There are 2 kinds of convection ovens - regular convection and true convection. Regular convection has a fan which circulates the air for more even heat and true convection has an extra heating element around the fan which provides all the heat in true convection mode so there's no bottom heat and things like cookies on multiple racks will cook more evenly. Many things cook faster in convection ovens and you can use a slightly lower temperature.

Where did you hear that you couldn't open the door to check on your food? That's simply not true - I've never heard that before and we hear lots of strange things on this forum :-)

Opening the door is fine.

In general, most things cook about 10% faster with convection that without. Convection can be used for all foods except things that rise a lot without yeast, like cakes, pastries, and souffles. Bread and roasts are especially good in convection ovens.

lastly, one more advantage of convection is that you can cook multiple items and they will not end up tasting like each other.

Thanks you guys! I will make sure to pass on that info tonite- when we christen the oven.

Weissman, an appliance salesperson told me that long time ago when I was looking at ovens.

Simply put convection keeps moisture in, seals the food so it does not dry out and the regular thermal heat removes moisture. I do not buy into the True convection nonsense. Yes you can open your door, it's an oven not a front load washer.

Can you explain this further, Guadalupe? Under normal circumstances, I'd expect you'd have more moisture loss with the fan than without due to evaporative losses. Why would the heat source affect moisture loss in a closed system? I would think that convection is solely beneficial from an even-heat standpoint. Feel free to set me straight, I have no direct experience with convection ovens.

"I do not buy into the True convection nonsense."

Guadalupe - do you speak from experience? The reason I ask is because when Cooks Illustrated did a test on convection ovens they reported a distinct difference between convection bake mode (heat source mainly from bottom) and covection roast mode (heat more balance between top and bottom burners.) They did not test True Convection, but the the results that they did report showed a clear difference based on heat source. (If I'm remembering this right, they found that roasted chicken in convection bake mode showed no advantage over conventional bake.) I "think" they tested on a Wolf.

"Simply put convection keeps moisture in, seals the food so it does not dry out and the regular thermal heat removes moisture"

This isn't true. I'm not meaning to be harsh. This follows conventional wisdom and expert thinking of the past, but has been dis-proven by food scientists in the last 15 or so years.

Convection and high heat cooking including searing and grilling do not seal food or keep moisture in. Convection will actually dry out foods quicker than regular thermal heat. This is why in restaurants, chefs prefer to cook large roasts and bacon in a regular oven on lower heat. There is less shrinkage - so the bacon looks bigger and you can get more portions out of the roast. This is also why custards and cheesecakes are better in a conventional oven - (thinner film on top and fewer cracks).

That being said, at lot of people cook visually and take the food out when it is properly browned. Because convection is great at browning/carmelization, it is easier to get the desired browning before overcooking the food - so the food tastes better and juicier. I love convection ovens because of the superior browning and even cooking (especially swell for cookies).

I have only begun posting recently but have lurked for quite a while. Weissman - love your posts, you're really knowlegdeable about cooking and appliances.

Fenworth, I always wondered what the difference was between "Convection Roast" and Convection Bake". Thanks for educating me on that!