Advantages: Stunning looks, high performance, built to last
Disadvantages: Very heavy (also an advantage), expensive

...Got a Smeg A2 just after they came out. My wife did a long and exhausting comparison with just about every other range cooker available before settling on the Smeg. Our runs on LPG. This was a simple conversion, all the bits were included and detailed instructions given. It has been heavily used, my wife cooks for an old folks club in the village. The only problem in the 6+ years was the thermocouples were flakey. The gas would sometimes be hard to light and would occasionally go out. I had to regularly remove an clean the contacts under the thermocouples. The problem was that they got dirty after pans overboiled and the contacts failed to work. A quick clean and a rub with wet-and-dry sandpaper did the trick. I don't have the thermocouple problem now as Smeg have redesigned then. They are now 2-wire, and don't depend on earthing... Read review

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Advantages: High Quality, solid non slip pan stands, top space.
Disadvantages: A little noisy.

...I recently replaced a fifteen year old Philips four burner hob with the Smeg SRV 576 GH (five burners). I chose the cast iron pan supports as I had experienced heat distorsion with the enameled 'wire' pan supports on the previous hob. This was a good decission, heavy or full pans and small ones alike are much more stable. The cast iron offers a high level of slip resistance so pans tend to stay where you put them, the heavy handed use of a potato masher does not cause, previuosly experienced problems, of the pan bouncing, slipping off or bending the supports. The extra 100 mm (an increase from 600 mm), provides much more room for pan parking well away from the heat. The gas control takes a few attempts to get use to as there is no stop between low to high flame and through to off, (on a few occasions when turning the heat up I've gone... Read review

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Advantages: Does exactly what it should AND has a highly amusing name.
Disadvantages: All the cheesy jokes in this review.

...Ladies and gentlemen, in this review, I'm going to wax lyrical about my SMEG.... that's an oven. Recently my husband and I - blimey I sound like the Queen - decided it was time to re-vamp our kitchen. We were living with the one which came with the house which was fine really but had been designed in about 1982, hence the floor was bright red, the cupboards were pine the tiles were grey the work surfaces were grey, the doors were bright blue with red handles all the towel rails were red and the oven.... was pants! It was old, gas powered and had only two settings, RED HOT or off. And when I say red hot I mean you could probably smelt iron in it, you could fry eggs on the door after about 10 minutes and by dint of the fact it didn't melt I can only assume the lining was made of cunningly disguised ganister. So.... when we set out... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful

Advantages: Brilliant ergonomics, evenness of the cooking
Disadvantages: Bottom Drawer snaps, Timer reverts to clock even when on timer

...that I had enough sense not to rip out my kitchen and bin the old cooker whilst the cooker was intending to make its appearance. But by no means that this was Smeg’s fault, solely that responsibility rests upon the distributor taking the option of not being able to supply the requested model and making up their mind which one to send me instead. Connectivity The range cooker simply slides into the space available and connects up to the electricity with a 30amp supply, and connects to the gas with the typical bayonet fitting coupling (don’t forget to get it connected by a Corgi registered person to plug it in with a similar style to a light fitting and charge you £60 for the privilege). Because I wanted to slot in with the tiles flush at the top to run with the worktop height, there is a rising lip (about 50mm) at the back of the cooker which... Read review

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Advantages: Lots of gas rings and internal cooker space
Disadvantages: Hard to keep clean!

..., we've left behind some great built in appliances - but not this time, I'm taking this one with me! The Smeg A1 model is 900cm wide, most normal ovens are 500 - 600 wide. We bought a stainless steel splashback and hood to match. It was part of a package bought from an online retailer. It sat in the hallway for months, because we saw the offer, saving several hundred pounds, and bought it there and then - even though we hadn't finished the kitchen itself! It comes with six gas rings, one really small one for milk pan-sized saucepans, one medium sized ring for the next sized saucepan up, two larger ones, one huge one (use for my Wok usually, but turned down low, as it is a monster!), and a fish kettle ring (elongated, especially for long thin pans). I don't cook fish in fish kettles very often, but it is handy for those cast iron griddle... Read review

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Advantages: Looks, quality, excellent to cook with
Disadvantages: For me none

...for and this is a good example of this. I can't comment on other top branded makes but this compared to the one previous that was made by big brand name is in a totally different class. All the panels fit nicely, doors open and close with a nice smooth easy action. The adjustment when using the hob is accurate and even a small amount makes a difference. The other thing is that it comes with everything you need, ie the chains fitted to secure it to the wall (to meet regs) the gas connection at the back is of the bayonette type. The hose is not included I might ad but the washers are to fit it. It also comes with additional jets that are for LPG I think. I had a Corgi registered plumber and Part P registered electrician fit mine to keep within all the regs. I guess it could be easier to clean but I/we just wipe down after each use. I would like... Read review

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Advantages: Looks fantastic, easier to keep clean than the stainless steel version,excellent quality product!
Disadvantages: Top scratches easily, not standard size so can't just put into an existing kitchen

...the with a hammer at full whack and not see a mark! The cooker benefits from gas rings on top (including a 'mega hot' front ring - useful for stir frying or heating things up really quickly), but the ovens & grills are electric (main oven is fan assisted)- giving the best of both worlds in my opinion! We also bought the matching hood / extractor fan, which also has a built in light. The extractor is really powerful, but also very noisy so I tend to just put it on for a minute or so. Very effective though! Love the cooker, visitors always comment on it, would thoroughly recommend it!... Read review

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Advantages: Very neat, quiet and washes well. Cuts environmental impact
Disadvantages: Would query the A rating for drying.

...wasn't hotter than 60ºC. If your hot tank is created by an electric immersion heater, don't bother. It's only really gas-heated water that works out cheaper. This will sound strange but we don't bother heating our water by gas on a daily basis just to have it sit around cooling off in a tank, since all our uses for hot water are taken care of by the likes of instantaneous electric showers, electric kettles and a cold fill washing machine, so cold fill suits our usage, until my brother in law visits and moans about the lack of hot water for shaving! LOCK AND LOAD I frequent a lot of school staff rooms, so I get to put a lot of coffee mugs in a lot of different dishwashers so despite being a geezer, I notice the oddities of each brand, vis-à-vis loading. The SMEG has some interesting little variations on the theme. Kitchen knives can... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful

Advantages: The machine does not make much noise
Disadvantages: This machine does not wash dishes or glasess well

...I had three of these machines in less than a year and finally gave up. I belived that Smeg was a reliable make, and although we never had a problem getting replacements on indeed our money back in the end all three machines were a pain from start to finish. They did not wash my dishes very clean and were a disater for my glasses leaving them very scratched after just one wash let alone dirty. Big items like pans were just not worth putting in the washer as they never came out clean. Cutlery always needed at least two washes and often came out covered in water marks. The dishwasher tablets do not disolve properly however having used the same make in a different machine I had no problem. I believe that the Smeg does not heat the water to a hot enough temperature. One of the reasons we bought this machine was the easy controls... Read review

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Advantages: None
Disadvantages: Many

...the oven. We might look into blowing the old oven up as some sort of payback. On a general note, we fully kitted out our kitchen with Smeg, we have had problems with everything and have been very unimpressed with Smeg quality and customer service. We will never buy another Smeg appliance. Smeg truly is smeg.... Read review

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