Hotpoint HDM67G8C2CX

Verdict

A premium-looking dual-fuel cooker, the Hotpoint HDM67G8C2CX/UK is nice to look at and offers a lot of space in its two ovens. It’s good to see that both are fan ovens, delivering excellent results in both. The bottom grill could cook more evenly, but that minor complaint aside, this is a great cooker for those that want a lot of cooking space and a gas hob.

Introduction

Although often seen as the cheaper option for integrated appliances, the Hotpoint HDM67G8C2CX/UK shows that dual-fuel cookers can be stylish and powerful.

With as much cooking space (if not more) as integrated appliances, a four-burner gas hob with a lid, and dual fan ovens, this versatile cooker will cope with all of your cooking needs.

Design and features

• Two large ovens
• Simple controls, although temperatures could be better marked
• Integrated gas burner

Kitted out in stainless steel, the Hotpoint HDM67G8C2CX/UK looks smart and will complement pretty much every style of kitchen. It also feels exceptionally well built, from the tough doors to the chunky control dials.

Space is a big reason why dual-fuel cookers remain so popular, as they take up the same physical floor space as an under-counter oven and integrated hob, yet offer similar cooking space to integrated ovens.

Here, the top oven has 44-litre capacity, while the bottom oven has a 70-litre capacity. Together, that’s a combined 114 litres of space, which is similar if you bought separate integrated appliances, such as the AEG KMK968000M combi microwave (43 litres) and AEG BPK948330M oven (73 litres).

The top oven operates like a regular oven, with a fold-down door. Inside, there’s space for two oven shelves. This oven has convection, fan and grill options. That’s good to see, as often the smaller oven won’t have a fan setting.

A clear door and bright light make it easy to see inside while cooking.

As the bottom oven is close to the floor, it doesn’t have a fold-down door, but a swing-open one instead. That’s good in terms of space saving but it does mean that there’s no door to rest a hot tray on, such as for turning over food while cooking. That’s a minor issue with all dual-fuel cookers, so a nearby trivet on a counter is a must.

This oven has five shelf positions, allowing a greater range of cooking options or fully loading big meals, such as a roast dinner. There’s convection, fan, and grill cooking available on this oven, too.

Hotpoint provides plenty of accessories, with five wire shelves provided, compatible with the top and bottom oven. As someone who’s had to go out and buy additional shelves for an oven before, it’s good to get everything in the box.

There’s also a grill pan with a handle, which makes it easier to use either grill, although I did find myself veering towards the top oven for this. And, there’s also a solid baking tray.

There aren’t any slide-out rails, which is a shame. These make it easier to add and remove food to the oven, particularly heavy casserole dishes and the like.

This oven is easy to use, with clearly marked controls for the top and bottom ovens. Hotpoint has used standard symbols for oven functions. I think that they’re easy enough to understand, but the manual explains what each one does.

Dedicated temperature controls are available, but these aren’t that clearly marked: there’s a setting for 200°C and then 250°C on the bottom oven, but the steps between aren’t clearly marked, so there’s a bit of guesswork involved.

A simple timer is available, which can be set to beep when it hits zero or to turn the ovens off. The timer does turn off both ovens at once, so be careful how you use this.

Catalytic liners help keep the oven clean and grease-free, but there’s not a more hardcore pyrolytic option on this model.

I like the glass lid, which sits above the hobs, giving additional counter space when you need it, folding up to provide a splashback and access to the four hobs. Cast iron grates sit above the burners and provide a stable cooking platform, even for my smallest pans.

Again, gas controls are easy to use, with dedicated controls for each burner, and automatic ignition igniting the gas as soon as the hob is turned on.

Performance

• Good energy saving with small oven
• Bottom grill isn’t very even
• Good temperature dispersion

I put the Hotpoint HDM67G8C2CX/UK through a series of tests to see how well it can cook. First, I cooked a batch of oven chips using the smaller top oven, set to 210°C and running for 24-minutes.

Ignoring the heat-up time, this oven used 0.382kWh of power (around 13p). Thanks to the fan oven distributing heat evenly, my chips cooked beautifully and evenly.

Switching to the larger bottom oven for the same task, the cooking was just as good, but power jumped to 0.465kWh (around 16p). Having the smaller oven available for smaller jobs can make for quite the cost saving over the year, while the larger oven becomes useful for bigger jobs.

Setting the top oven to 200°C, I loaded it with a tray of ceramic beans, and then took a thermal shot of it. There’s slightly more heat at the back (where the element is) than the front, but heat is nicely distributed. I measured the front of the oven at 198.4°C and the back at 207.6°C – a small temperature range.

Moving to the bottom oven, the temperature test produced similar results when using the middle shelf, as you can see from the thermal shot below. I measured the temperature at the front of the shelf at 199.9°C and 208.6°C at the rear.

On the top shelf, the oven got quite a bit warmer: 209.8°C at the front and 217.8°C at the rear, with the right-hand slightly warmer than the back. Overall, temperature distribution and control is good.

Moving onto the grills, I put slices of bread across the shelves. Results from the top grill were very impressive. The bottom left was slightly underdone, but the other slices of bread toasted well.

I didn’t find the bottom grill as good. Here, the middle of the grill was very hot, giving me burnt toast, while the top left slice of bread was only just cooked. If I were grilling here, I’d need to turn food regularly; I’d mostly use the top oven, though, based on my results.

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