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If Asko is not the most famous of manufacturers, it is nonetheless active on the market. Rather premium oriented, this does not prevent it from offering rather attractive loss leaders. The OP8637S built-in oven is one of them.
Asko OP8637S
Still relatively unknown in France, Asko is a Swedish manufacturer of household appliances which is at the top of the basket, competing with brands like Miele or Gaggenau rather than Candy or Indesit. However, a device must be cheaper than another and it is the OP8637S which takes on this role for the manufacturer’s catalog of built-in ovens.
With a power of 3400 W, it uses pulsed heat. The floor and top resistances are supported by a third resistance, annular this one and placed at the bottom of the cavity. It surrounds a fan responsible for distributing the heat evenly throughout the 71 l enclosure. If we refer to the technical sheet, the temperature can reach 300°C in the enclosure during cooking (practical for pizzas) and 500°C when the automatic pyrolytic cleaning system is activated.
In the cavity, five loading levels are provided and one of them can be equipped with telescopic rails, a practical accessory that allows heavy and/or large dishes to be handled without danger. Note that these slides are pyrolyzable, which is not the case with all devices on the market.
Another accessory that can be found in the mitt, the thermometric probe must make it possible to monitor the temperature of food at heart. Even if this feature tends to be democratized, its presence on the OP8637S underlines the exclusive side of this built-in oven. This is also the case with Asko’s own Airflow ThermoCircular technology: the bottom wall of the enclosure is pierced with five vents to facilitate air circulation and further improve the even distribution of heat.
We can clearly see here some hot air outlets from the Airflow ThermoCircular system. © Asko
While Asko often relies on touch screens to act as a control panel, the interface of the OP8637S plays the card of the most absolute classicism. It consists of two knobs, sensitive keys and an electronic segment display. We start by choosing the cooking mode (natural convection, pulsed heat, grill, etc.) using the rotary button on the left. Below the screen, the buttons are used to select the parameter to be modified (temperature, cooking time, etc.), while the last knob on the right is used to modify the values.
The control panel of the OP8637S is very classic. © Asko
This built-in oven seems to be intended for cooks who already master their cooking since no assistant comes to help them in the choice of the different settings. In addition, this model does not yield to the sirens of home assistants (Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, Apple HomeKit) or to connection to a smartphone equipped with a dedicated app.
The devices marketed by Asko are often very expensive and this OP8637S is no exception to the rule. Nevertheless, its introductory price of €999 seems almost affordable compared to other Swedish built-in ovens, whose prices can easily exceed €1,500.