Miele's pyrolytic single ovens are 60 cm built-in ovens that clean themselves. When you run the cleaning cycle, the oven heats to a very high temperature and turns grease and spills to ash, which you then wipe away. The door stays locked while it runs. Where capacity is listed it is 76 litres, and the energy rating given is A+. These ovens suit cooks who want one roomy oven and would rather not scrub it by hand.

The first choice is how the oven looks. Miele makes these ovens in four design lines. ContourLine and PureLine models come mostly in Clean Steel, a stainless finish designed to show fewer fingerprints, with some in Obsidian Black. VitroLine comes in Obsidian Black and Graphite Grey. ArtLine is handleless and uses an M Touch display. Controls range from retractable rotary dials to a mix of dials and touch, plus DirectSensor S and M Touch displays on some models. That lets you match the oven to your other appliances.

Cooking features vary more than size does. Simpler models offer about eight operating modes, including Fan Plus, Conventional Heat, Intensive Bake, Fan Grill and Auto Roast. Others go up to 16 modes. Moisture Plus, available on some ovens, adds moisture during cooking, which helps bread rise and keeps roasts from drying out. Several models have a crisp function, a keep-warm setting and rapid heat-up. Some come with a food probe that tells you when meat is cooked through, and the 16-mode models use a wireless food probe. Some models can connect to your home network, and a few have BrilliantLight oven lighting.

To narrow it down, pick a design line first, then decide whether a food probe and Moisture Plus are worth having. If you mostly bake and roast simply, a model with fewer modes will do. If you want precise, hands-off results, look at the 16-mode ovens with a wireless probe. To compare these ovens with Miele models that don't have pyrolytic cleaning, browse all Miele single ovens or Miele electric single ovens, or see all Miele products.