Oven Symbols Guide

The standard setting for many electric fan-assisted ovens shows a fan, often inside a circle. This is the basic setting on many ovens for most cooking tasks. It’s always worth checking to see if your oven has a more appropriate setting for the dish you’re cooking, or a more advanced function like NEFF’s CircoTherm®.

Many NEFF ovens feature CircoTherm®, a unique hot-air system that enables you to bake and roast at the same time on different shelves in your oven, enabling you to cook different dishes at the same time (and have them ready at the same time). This is identified by a large fan symbol.

Using the grill with the fan on is ideal for gentle roasting as the fan circulates the hot air all around the oven. The grill switches itself on and off to ensure food doesn’t get too dry. This symbol shows a jagged line above a fan.

Ovens with top and bottom heating elements are very versatile as the elements can be turned on and off separately. The lower or bottom heat symbol (a single line at the bottom of the symbol) is used for gentle, slow cooking of casserole-type dishes, and can also be used for reheating or crisping.

With two lines at the top and bottom of the symbol, this setting is ideal for roasting and for baking items like pastries, scones or biscuits on a tray. The fan doesn’t get used with this setting.

What is the best setting for pizza? By combining bottom heat with the fan, you can make sure pizza bases crisp up nicely without over cooking or burning the toppings. This fan with bottom heat setting is also great for pastry dishes where you want to keep the fillings moist. Look for the symbol showing a fan with a single line below, or on NEFF ovens with a specific pizza mode there will be a symbol showing a sliced pizza.

Getting bread just right can be challenging, so an oven with a bread setting can be a big help. On NEFF ovens, this symbol shows a loaf of bread.

A great alternative to bottom heat without fan for slow cooking casserole-style dishes. Ovens with this function use gentle top and bottom heating to cook food thoroughly and tenderly for several hours.

Proofing (or proving) dough in the oven is quicker than at room temperature and this special setting won’t let the surface of the dough dry out. The dough proofing symbol shows a dish with dough rising from it.

Grilling of steaks and sausages are usually done with the full grill, shown by two rows of jagged lines. This setting is ideal for grilling large amounts of food that cover the whole grill area.

The part grill is used for grilling smaller amounts of food. Care needs to be taken to make sure your food is directly under the hot grill area. The symbol uses a single jagged line.

Grilling with a fan is a great way to grill more gently, as the fan circulates the heat around inside the oven. Ideal for thicker items where there’s a risk of the top burning.

This setting is ideal for when you want a crispy base and a gently grilled top, such as for pies, quiches and pizzas. Look for a jagged line at the top and a straight line at the bottom.

Great for dinner parties or warming plates for your favourite take away, the preheating or plate warming symbol shows two or three stacked plates.

This low temperature setting is really practical as it enables you to safely defrost frozen food quickly. Look for a symbol showing frost with a water droplet below it.

Great for checking on progress without opening the door. Ovens with an interior light have a self-explanatory lightbulb symbol.

This setting is great for keeping food warm without overcooking it. Ovens with this function will have a symbol showing a dish with heat rising from it.

Ovens with Pyrolytic cleaning functionality heat built-up food residues to turn them to ash that can then be wiped away. To use this setting look for a symbol showing three sets of three arrows or dots.

Ovens with a function like NEFF’s EasyClean® soften food residues to make them easier to wipe away on a regular basis. This function uses a symbol showing a large droplet of water.

Steam ovens need to be periodically descaled to keep them working properly. Luckily, this can be done automatically using the descaling function, shown by a symbol with four downward-facing arrows.

Some ovens are fitted with a childproof lock that needs to be pressed for around 4 seconds to turn and off. Look for the key symbol to see if your oven has this setting.

A minute minder is really useful as it will turn the oven off after a certain time and give an audible beep. It’s represented by a clock symbol.

This simple setting will sound an alarm when cooking is complete. The symbol looks like a bell.