The kitchen is the hub of the home and arguably the most important appliance in the kitchen is the oven. With the numerous ovens offered to buyers, how do you know what you ought to be looking for in a good oven? When you are looking for an oven you should make sure that the one you decide on is suitable for your family's lifestyle The secret is all in the features! Whether you choose to buy your new oven from a high street electrical store or from the internet you can be faced with the same jargon. Once you know how each of the available features may benefit you, it will be possible to select an oven which works for you.

Below we are going to look at a few of the features that can be found in present day ovens. When you can understand the technical jargon surrounding oven features you'll be able to pick the right oven to suit your needs – and make sure the cash you spend on it will not go up in smoke!

What choices are offered when choosing an oven?

•Intelligent Technology – taking all the guesswork out of cooking, these ovens can tell you exactly how long food needs to be cooked for. You no longer need worry about under or over cooking your meals.

•Multifunction - an oven with all of the functions you'll need to fit your cooking needs.

•Steaming – health conscious ovens that will steam your veg and fish.

•Steam Cleaning – who wants to clean their ovens nowadays? We want one that can clean itself!

•Fan controlled defrosting - an oven function that circulates room temperature air to defrost food thoroughly.

•Interval Steam – Ovens that will provide the healthy option of steaming but can also produce a brown crisp to your food like conventional ovens.

•Slow cooking – in recent times slow cookers have seen resurgence in popularity due to busy lifestyles. Now there is no need for a seperate slow cooker, your oven can provide this

•Keep warm functions – Similarly due to busy lifestyles we can't always eat at the same time so modern ovens have an ability to keep food warm without ruining it.

•Timers and LCD displays - a bright display of the advanced timer function, enabling you to see the timing clearly.

•Triple glazed doors - in our safety conscious times lots of ovens are coming with triple glazed doors. This will keep the heat inside your oven

These are probably the most important features on modern ovens and they are features that may make your life that little bit easier. If you're clear on what you are looking for you are far less likely to be sold an unsuitable oven. When buying ovens –like cooking – preparation is paramount.