AEG KMK968000M Review
A great all-rounder oven, microwave and grill
Verdict
It’s quite expensive, but the AEG KMK968000M offers the ultimate flexibility: it’s a proper oven, it can grill, and it’s an excellent flatbed microwave, too. Coming with extra features, such as plate warming, it’s also useful for other jobs on those occasions that your main oven is in use. I found the accompanying app fiddly to get working, and not entirely worth the effort seeing as the main interface is so simple to use. That aside, this is a great all-round space-saving option, providing multiple cooking features in one neat package.
Pros
- Excellent oven
- Flat-bed microwave
- Clever interface
- Lots of cooking programmes
Cons
- Grill isn’t that even
- Hard to get smart features working
Availability
- UKRRP: £1179
Key Features
- TypeThis is an integrated microwave, grill and oven
Introduction
When cooking, flexibility often trumps specialism – and you can’t get much more flexible than the AEG KMK968000M.
A proper second oven, it’s also a full flatbed microwave and grill, delivering a huge number of choices depending on the meal you’re cooking. It’s quite an expensive option compared to a regular integrated microwave, however.
Design and Features
- Full flatbed design
- Ships with lots of accessories
- Automatic programmes
One of the main benefits of the AEG KMK968000M is that it looks and acts like a traditional second oven. The majority of combi microwaves, such as the Hotpoint MP676IXH, have space for only a single shelf, since they have a turntable at the bottom. However, the AEG KMK968000M is a flat-bottom microwave that offers generous room inside, with three oven shelf positions to choose from, with a total cooking space of 43 litres.
I have found the multiple shelf positions useful while choosing a cooking position – say, for placing items close to the grill; or using the full space, cooking multiple items in one go. In addition, having a separate small oven has been brilliant for making a roast dinner, as I’ve been able to use my main oven for the meat, and the second one for potatoes and vegetables.
AEG is generous with what it supplies in the box. You get a single wire shelf, plus a large baking tray and a deeper grill pan. There’s also a square glass microwave dish for placing on the base, upon which you can rest items for heating. Of course, you can put square dishes in, since there’s no turntable here.
Once the oven has powered on, there’s a very quick setup routine that takes you through the language settings. With that complete, everything is controlled via the single dial on the front, which has a push button action. The interface is neat, with icons and text descriptions indicating the mode you’ve selected; I found this very easy to use, and didn’t need to refer to the oven settings guide to decipher the symbols.
All the modes you’d expect to find in a traditional oven are included, with a choice of top and bottom heating, plus fan, grill with and without fan, frozen food (this lets you quickly cook frozen items without having to pre-heat), and microwave up to 1000W.
There are also some special cooking modes: preserving, dehydrating, plate warming, dough proving, au gratin, slow cooking, keep warm and bread baking. The warming and proving options, in particular, make this a great appliance for use while your main oven is busy.
In standard oven mode, the AEG KMK968000M has a maximum temperature of 230ºC. That’s sufficient for the vast majority of dishes, but you’ll want a proper oven for cooking baguettes, for example, which benefit from a temperature of 240-250ºC.
The microwave mode presents options to defrost, reheat and liquid, plus combination modes that microwave with either fan oven, conventional oven, grill or turbo grilling.
On top of all that, AEG also includes a selection of assisted modes, which use predefined settings to help you cook food such as hash browns, chicken or beef. Some modes, such as for a whole chicken, ask you to enter the weight to set the cooking time. I found that useful as an indicator, but believe that it’s easier to set up an oven manually and then use a temperature probe regularly to check when the food is cooked. For example, free-range organic turkey will likely cook faster than a regular one bought from the supermarket.
Once an automated programme is complete, the oven switches to a keep warm mode automatically, so your food remains hot but doesn’t become overcooked. You’ll even see a message on-screen indicating how long ago your programme finished.
This is a smart oven, which can connect to your Wi-Fi to deliver remote control via the app. That’s the idea, at least. While the AEG KMK968000M happily connected to my Wi-Fi, even receiving an automatic software update, my app refused to register the device at first. I tried a different router, limited to 2.4GHz only, switching to an Android phone and even reducing the level of security on my Wi-Fi network.
Eventually, I moved the oven home from the lab and tried it there, where it did connect. At the test lab, the router runs over a mobile connection, which may have had something to do with it – although the same error didn’t affect the AEG BPK948330M oven.
Not that it was particularly worth connecting. The app delivers remote control only when a button has been pressed on the oven (this is a safety feature); once you’re there, it’s far easier to use the command dial to select your cooking option.
Performance
- Excellent microwave features
- Grill doesn’t quite reach the front of the oven
- Powerful oven
I started by reheating some rice, cooking it for 2 minutes on 700W. I was impressed with the results, with the rice evenly heated following a stir and piping hot throughout, as you can see from the images below. I didn’t need to turn the dish for this mode to work.
Next, I attempted the automatic programme for cooking hash browns, which set the oven to a temperature of 200ºC for 20 minutes. Since this uses the frozen food programme, there’s no need to pre-heat the oven. At the end of the cooking time, the results were pretty good: crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside. An air fryer will do a better job, though.
Using the combination microwave and oven programme, I cooked a potato in 25 minutes. The results were a good: crispy skin on the outside, soft on the inside. However, I did need to turn the potato manually a few times; a microwave with a turntable would have cooked more evenly without any intervention.
Defrosting worked well in this microwave. Although the two slices of bread show slightly cool spots, denoted by the can see from the purple parts of the thermal image below, they felt warm enough to use either as toast or in a sandwich. The bread did need turning half way through the defrost time for even heating, however.
To evaluate the standard functions, I started with my grill test. Here, I laid slices of bread on the oven shelf for grilling. The results below show that the appliance performs well at the rear, but the grill doesn’t quite reach the front of the oven – as you can see from the underdone bread.
I’d stick to using slightly smaller dishes and push any ovenware towards the back of the cavity.
Oven cooking was good. I used a baking tray full of ceramic beads and set the oven to 200ºC. The thermal image taken after 20 minutes shows how evenly the oven heats. There’s a slight warm spot towards the back right, but heat is distributed well elsewhere, making this a proper oven for when you need it.
Finally, I cooked a baguette using the bread setting. I found that I needed to increase the cooking time by a few minutes to achieve an even colour. Even then, the results were good but not as good as cooking in a steam oven.
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Should you buy it?
If you want a great second oven that doubles as a microwave, then this is an excellent appliance.
This AEG oven is quite expensive and for those for whom a single main oven is sufficient, a more traditional microwave may suit them better.
Final Thoughts
The AEG KMK968000M is a product of convenience. If you have space in your kitchen for just two integrated appliances, then this is a cracking choice next to a main oven. Thanks to its flat bed, the AEG KMK968000M is a proper second oven, handy for cooking sides, particularly useful if cooking foods at a different temperature to whatever is cooking in the main oven.
Its microwaving skills are brilliant, too, with the option to put in rectangular dishes that just wouldn’t fit in a regular microwave with turntable. If you’re after something more traditional, check out my guide to the best microwaves.
How we test
Unlike other sites, we test every microwave we review thoroughly over an extended period of time. We use industry standard tests to compare features properly. We’ll always tell you what we find. We never, ever, accept money to review a product.
Find out more about how we test in our ethics policy.
Used as our main microwave for the review period
We use a thermal camera to see how well the microwave can defrost frozen bread, using the defrost setting and any automatic programmes.
We cook a baked potato using just the microwave setting and, if available, another using the combi setting.
If there’s a grill option, we toast bread to see how evenly it cooks.
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FAQs
Yes, it does. This delivers greater space for items and means that there’s more room for oven shelves.
Yes, there’s an AEG app you can use to remote control the microwave oven.
Offering 43 litres of space, the AEG is generous by microwave standards and a useful space for a second oven.
Full specs
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Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
