Breville BOV950BSS the Joule Oven Air Fryer Pro

I have used Breville appliances throughout my adult life, and they have always provided excellent value for money and high quality. I recently purchased this oven, and I am so happy with it. It gives a great baking/cooking experience every time. It’s easy to clean and use, and the results are always great. The controls are precise. I love cooking with it, it’s a joy to use. It isn’t the cheapest option but its worth every cent.

I bought my first Breville appliance years ago and was so satisfied with the quality that slowly the brand crowded out everything else when it was time for kitchen replacements. That includes everything from juicers, to coffee bean grinders to stand alone toaster, to tea maker to their Barista Touch Espresso machine. I owned one of their toaster ovens for a number of years but when the fan gave out I opted for another aggressive competitor I won’t name. That oven turned out to be a space saver due to its design, but just too limiting as to its internal size. I recently gave it to a friend and opted to go back to this Breville flagship oven. I was anxious to see what innovations they had incorporated and how smart it had become in its evolution.

First and most noticeable is its larger size. It’s really a behemoth at 21 inches wide, though just 16 inches of that is usable oven width. Its internal usable height is around 8 inches; enough for most projects, but still a bit tight if you’d planned to cook a medium sized turkey or a large chicken. For my needs the size is sufficient since I cook for just one or two. The controls look very similar to my last oven with a few extra options listed. There are design features that may seem small but I find very convenient, like the oven rack sliding outward when you open the oven door. It makes for easier access and fewer hand burning incidents. The construction feels solid and robust as you would expect from Breville and at this price point. The circulating fan is on the side of the oven as opposed to the back and seems sufficiently large to circulate the air inside for faster cooking and frying. The depth inside is sufficient for me and I like how the rear of the oven has a circular convex to allow for the diameter of a frozen pizza.

Setting the oven up was seamless and very automated after downloading the associated app. I found it very interesting that Breville seems to have licensed the content for multiple online cooking resources that you have access to via the app. That’s helpful in getting ideas and planning new meals. As for it’s connectedness, I love that when you preheat the oven, you’ll get an alert on your phone when it’s reached your target temperature. I wasn’t sure what use being connected to the internet carried, but realized this was one seemingly small but extremely helpful uses. The temperature seems consistent and strong and tasks as simple as cooking a baked sweet potato produced perfect results with a crispy skin and tender juicy inside. I also like to cook some dishes on my oven top and then finish them in the oven. Like searing my steak and finishing inside the oven, as well as cooking dense frittatas and then finishing in a heated oven rather than flipping them from the pan onto a dish and back into the pan to finish. That always resulted in too many messes and burns. My frittata today came out perfectly finished in the oven.

Therein, though, lies my one surprise and perhaps small disappointment. To me, what makes an appliance “smart” is the amount of information it is equipped to measure and make useful. In today’s kitchen that translates into a probe or thermometer. Many dishes, especially meats are considered “done” depending on the internal temperature of what you’re cooking.. This oven can set and even adjust the overall temperature of the oven itself, but knows nothing of the temp inside what you’re cooking. That’s why I was deeply disappointed there is no provision for a temperature probe with this oven. My full sized oven has that feature and it’s connected so will alert me when whatever I’m cooking has reached its optimal temp. So while this oven has various smart and convenient features and I’m loving it so far, the omission of a probe is disappointing. If i want my steak medium at 135-140 degrees, I need to anticipate, guess then open the door to insert a meat thermometer, risking getting burned and letting out the even heat inside the oven. That’s a pretty important missing feature that several competitors even at a lower price point have incorporated and forces you to be more present and attentive. That, to me is what makes an appliance really “smart”.

If I can note one other design element I wish Breville would address, it’s the ease and ability to clean the inside of the oven. With the oven racks removed, I’d like to be able to easily swab the sides for cleaning. In my last oven and this one as well, the sides contain metal additions jutting out on the sides to help hold the racks. They greatly impede cleaning efforts and with their rear pointing triangular edges can injure your hand if not careful. If they must be in there, perhaps give them the ability to be unclipped for cleaning.

Overall, I’m very impressed and happy with the oven and will enjoy using it for several years as the last one I owned. I already subscribe to several of the online recipe resources but like that they are conveniently aggregated in one spot on the app for reference, and that’s a big plus. I’s a bit pricier than some of its competition but you can have confidence in Breville for solid performance and high quality.