Why You Can Trust CNET Samsung NX58M6850S review: Samsung gas oven lets you choose how you want to bake
The $1,699 Samsung NX58M6850S freestanding gas oven is an impressive cooker that's full of useful features.
Don't let the plain exterior fool you. The $1,699 Samsung NX58M6850S gas oven is a worthwhile contender to be your next oven.
Samsung NX58M6850S
The Good
The Bad
The Bottom Line
What makes this oven special is its Flex Duo insert, which is a removable divider that you use to turn the single oven cavity into a double oven in which you can bake multiple dishes at different temperatures. The insert lets you multitask when you're cooking a big meal, a feature that expands this oven's usefulness.
The NX58M6850S' positive attributes extend to the stove's cooking performance. The appliance was a consistently good cooker. It boils water fairly quickly, broils juicy burgers, and bakes multiple sheets of biscuits evenly.
The oven doesn't break any records when it comes to cooking speed. And its Wi-Fi connectivity and companion app don't add much to the cooking experience. But you should still consider the NX58M6850S if you're looking for a reliable gas oven with tons of flexibility and a splash of style.
Gas oven's features trump its looks
The best parts of the Samsung NX58M6850S are hidden when you first take a look at it. This freestanding gas oven is attractive, thanks in large part to its black stainless steel finish. Other than that, it looks similar to other gas ranges we've reviewed. It has five gas burners on its cooktop, and they're covered with sturdy grates that create an edge-to-edge cooking surface. All of the oven controls reside on the back panel, while the burner knobs sit on the front of the range right above the 5.8-cubic-foot oven cavity.
The Flex Duo insert lets you simultaneously cook multiple dishes at different temperatures.
The Flex Duo insert and the Samsung's split-door design lets you adapt the oven to fit your needs.
You have to take a deeper dive to reveal more of the NX58M6850S's special features. Inside the oven, you'll find two convection fans built into the back wall to help circulate air, three standard baking racks and Samsung's proprietary Flex Duo insert. When you slide the insert in place, it creates two smaller cooking zones within the oven cavity. That means you can simultaneously bake two different dishes at two different temperatures. And the door adapts so you can open just the top cavity without opening the whole oven. Need to cook something big like a turkey? You can remove the Flex Duo if you need the full-size cavity.
We've seen the Flex Duo on other Samsung ranges, such as the slide-in Samsung NE58K9850WG electric range and the freestanding Samsung NE59J7850WS electric range, and we've loved this feature every time. The Flex Duo isn't just an excellent addition for multitasking, but it's also great if you want to bake something like some frozen chicken tenders and you don't need the whole oven to do it. My only hangup is that you have to open the entire oven door if you need to get to the bottom compartment.
Another feature that's not readily apparent is the oven's ability to connect to your home Wi-Fi network. Once you're connected, you use the Samsung Home app (available on iOS and Android) to set oven temperature and cook times. You can also use the app to see if the cooktop is in use. I'm lukewarm about the app's practicality. It's helpful to check on your cooktop, especially if you're afraid someone might have accidentally left it on. But you can't control the cooktop through the app. And even though you can use the app to set the oven temperature, you still have to walk up to the oven and press start to accept the temperature you sent through the app.
Cooking performance is respectable, but not record-breaking
This Samsung range will disappoint you if you're looking for an oven that will drastically cut the time you spend in front of the stove. However, its cook times during our performance tests were more than satisfactory. Let's take a look at how the average time it took the Samsung to boil 112 ounces of water compared to other gas ranges:
Large Burner Boil Test (Gas Models)
The NX58M6850S also lands in the middle of the pack when you look at how long it takes to bring six hamburger patties to an internal temperature of 145 degrees Fahrenheit. It took this oven an average of 17.83 minutes to complete this task. That wasn't necessarily a bad thing -- the burgers came out juicy and without much of a char because of the broiler's slow and steady pace.
Hamburger Broiling Test (Gas Models)
The NX58M6850S excels at baking multiple racks of biscuits evenly, thanks to its two convection fans. I was surprised at just how well the gas oven was able to circulate heat so that 24 biscuits that I baked across two baking sheets consistently cooked to nearly identical levels of brownness.
I baked the biscuits in the pictures on the left at the same time, with the biscuits on the top left baking on a higher rack. The pictures at the right show a representation of their color. Biscuits toward the front of the oven were a little darker, but the biscuits were fairly close in brownness overall.
That evenness was apparent when I baked a single rack of biscuits without the convection fan. However, it was clear that you'd need to give your baked goods a bit of extra time if you're not using the convection fan. Just take a look at how light this tray of biscuits turned out:
Final thoughts
At nearly $1,700, this Samsung range is more than you'd typically expect for a freestanding gas stove. But its dependable cooking performance and Flex Duo insert make this appliance a worthwhile investment for your kitchen.