Is it time to buy a new oven? We have examined the market for ovens and tell here what types of ovens are available and what functions an oven can have, to help you choose the right in the oven jungle.
Today there are mainly three types of ovens, which in turn can have different built-in functions. Here we go through the range of ovens, how they work and perform.
Three types of oven
Today, there are three variants of ovens that dominate the market. These are:
- the traditional oven with upper and lower heat
- the steam oven (often in combination with hot air)
- Connection oven
The prices vary depending on a number of factors, but generally, the traditional oven is cheapest while a steam oven with 100 percent steam is the most expensive.
A regular traditional oven heats the food with the help of heat and nothing more. The traditional oven has over and under heat. There is nothing moving around the air in the oven, or in any way making it more humid.
A lot of people choose a connection oven when buying new ones today. The technology is based on the fact that a fan causes the warm air to circulate in the oven, which makes the food cooked more evenly and efficiently. The cooking goes faster than with a traditional oven and you can cook dishes on several levels at the same time without having them be affected by each other.
Earlier in the oven technology, the problem was that circulation was not good, you did not get an even distribution of the heat, and therefore, the food in the oven wasn’t evenly cooked. But today, the problem does not remain to the same extent anymore.
Hot air technology has been around for so long that manufacturers have been able to improve it in several variants. For example, Bosch and Siemens new ovens have 4D hot air. This means that the fan circulates the air alternately in both directions, giving an even more even distribution.
The oven with steam function is usually a combination oven consisting of hot air and steam function.
In the steam oven there is usually a water tank that you fill up manually with tap water if necessary. It is from there the oven then creates its steam. But you can also use only the hot air function if needed.
Steaming the food is said to be better from a nutritional point of view and it should also produce a juicier result with a brittle surface. Whether it is right is up to the taste buds to decide. But the fact is that you often get a better result. If you cook a dish that you previously cooked many times in a convection oven in a steam oven, you will get a whole new experience of it.
You can also use the steam function to clean the oven, but there are also steam ovens with pyrolytic function.
There are a couple of steam ovens on the market that only have a steam function, but these do not handle all the cooking that you usually do in the home and you have to supplement with a hot air oven. Steam ovens are also generally slightly more expensive than the other two variants – how much more expensive depends on the type you buy.
Steam ovens are available in several variants. On the one hand, you have so-called added steams, which means that it is between 25-75 percent steam. Then you can cook most dishes, but if you need steamed vegetables, for example, you need to buy a container so that you get 100 percent steam. Then there are ovens with 100 percent steam from the start. With these, you can cook all the steam dishes.
Pyrolytic – self-cleaning oven
One function that is heavily emphasized in the marketing of ovens is pyrolytic. Pyrolytic is a cleaning function. The oven heats itself to a high temperature (about 500 degrees) so that residues and other things inside are burnt. Then just wipe the ashes away with a cloth. The cleaning program takes between 1-3 hours.
There are also other cleaning techniques such as steam cleaning or various surface layers to facilitate cleaning. For example, ovens with catalytic enamel should ensure that the residues are burnt away when they come into contact with the enamel. Other types of enamel are different forms of clean enamel and non-stick. Instead, the residues should instead be hard to get stuck, which makes the oven easier to dry – these functions are, however, slightly different in different manufacturers.
Functions in ovens
When you buy an oven, you should also look into which and what safety features this one. Does it have a child lock, do you need a child lock? Is there overheating protection? Does the oven have a display, pop-out knob, microwave function, built-in timer, or maybe even a built-in thermometer that turns off the oven when the roast has reached the right temperature?
Consider which features are important to you in an oven, select the stoves that lack the features you cannot live without, and read the tests and user reviews before making your final choice.
How to choose the right type of oven
When deciding on the technique in the oven, there are a number of additional factors to consider.
Budget
- Power consumption
- How fast is it heated, and is there a fast-heating mode?
- Noise level – However, there is no requirement for a reported noise level today, so ask to be tested.
- Safety – such as how hot it gets on the outside, overheating protection if the knobs can be pressed in so that they cannot be turned on when not in use.
- What material and color?
Once you have identified a number of models that fit, you can then compare their respective features and price.
The price range for ovens is usually between about USD 300 to 10000 USD. There are many ovens to choose from, so read reviews, and identify the specifications you need in an oven to find one that does what you need it to.