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The oven symbols may be vague, but if you don’t know their meaning, you will not be able to make the most of the oven and you may miss the opportunity to get the best cooking and baking results. 

The good news is that most ovens tend to use similar symbols, so once you understand what we pay attention to in the explanation below, you should be able to navigate in most ovens you encounter. 

Our oven symbol guide will help ensure that you use the correct settings to fry crispy pizza bases or bake cookies. We also explained some of the other functions you can find on the control panel of the built-in oven.

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A horizontal line at the bottom of the square means that the heat will only come from the heating element at the bottom of the oven. The fan will not be used to circulate heat.

This setting is perfect for gentle cooking of stews and casseroles. This is also a good choice for making the bottom of a pizza or pastry box crisp.

The two horizontal lines at the top and bottom of the square indicate that the components on the top and bottom of the oven generate heat. The fan will not start at this setting-instead it will spread the heat in the oven through natural convection.  

This is a good choice for single-layer cooking of important foods such as pastries or scones, or large fruit cakes. This setting is also suitable for barbecues.

There is a fan above the single horizontal line at the bottom of the square, indicating that the bottom will generate heat, but it will be dissipated by the fan.

This is perfect for keeping the top of the dish moist, while the bottom is cooked well. If you want to avoid blindly baking pastries on pies and quiches, this is a good choice, and it is also suitable for crispy pizzas.

The fan surrounded by a circle represents an oven fan with heating elements. The heat comes from the circular element around the fan on the back of the oven, and then the fan circulates the heat.

A good fan oven spreads the heat evenly, so whether you are cooking near the top, bottom, back, or front, you should get similar results. If the oven’s heat distribution is poor, you may need to move the tray around to get an even cooking result.

The fan symbol itself or its upper and lower horizontal lines indicate that the fan dissipates heat from the upper and lower heating elements, not from the back.

Fans are suitable for most types of cooking, especially when you use multiple shelves. They are also suitable for roasting, you want the meat to be tender on the inside and well done on the outside.

The double zigzag line at the top of the symbol box indicates that the entire grill element is generating heat. Some grills are designed to be used with the door closed, while others require the door to be opened, so please check what your oven manual recommends.

A good grill will ensure that all your food is evenly crispy or browned, while a poor quality grill will produce incomplete results.

If you use a full grill, you will be able to cook many foods at once-it is a good choice for anything that sizzles, such as sausages and bacon. It can conveniently brown the meat, top the lasagna or make a large slice of toast. 

For a half grill setup, only part of the grill element gets hot, so remember to make sure your food is directly under this part of the grill.

If you just want to cook a few sausages or grill a piece of cheese on toast, you can choose to use half of the grill.

The zigzag line at the top and the fan at the bottom indicate that the grill and the fan are turned on at the same time. The fan spreads the heat of the grill to make it less intense.

This means it is suitable for cooking thicker meat or fish without heating the entire oven or burning the top.

The zigzag line at the top and the horizontal line at the bottom indicate that the grill is being used in conjunction with the lower heating element.

This is a good choice for pies, pies, or pizzas that require a crispy underside and brown surface.

Some ovens have a defrost setting, represented by snowflakes and water droplets emerging from them.

This means that the fan is turned on but does not generate heat, so no cooking will take place. Moving air can defrost food much faster than simply leaving it on the kitchen table-for example, if you are eager to defrost some meat for dinner, this is a convenient feature.

Your oven may have a separate light setting, which means you can turn on the oven when you are not using it-this will make it easier to spot dirt when cleaning. For some ovens, the light only lights up when the oven is in use.

The three lines on top of each other represent the plate heating function.

This will gently heat the plate or other dishes to prevent the food from cooling too quickly while serving.

There are many ovens that can provide high-temperature pyrolysis cleaning. 

This is a program that heats the oven to about 500°C, and it has the effect of burning burnt cooking dirt. Then, you can complete the simple task of wiping off the remaining ashes.

The symbols used by manufacturers for pyrolytic cleaning are not consistent, but examples include a capital P, or a series of enlarged dots or diamonds.

This is what it says on the tin. Set an alarm for the time you choose, and when you need to check whether the food is cooked, you will receive a buzzing or beeping sound as a reminder.

The minute reminder will automatically turn off the oven. Just turn on the oven, put the food in and set the cooking time you want. Once the time is up, the minute manager will turn off the oven with a beeping or buzzing sound.

These are more common on stoves, but sometimes you will also get a child lock option on the oven. They usually work by pressing and holding the touch control for a few seconds to activate or deactivate the child lock. When the child lock is turned on, the oven will not respond to pressing a button or turning a dial.

For advice on buying a new oven, see How to buy the best built-in oven.