The trials of a new oven

After a false start the weekend before, my new oven belatedly arrived last Saturday. When I realised that the Which? best buy oven was a sensible price I bought the Zanussi ZOB35301XK without any further research. Is it good for baking bread? Does it have a timer? Who knows.

I'd decided to try fitting the oven myself. Before the oven arrived, my main concern was the electrics, but they turned out to be a doddle compared with fitting the oven into the space.

I removed the cable from my old oven and turned to the new instruction manual only to read it tells you to call an electrician with no further information! It was a bit fiddly to open up the cable box, but once we'd got that sorted out the cabling was relatively easy.

We then lifted the oven into the space and it was too small! The screws that hold the oven in place and prevent it from tipping forward, were going into thin air. There was nothing for it but to go to the DIY store for a baton to put inside the unit for the oven to screw into.

To relieve the frustration we stopped at the Blossoming Together café in Deptford for a restorative hot chocolate and a slice of cake on the way home. A slightly peculiar place.

Back home I managed to split two of the soft wood batons before it was third time lucky and I had once neatly fitted. Finally the oven was in! Only to realised the door wouldn't open as it caught on the unit below......

A couple of batons on the floor of the unit to raise the oven up on skis and the oven was finally installed. It had only taken three hours and got close to a sense of humour failure!

The oven seems great so far, certainly a big improvement on the old one. It heats quickly and seems to maintain a constant temperature. It isn't awash with features, but with a timer and delayed start function it seems to do everything I need.