Potential Fireball in my Kitchen

I'm pretty mad. When buying the appliances for my new kitchen, was was sort-of talked into, sort-of tricked by the salesman into buying the most expensive model, even though I wanted the mid-range model.

He managed this by asking me some dumb question about oven cleaning (it might have been the time he asked, "Do you enjoy cleaning your oven?" with such seriousness on his face, as if I might have said, "I do, actually, it's one of my guilty pleasures.") When I answered that I wasn't all that keen on cleaning my oven, he surreptitiously changed my choice of oven to the pyrolytic cleaning model. So that's what I ended up getting.

I was a bit shocked to see the price of the overall package jump up, but I thought, what the heck, I'll live here and use my oven for MANY more years to come, it might end up being worth it."

And of course, you know that a fortnight after the kitchen was finished, it appeared we were indeed moving, a fact I still haven't come to terms with.

Now, what does the "Pyrolytic" model do that other ovens don't?

Well, the salesman claimed that I would have have practically NO CLEANING to do in my new oven, as the pyrolytic feature heats the oven up to something ridiculous, like 500 decrees C (that's 932 degrees F, I kid you not) and it blitzes all grease to kindgom come. At worst, the only residue is some ash that can be wiped out.

That temperature is HOT. It's like having a controlled fireball in your kitchen. It's like the surface of the sun. It is so hot that the light doesn't work during cleaning and once a certain temperature is reached, THE OVEN LOCKS ITS OWN DOOR and will not unlock it until it cools down to a more reasonable temperature.

Would that be worth the extra money, you think?

Perhaps.

That is, it would be worth it IF the included oven trays could be put through the pyrolytic cleaning process.

IF the included wire racks could be put through the pyrolytic cleaning process.

IF the side-rails could be put through the pyrolytic cleaning process.

IF you didn't need to do the abovementioned items the old-fashioned way, with elbow grease and oven cleaner.

IF it did not say "After every use, wipe the oven with a solution of washing-up liquid and allow to dry."

IF it didn't say, "First, remove the worst of the residue manually."

IF it did not say, "Residue that is not removed may cause changes to the surface colour when Pyroluxe is used."

How glad am I that I spent the extra money on it?

Not at all.

Humbug.