Samsung Bespoke Compact Oven Series 7 50L NQ5B7993AAK Review

Introduction

Most smaller ovens tend to be combination microwave types, but the Samsung Bespoke Compact Oven Series 7 50L NQ5B7993AAK/U4 is a dedicated oven and grill only. 

While that may seem like a step backwards, this oven has a large cavity, some clever cooking modes and is also steam oven. With the option to air-fry to save on costs and speed up cooking times, this could be a neat addition to almost any kitchen.

Design and features

• Smart auto-open door
• Steam function
• Compatible with smart things

Most compact ovens, such as the Neff N90 C29MY7MY0 Microwave Oven tend to be combination microwaves and ovens, but the sleek-looking Samsung Bespoke Compact Oven Series 7 50L NQ5B7993AAK/U4 takes a different tach, and is an oven only.

The obvious disadvantage is that you don’t have a microwave, so will need something from my guide to the best microwaves. There are advantages to this type of device. First, if you’ve got two full-size oven slots in your kitchen and want flexibility, then you could install this oven and a plate warmer in one slot (admittedly, you could do that with a combi microwave oven, too), and a full-size model in the other.

Secondly, and most importantly, by focusing on being an oven, the NQ5B7993AAK/U4 has more space inside than your average combi, with 50-litres of space. That’s five litres more than the Neff N90.

And, as well as regular cooking, the NQ5B7993AAK/U4 is a steam oven, too. Steam’s a wonderful way to cook, whether you want juicier more tender meat, or you want it to help bake bread with a nice rise and a thin, crunchy crust.

The water tank is available at the top of the unit, with a simple pull-out tank that you fill with fresh water.

One of the first things you’ll notice about the Samsung NQ5B7993AAK/U4 is that it doesn’t have a handle anywhere to open it. Instead, there’s a button that electronically opens the door, getting it to swing fully open.

It looks neat in action, but it also means there are no protruding oven handles, so you get a flush installation alongside your cupboards.

There is a door opener in the box, which can be used to manually pop the door open in the event of a problem: make sure you keep it somewhere safe.

Samsung’s user interface is simple to use. A simple menu let me pick the cooking mode: convection, fan conventional, eco convection, large grill, fan grill, top heat + convection, bottom heat + convection, intensive cook, pro-roasting and air fry. 

Temperatures run up to a maximum of 250°C, which is enough for most recipes that require a high temperature (I typically cook baguettes at 250°C, for example). 

It’s easy to add a timer to the cooking, and then choose what to do when the timer runs out: turn the oven off, keep the same temperature or switch to keep warm.

When I picked the oven off option I was pleased to see that at the end of the timer, I could choose to add a five more minutes of cooking to help food that needed a bit of extra time.

In addition to the regular cooking modes, there are four steam modes: steam cook (pure steaming, no heat), steam convection, steam top heat + convection, and steam bottom heat + convection. For each, I could select the level of steam that I wanted, but there’s no steam inject option here as you get on the Neff N90 B69VY7MY0 Oven.

Steam inject is a useful feature to have, as you can choose when to inject steam (at the start of bread baking, for example), rather than having a constant dose.

Samsung also offeres a range of auto cook and auto defrost programmes. Just choose the type of food you want to cook (roast chicken, baked potato, and so on), and select the weight, and the oven will pre-set the right mode, temperature and cooking time for you.

I found these options useful for foods I don’t cook very often, and they save me from having to look up a recipe online.

Internally, the space is well laid out with four shelf heights to choose from, although it’s a shame that there’s no telescopic shelf rail. I really like telescopic rails, as they make it easier to load and unload items without having to lean in.

Samsung provides a wire shelf, air fry rack and baking tray in the box, plus a steam dish, which is all you really need on an oven this size.

As well as the direct controls, the oven is compatible with SmartThings for remote control and monitoring, with notifications coming through when the timer has run out. It’s useful to have. I’ve got a smart oven at home, and getting notifications when food is ready is really useful, since I don’t have to hover over it while cooking.

Performance

• Exceptional cooking
• Very even grill

I started by loading up a tray of ceramic cooking beans, and placing them on a tray in the middle of the oven, which was set to 200°C. After 20 minutes, I removed the tray and measured the temperatures: 209.4°C at the front of the tray and 219.5°C at the back. That’s a touch hotter than the target temperature, but a good spread of heat, given the heating element is at the back of the oven.

This even heat showed itself when I cooked oven chips. Using the standard oven, I found that 0.489kWh of power was used, which is about average. My chips were evenly cooked, needing a turn in the middle of cooking, with a nice consistency.

I then switched and cooked the same types of chips, but using the air fry setting instead. This reduced power consumption to 0.389kWh, showing that it’s a more efficient way of cooking. The results were better, too. My chips had a more definitive crunch on the outside, and a softer inside. They were very evenly cooked, too.

I then used the steam setting to cook a baguette. Using a constant mid-level steam input, my bread finished with a nicer crust to it than when using a regular oven.

I then tested the grill by adding slices of bread to the top shelf. The result was as close to perfect as you can get from an oven: evenly toasted from side-to-side.

Having a steam is brilliant for general cooking. I prefer to steam my veg, but using a microwave steamer tends to make it a bit soggy, and steamers you drop into a pan aren’t very big. The Samsung Bespoke Compact Oven Series 7 50L NQ5B7993AAK has a large steam dish ideal for this.

There’s a steam cleaning mode. It works best on fresher messes, but it’s not as effective as pyrolytic cleaning.

Should you buy it?