What's The Difference Between a Fan Oven and a Fan Assisted Oven?

What is a fan oven?

We’re often asked to explain the difference between a fan oven and a fan assisted oven. Both give you great cooking results and are energy efficient to run. However, they do operate slightly differently, and we’ll take you through the benefits of both types of model.

How Does A Fan Oven Work?

It’s one of those beautifully simple ideas that makes all the difference. Fan ovens have a heat element and a fan at the back of the compartment. The fan circulates the heat from the element, ensuring that hot air is distributed around the oven compartment. The fan runs constantly while you’re cooking.

The result is evenly-cooked food, which can be cooked at a lower temperature (generally abut 20 degrees lower than a conventional oven) or for a shorter time. It’s an efficient way of cooking that uses less energy.

What’s Different About A Fan Assisted Oven?

A fan assisted oven also has a fan at the back of the compartment, but there are additional heating elements at the top and bottom of the oven. This gives you the option of cooking with or without the fan.

It’s a really flexible choice, giving you the speed and efficiency of a fan oven when you need it, and the more relaxed approach of a conventional oven if that’s what your recipe calls for.

How Does A Fan Oven Compare With A Conventional Oven?

The lower temperature and quicker cooking times make a fan oven (or a fan assisted oven in fan mode) a great choice if you’re after energy efficiency. Pre-heating is also faster (ideal for speedy suppers). Some cooks say that the circulating air prevents any hot spots, so the food cooks more evenly.

However, if you have a fan assisted oven, you have the option of switching to conventional oven mode. If you’re a keen baker, biscuits and bread tend to prefer the less-dry heat of a conventional oven, so that’s something to bear in mind.

Both options give you fantastic results: it’s just a case of deciding whether you ever want to switch the fan off.

Which fan oven?

Looking for inspiration and ideas? Take a look at some of our best-selling fan and fan assisted ovens.

Our Best-Selling Fan Ovens

Our Lamona single fan oven is one of our most popular ovens, as it’s excellent value, and has a contemporary-looking, stainless steel finish.

It has a defrost setting, which is a really useful fan oven feature to look out for. The fan grill setting gives your food that mouth-watering, crispy finish. (Our tip: always flash the grill on towards the end of baking a lasagne or cottage pie. It crisps up the topping a treat.)

It also has a cooling fan function, which is ideal if your main course had to be cooked at a hotter temperature to your pudding.

If you’re cooking for a hungry family or fitting out a larger rental property, the Lamona built-under double fan oven has heaps of space. Both ovens have fans, and the top oven has a variable grilling function. The perfect way to produce a whole roast dinner.

Popular Fan Assisted Ovens

Finished in stylish stainless steel, the Lamona single fan assisted oven is another of our best-selling appliances. You can decide between fan and element-only settings, and there’s also a grill function.

This model also has a rapid heat function, which is used for speedy pre-heating. This is a great feature for cooks with busy lifestyles. Again, there’s a handy cooling function. You can also choose to cook just with the lower heating element, which is a good way of making sure a dish is heated all the way through.

Neff Hide & Slide Fan Assisted Oven

If space is at a premium, this beautifully styled fan assisted oven from Neff has a clever sliding door. It simply slides away under the oven compartment, making it super-easy to check on your supper. Neff’s CircoTherm® technology gives even cooking results on all three oven shelves.

Multi-Function Ovens

And of course, there is a third way: the double oven with both fan and conventional compartments. If you have the space, this is a good option for flexible cooking.

This Bosch double oven has a top oven which provides conventional and grill cooking, and the larger bottom oven is heated by fan.

We hope that’s made the difference between a fan oven and a fan assisted oven clearer. Both are superb, energy-efficient options that give great, evenly-cooked results. And thanks to our rapid delivery service, you can be trying out your first fish pie or pizzas in no time. (Check out our Deliveries page to see just how soon this could be…)

Have a look at our selection of ovens to see more great-value models. If you’re looking for a reliable fan oven for a rental property, visit our Services For Landlords page.