Hoover Vision Smart Oven Review

Smart Technology Comes To The Kitchen

Smart technology is all around us, whether you like it or not. It’s in our phones, our virtual assistants, and more. The one room that you’d maybe not considered as being smart is the kitchen, but when you think about it, it’s the perfect place for it. If you’re like me, whenever you congregate with friends and family, it always seems to be within the kitchen making it the true hub of the house. Hoover have dedicated themselves to creating a whole range of products for the kitchen whilst giving smart functionality to make your life easier and more convenient.

The Vision Oven

The first product in their lineup is the Hoover Vision Oven, giving you the ability to have dinner ready and waiting before you even get home. What’s more convenient than that? The oven itself includes a general design that looks nothing out of the ordinary, with standard dimensions and has an internal cavity of 80 litres. It has five levels of rack height and incorporates a runner system on one of the rails.

Ventilation wise, it is an enclosed unit with side and front exhaust areas. This is especially handy as when grilling, unlike a conventional oven with a grill attachment and handle that sticks out when using the grill function, you’re actually meant to leave the door closed.

The door features soft-close functionality but doesn’t include a child-lock. This isn’t a deal breaker though as the oven is meant to be mounted at eye-level. Sadly, where we installed it, we just didn’t have this capability.

The Design

The front of the Hoover Vision Oven is made from black glass and looks very premium. It is prone to fingerprints but you’d expect that on a device like this, much like you would on a smart phone. The benefit of this compared to a smart phone, is that when looking at recipes, this is much easier to clean. We’ve all ended up with flour and sticky food on our smart phones when trying to bake a cake.

The front is where the oven really shines and what it’s all about. The clue is in the name; Vision. The majority of the front is taken up by the huge 19″ touchscreen Android panel. Other than this, we find a power button at the top and subtle Hoover branding at the bottom. Other than that, it’s a pretty clean design.

Cooking

I mean, it’s still an oven, so it comes with a range of heating elements, as well as a fan assist function for a more even heating process. You can change all these from the touch screen with relative ease. Plus with a set of sliding rails (movable), a few included baking trays and two wire racks, it’s pretty much ready to go. Everything is removable too, making it very easy to clean.

The modes are pretty extensive too. These include defrosting, grill, a dedicated pizza cooking mode, full oven, and even modes that change from one to the other halfway; no more moving a dish from the over to the grill; this thing is both.

Then you’ll be able to select your temperature, set the time you want it cooking, and go. That’s handy, as it means you’ll be less likely to overcook your food. Can’t be bothered repeating the process? You can store your settings per meal, and it’ll be ready to select from a sort of playlist when you need them.

The Vision Oven is A rated, so it’s pretty efficient despite all the extra features. Plus it uses the standard 13A mains but will need to be hard-wired rather than using a plug. I did that myself, you may want to hire an electrition, but of course, that’s going to add to the overall cost too.

Not Sure What to Cook?

Recipes are included in the touch interface. It’s not perfect, but it’s an easy thing for them to integrate given the Android OS. It’ll even use special cooking modes where it can say cook a lasagne. However, it’ll turn the oven off and then automatically grill the last 10 minutes to crisp up the cheese. I like that, it’s pretty cool.

Social Media

Well, duh, I mean it’s Android. You can choose from a range of apps, news feed and more, as you could on an Android tablet. It’s a little restricted in that you can’t just play games on it, but who knows, maybe you could crack it. Why wait to show people what you’re eating for dinner, when you can get in there early and show them what you’re cooking!

Camera

So how do you see your food? There’s no window on the front. However, it does have a handy camera on the interior. We suspect it’s 720p as it’s not overly sharp, but it’s perfectly usable too. This means you can look at the food, or just bring up your other apps instead if you so desire. The screen is nice and bright though, and at least you don’t have to open it up to check the food; which loses heat and ruins efficiency.

Mobile App

That’s right, there really is an app for your oven too. the “Wizard” app lets you take full control of the oven remotely. You can view the food through the camera. This could lead to some strange Twitch streams, I can tell you.

You can control the temperature, cooking modes, etc. However, you need to enable remote mode from the over before you use the app. That’s like having to press a button on your TV every time you wanted to use the remote. Hopefully, they’ll fix that in future models.

Price and Availability

The MSRP is £1499, which hurts a little. However, it’s currently on sale for around £1100 at many major retailers. Sure, it’s expensive, but you pay more and you get a lot more in terms of features. For those designing a kitchen that’s as much a talking point as it is a practical space, it has a lot to offer. Sure, it’s not for everyone, but it’s a clear sign of the future of smart home technology. There’s even a new model in the works that should have more smart features, and we can’t wait to see it.