Bottom heat
Only the element under the oven floor heats. No top heat and no fan.
What it is for
Browning or crisping the underside: pizza and pie bases, finishing cakes or quiches (AEG, bottom shelf level), pastry cases, bain-marie cooking and reheating (Bosch), preserving and the final baking stage (Siemens), and gentle slow cooking of casseroles (Neff). Samsung suggests switching to it at the end of baking to brown the bottom of a quiche or pizza.
Makes differ, check your oven’s manual: the same drawing can mean different things on different brands, and only your model’s manual says exactly which elements run and how hot.
- What it looks like
- A square with a single straight line along the bottom and nothing else.
- Names makers use
- Bottom heating (Siemens); Lower heat (Neff); Bottom heater only (Smeg)
Where makes differ
Neff draws the element as a pair of lines (one long, one short), so a Neff bottom-heat symbol has two lines at the bottom; on Bosch and Siemens ovens one line at the top plus two at the bottom is a different mode, Intensive heat. Smeg notes the line may be curved.
Often confused with
Heat from above and, more strongly, from below.
Other symbols with the same shapes
Sources
No single published standard defines oven function icons, so this meaning is taken from 5 makers’ own guides, each fetched and checked on the date shown:
- Neff: NEFF UK — Oven symbols explained: your complete guide — “Bottom heat symbol” (line at the bottom): gentle, slow cooking of casserole-type dishes, reheating or crisping. Checked 2026-09-23.
- Siemens: Siemens Home UK — Oven symbols guide — “Bottom heating” pictogram (one line at the bottom): preserving, browning and final baking stage; heat is emitted from below. Checked 2026-09-23.
- AEG: AEG UK support — Symbols and functions on your AEG oven or cooker — “Bottom heat” icon: evenly brown the bottom of food; pizza or pie and finishing cakes or quiches; use the bottom level. Checked 2026-09-23.
- Samsung: Samsung Australia support — Cooking modes on your Samsung oven — “Bottom Heat” mode button icon: the bottom element heats; use at the end of baking to brown the bottoms of a quiche or pizza. Checked 2026-09-23.
- Bosch: Bosch UK — Oven symbols guide — “Bottom heat” symbol icon: only the bottom element is heated — pastry cases, bain-marie cooking and reheating. Checked 2026-09-23.
Written in our own words; quotations are the makers’ wording.