Choosing the right oven for your cooking and baking needs will make a considerable difference to the outcome of your cooking experiments. Baking, for example, is a science that needs precise temperatures and management, while a microwave oven is generally better for heating foods and limited cooking. Then of course you have convection ovens, ovens with built in dehydrators, and more. Here’s what you need to know:
Conventional ovens vs microwave ovens
Conventional ovens work by heating up the interior of the oven via heating coils, while microwave ovens use microwave energy (radio waves, but at a very high energy) to agitate the water molecules in your food. This in turn generates a lot of heat quickly.
Conventional ovens heat food, well, conventionally, where the outer parts of the food first get hot and then the heat travels inwards, while in a microwave the inner, wetter part can sometimes heat up first.
These different styles of heating have their strengths and weaknesses. Conventional ovens are superior for baking, while microwaves are superior for defrosting and re-heating cold food. Microwave ovens can be used for baking and conventional ovens for re-heating, but the efficiency varies and you’ll want to pick one based on which your needs.
Convection ovens (incl. dehydrating function)
The next thing to look out for is an oven with a convection function. Convection ovens essentially re-circulate air via a fan and some kind of exhaust system. This flow of air ensures faster and more uniform heating when baking or roasting foods. In addition, these ovens can double as a dehydrator by using low heat and the convection function.
Do note that convection ovens can be a bit noisy at times owing to the fan, and that they might require a bit more maintenance.
Given how useful air convection can be, we’d recommend getting a convection oven if you have that option.
Interior volume
The above three types of ovens tend to be the most popular. Once you’ve settled on a type of oven, you should start looking at other features. One of the most important is the volume of the oven.
The oven volume determines how large a vessel you can place inside it, and thus how much food you can heat or bake at a time. Remember that microwave ovens require the food to be placed on a rotating base to ensure proper heating. This severely limits the available volume. Conventional ovens heat up the entire interior space and come with multi-layered trays. If you opted for a convection system, your oven will more effectively heat the foodstuff in every single level, leading to a great baking and roasting experience.
Temperature/power control
Cheaper microwave and conventional ovens will operate in a narrow power or temperature range. This limits the kind of baking and roasting or reheating that you can do. Dehydrating food, for example, requires a temperature of about 60°C, but many ovens start heating at 100°C. Some kinds of foods require much higher temperatures or power for a better sear or crust on the food, and again, cheaper ovens may not reach those temperatures. Microwave ovens, while they will heat food and can help in baking, don’t even help form a crust as there’s no external heat involved.
If you bake a lot of lasagnas or roast vegetables and the like, you’ll want a conventional oven.
Grill/toast function
Lastly, some ovens offer a grill or toast function. In these ovens, the food is usually placed near the top heating element (microwave ovens with this functionality will have a heating element at the top), which can then be used as oven toaster griller to grill or toast the tops of foods. You could, for example, use the microwave function to reheat food, then add some cheese on top and use the toast function to melt the cheese and char the top. This isn’t a critical function to have in a conventional oven, but it can be useful to have in a microwave oven.
ALSO READ: What is a solo microwave oven?
Bear these points in mind when looking for your oven and good luck in your search! If you’re looking for a pocket-friendly option with some or all of the above options, consider bringing home LG microwaves.
