher. Learn more about the different types of dishwashers and what to look out for in our handy dishwasher buying guide.