Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with kitchen and oven

I need a new toaster oven. And a clever title.

BitterOldPunk — Tue, 12 Mar 2013 15:30:36 -0800

Toaster oven needed. Requirements: must make toast, have a broiler, be easy to clean, not cost more than a hundred bucks or so, be durable, offer an array of toast settings (she likes hers burnt, I like mine barely warm), not take up the whole counter, won't set kitchen on fire. Preferred but not absolutely required: Amazon Prime eligible, simple controls (no digital doohickeys, just knobs, plz), energy efficient. Not required: convection, infrawave, multi-purpose frippery that detracts from central toast-oriented tasks.

This toaster oven will be used almost exclusively for making toast, reheating pizza, and melting cheese on sammiches. Additional functionality is nice, but I'd rather pay for a durable, high-quality appliance that does less than a whizzy, less-reliable model that does more.

I've nosed around on Amazon and have a couple of models picked out, but I'd like the input of the Big Green Hive (can we make that A Thing? Let's make that A Thing.).

Help My Mom Figure Out Her New Electric Stove

jason's_planet — Sun, 02 Dec 2012 07:00:59 -0800

My Mom just moved into an apartment with an electric stove, the very first electric stove she's had in seventy-one years of being alive. She's finding the learning curve a little daunting. Could you share some tips and tricks that would make the adjustment a little easier, things that you had to learn while transitioning from the gas stove to the electric stove? Three things to note here before we proceed:

-- Getting a gas stove is not an option because her condo community does not have a connection to the gas network.

-- This is a Maytag model. Glass ceramic stovetop.

-- Please bear in mind that my Mom is not a techie.

Many thanks in advance.

The Door is Ajar

Mad_Carew — Tue, 20 Nov 2012 18:35:15 -0800

My mother thinks I am a crazy person who will burn his house down because I don't leave the oven door slightly ajar when I use the broiler setting in my (gas) oven. Is she right? The manual for the stove says keep it closed.

The internet suggests that there are other reasons to keep the door open, including that it allows moisture to escape so that the food doesn't boil, that it prevents the broiler from cycling off when the oven gets too hot, that Alton Brown said so, that it reminds cooks that they have something in the oven, and that it only applies to Electric stoves.

The internet being what it is, it's unclear how much weight to apply to the various answers.

So, door closed vs. door open: is is safer, tastier, smarter, or not an issue?

It's cute but it doesn't cook.

lunasol — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 22:34:43 -0800

I'm considering renting a small apartment with a super-tiny kitchen. So tiny that it doesn't have an oven! Would a convection/microwave oven suit my needs? Also, do you have experience with induction cooktops? The kitchen has burners set into the counter but no oven. I was thinking about getting a large toaster oven and a microwave, but my initial research leads me to think that a convection/microwave oven combo might be a good way to go. However, I've never known anyone with a convection oven and I'm a bit skeptical.

I am not a huge baker, but I do like to roast things (veggies, salmon, the occasional small chicken) and occasionally I do like to bake. I also make casseroles sometimes. I pretty much just use a microwave to heat up leftovers.

Also, something I haven't been able to determine - do these ovens work as toasters? ie, could I make toast with them?

Bonus question: the "range" is two induction cooktops on the counter. Have you used cooktops like this? How well did they work for things like sauteeing and stifrying?

I've seen this thread but it was pretty old and didn't have many replies.

Garland range?

otherwordlyglow — Sat, 18 Dec 2010 07:46:25 -0800

Help me find a manual or any other information about this Garland range. Specifically, we need to figure out why it's not working. We just bought a house. It's a foreclosure and not a lot of information is available on the house or any of its appliances. It's a Garland range, probably over 10 years old. I couldn't find any model numbers on it and it seems like Garland has stopped making ranges for residential uses. I don't know if it's just a pilot light problem but when you turn the handles, I think gas comes out but nothing lights. The inspector thought maybe the igniter needed servicing but first, I'd just like to figure out what model it is and if there are any manuals available for it.

Hot Hot Heatpad

These Premises Are Alarmed — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 10:35:04 -0800

What are the best oven mitts out there? I got another painful burn on my hand last night, handling a hot cast iron dutch oven through a single oven mitt. I frequently have to double up (hotpad plus mitt) to avoid this. My current oven mitts are just some standard-issue heavy cloth models that came with my wife.

I still have a scar on a thumb from a burn I got through a silicon hotpad over a year ago, so I'm really not convinced those are a good choice. I have moderately large hands. I want to be able to handle cast iron in a 500F oven, work on the grill and not worry about steam from my pressure cooker.

Cheaper is better.

Stove/Oven Substitute

Diplodocus — Sat, 01 May 2010 15:13:58 -0800

What's the best small appliance substitute for a stove/oven? I recently moved into a studio apartment that does not have a stove or oven. I do have a microwave, toaster, fridge, and room for other small appliances. What small appliance(s) should I buy to substitute for some of the things that can be done with an oven and stove-top, without spending too much?

Electric griddle? Toaster oven? George Foreman-type grill? Electric kettle? Something else? Which would be the best value to purchase?

Any other tips on getting by without an oven?

My oven has a dumb safety feature ... it doesn't get hot.

BrokenEnglish — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 11:58:38 -0800

The built-in oven in my rented accommodation switches off when it gets hot — an unusual design decision, you might suppose. Thing is, it's not broken as such, just awkward, so getting it replaced by the landlord is unlikely. What alternatives could I use? Frankly, it drives me nuts, especially when I'm trying to cook home-made pizza, which demands a sizzling-hot oven for best results. Googling for "free-standing oven" turns up standard ovens which you would install in a kitchen: I would like something I can plug in somewhere (space is available), or which runs on bottled gas, and provides a decent-sized oven for baking, roasting, pizza-ing, etc. I was thinking about one of these or similar, but they don't look butch enough to do the necessary. I'm in the UK.

Electric-start Gas Oven Unable to Reach 250+ F degrees (121 C)

erin_trying — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 11:11:53 -0800

Electric-start gas oven unable to reach over 250 F (121 C) degrees--any way to fix or time to replace? I have an electric-start gas oven from the 1970s whose identifying marks have disappeared or been painted over. For nearly three weeks now it has been unable to get hot enough. It turns on. It goes as high as, about 250 F (121 C) degrees, but it will not get any hotter--except once or twice a week on whim it will get up to 400+ F (204 C) degrees, but there is nothing indicating why it decides to work then. The attached stove top, also electric-start gas, has worked fine the entire time.

Any clues on why this is happening? What can I do to fix it? I recently needed to have my fridge (also from the 1970s) replaced, so I feel a bit bad going "Oh! And a new oven too, please."

Possible factors of its demise:
I bake a lot (by which I mean about 10,000 cookies a year + other stuff) and the previous tenant of three years did not cook/bake at all. Even though I've only been here a few months I can't imagine it liked running a marathon with no training.

It has been absurdly humid where I live, moreso than normal this summer (my TV broke because of it!).

How to clean an oven

AceRock — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 09:30:54 -0800

Corningware broke inside hot oven. Oil/grease caked on everywhere. No self-cleaning mechanism. No oven hood. No idea what to do. Help! I can't even pre heat the oven now without filling the apartment with smoke. I'm looking for your best tips, tricks, strategies, products etc. for cleaning out my oven by hand. Thanks!

Is it worth the trouble to vent our range hood outside?

odinsdream — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 07:55:50 -0800

Is it worth the trouble to vent our range hood outside? We are replacing our old range hood with an above-range convection microwave which can either vent outside or back into the room. Is there a good reason I should go to the trouble to vent it outside?

There is a pathway above the cabinets and it's a short distance to an outside wall, which I'd have to cut a hole in from the outside. I cannot easily reach the exterior wall from inside. I'd have to do most of the cutting work from the outside and fish the vent pipe over to the hole.

What benefits would I gain from venting outside?

Death Defying Oven Cleaning

zackola — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 17:59:33 -0800

Am I going to kill myself why attempting to clean my oven? Hi, there's a self cleaning oven in my apartment. It hasn't been cleaned in what looks like forever. I live in a studio. There is no outdoor ventilation near the oven. Just one window in the apartment, at the opposite end. Is it going to be really fumy in here? Is it going to make all my clothes, couch, and bed stink? (remember studio, all same room) Also, I'm worried about leaving the apartment when the oven is in clean mode, but also worried about fuming myself to death by staying here. Any advice? There were specific instructions in the oven manual about not cleaning it with traditional methods. Is that just BS though?

Do convection microwave ovens work?

Nelson — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 14:17:44 -0800

Do convection microwave ovens work? I'm designing a dream kitchen for a house in San Francisco. Part of the plan is two electric wall ovens, with one being a convection microwave. Something like this Thermador. Most of the time we just need a regular oven and the occasional use of a microwave to reheat something. But we'd like a second oven for big meals; Thanksgiving dinner, that kind of thing.

I have no experience with convection microwave ovens. Do they work as practical substitutes for regular ovens? Can you bake a pie in them? Roast a turkey? Slowly cook a casserole? Or are they just glorified microwaves that aren't really good for cooking anything?

(I found two previous Ask Metafilter threads with positive comments on convection ovens: here and here.)

Broken toaster oven

hopeless romantique — Sun, 13 Nov 2005 11:36:18 -0800

My toaster oven continually needs more time to toast things... I got the toaster about a year ago- it was the one on display, so it was cheaper, there were no guarantees, etc. It worked great to start with, and powerful enough- the heat dial was turned to the lighter end of the light-dark spectrum and the bread would toast perfectly.

Since then, we've had to move the dial back further and further- now it's past the medium setting and the bread gets toasted to the same extent as it did last year. Is my toaster oven slowly breaking? Can I fix it?

Fixing vintage Cookmaster stove/oven

mark7570 — Wed, 17 Aug 2005 11:44:13 -0800

I have a 1940s/50s-era Cookmaster stove and oven. Four burners, white, with stove and warming compartment. It's in great shape, with one problem: whenever I light the pilot light to turn on the oven, a few seconds later there's a "WHOOOMP!" sound - surely some gas build-up lighting - and then the oven is on, and it works fine. How can I fix this? I live in NYC and have tried and failed to find someone who can fix this vintage Cookmaster. I'd like to keep this in the kitchen but, of course, "safety first"...

So, should I...
- continue to try to find a repairperson for the Cookmaster
- eBay the sucker (anyone know anything about old Cookmasters' value?)
- do something else?

Any help appreciated.