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phoenix2000

Double oven - one big, one small, recommendations

phoenix2000
9 years ago

We are building our kitchen from scratch. I love my current Breville toaster oven on my countertop that I use daily.

In our new kitchen, what oven do you recommend that has a larger oven for traditioning cooking and a smaller Breville-like oven attached to it for everyday use that preheats up in 3-4 min?

Getting one of these built-ins will free my counter of the Breville.

Thanks.

Comments (12)

  • snookers1999
    9 years ago

    I have been searching for something like this for awhile now. I'm very interested as well to hear if anyone knows if there is something available similar to this setup.

  • a2gemini
    9 years ago

    How about building a niche for your Breville?

    I have the similar delonghi and store it in my pantry. I thought I would not use it after reno but just could not say goodbye to my friend.

    I do have a speed oven which might meet your requirements.
    In speed mode, there is no preheat needed.

  • lee676
    9 years ago

    The GE Advantium 240V wall oven over a 30"w standard oven (perhaps the Bosch with the side-opening door). or....

    The Miele high-speed oven over a 24"w oven; spacers are available to make it fit a 27" or 30"w space to use over a wider oven. or....

    The GE Profile 30"w oven that fits two ovens into a single-oven space. The small upper oven won't heat up much faster than a standard oven on this one, but it's a good space saver, especially if the oven must be installed below the countertop.

    There are a few other high-speed ovens besides the Advantium and Miele out there that I don't have experience with, from Bosch, Smeg, Jenn-Air, Electrolux, and probably a few others. Eletcrolux also offers a single unit with a small high-speed oven over a large conventional oven.

  • phoenix2000
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Building a niche for my Breville is an option that I'm considering while I explore these high speed ovens that lee676 seems very knowledgeable of.

    Thanks for all the name brand suggestions and for educating me as to the name of this class of products - high speed ovens.

    Upon further research, it seems these high speed ovens uses microwave technology in part, which I would prefer to avoid altogether, so I need to identify the ones that give me the option to use it as a 100% speed oven without the microwave radiation.

    Lee676, do you prefer the Advantium or the Miele? Thanks.

  • Fori
    9 years ago

    I currently have a range and 24" retro electric oven and like having the two sizes. So I'm doing range and 24" speed oven this time. I don't think a speed oven is speedy without the microwave function--how about a steam oven instead? They're pretty cool.

  • a2gemini
    9 years ago

    Phoenix
    The advantium can run 100% convection but a high price to pay if not using all of the bells and whistles.

    Speed uses a combination of technologies. I can set upper, lower, MW, and convection as separate items.

    Since you don't want nukes, I would not recommend going this route.

    I saw my first MW at the 1963 worlds fair. I think mom got her first home MW around 1975 and she is still doing fine so I have less worries about MW than cell phone or airline radiation.

    Let us know what you decide.

  • lee676
    9 years ago

    I have an Advantium 240 volt wall oven. The microwaves are part of how it cooks so fast - it combines them with bright halogen lamps from above and below, and a conventional heating element with a fan for convection. It can use any one, two or three of those to cook. Despite microwaves usually being in the mix, food cooked in an Advantium 240 doesn't taste at all like soggy-textured nuked food. The taste and texture is almost that of food cooked in a conventional oven, despite being almost as fast as a microwave.

    I used to have an Amana Wave Oven, which was made back when Raytheon still owned Amana and was essentially a residential version of their commercial ovens. It was also a halogen-lamp oven, but unlike the Advantium it didn't use any other cooking method. It was plenty fast, but food cooked in it, despite being crispy, didn't taste anything like food cooked in a 'real' oven; everthing seemed to acquire an off-taste for some reason.

    I've never owned a Miele oven although I've seen them many times and eaten food cooked in them. I don't know the details of how they work although several here own them. Besides being 6" narrower, they're also designed so they can be installed beneath a countertop unlike the GE speed oven. (GE does offer a 120 volt version of the Advantium in 27" and 30" widths, the latter which can be installed below a countertop. But the Advantium 120 is hamstrung by having to run on on one-quarter of the power an Advantium 240 uses - it's not only half the voltage, but also half the amperage (15A rather than 30A), so watts are cut to 25% of what the A240 has available. This results in food taking about twice as long to cook, and more significantly, relying much more heavily on microwaves to get the job done. The halogen light source in the A120 is only 1/5 the power of that in the 240V oven, and the convection and quartz elements must alternate with the microwave to keep power use under the limit.

    Both the 120V and 240V Advantiums are also available in an over-the-cooktop model that doubles as a range hood, which looks just like a commonplace microwave/hood combo. These can be useful if there isn't room for a speed oven anywhere else, but you give up depth in the oven - unlike the wall oven which is designed to fit in a 24" deep cabinet, the over-the-cooktop oven must nestle between 12" deep cabinets without protruding much, so common items like a large pizza won't fit. Additionally, as usual for these, the exhaust-fan function is inferior to a good-quality separate range hood.

    There are several cooking methods employed by high-speed ovens, some of which IIRC don't involve microwaves.

  • phoenix2000
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Thanks, everyone for your advice.

    I am now looking at the steam convection ovens and liking what I see, except for the sticker shock. I can see myself using this a lot, but the interior dimensions of the Wolf and Miele combo steam convection ovens would not fit my 18" x 14" cookie sheets and for me to feed my extended family when they come, I'd need a separate oven that I would never use except when they are over a few times a year.

    So,
    1. Is there a combo steam convection oven that is sized like standard ovens (4 cu ft vs. 1.8 cu ft)? From my research of the archives, I didn't see it.
    2. What is a reliable middle-of-the-road average priced standard convection oven that I could buy to use 4 times a year? I don't want to spend a lot of money on an oven that is rarely used.

    Thanks,
    Phoenix

  • Mistman
    9 years ago

    I use the Wolf Steam/Convection the most in our 4 oven kitchen. The steam modes are great but also preheat times are very fast. I did muffin tin meat loafs in it last night using conv/humid mode. My DW and I had a brief conflict as she wanted to steam some carrots and chard and wanted me to use one of the other ovens. In the end I did my meat loaf in the steam oven and while they were cooling off she steamed the veggies. If I want a batch of cookies in the evening I pull some dough out of the fridge and make some in about 15 minutes using the steam/conv oven. Reheat is awesome, not microwave fast but relatively fast and it re-freshes the food too, not all micro soggy. Once you look into the steam oven a bit more and realize all the uses for it (I cook rice and pasta in it also) the cost won't seem so bad. It WILL become the go-to oven, you may even get some smaller cookie sheets :) It makes the other ovens pretty lonely (one is a micro drawer, one a 30" Wolf under the steam oven the last is the 36" BS gas oven).

  • phoenix2000
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Mistman,

    I completely agree with you on the value of the steam oven and appreciate your sharing your experience with yours. I already plan on purchasing it. Miele and Wolf seem to the popular brands (not including Gaggenau which is hard for me to justify that cost).

    I actually do a lot of stovetop cooking (hence I have a BS 36" cooktop), but rarely use the oven, but would like to and I think the steam oven will allow me to explore this as a cooking tool more.

    I just still need a larger oven for when we have more guests and don't want to spend a lot of money on THAT one since it will be rarely used. So, if anyone has recommendations on a inexpensive standard oven brand and model, I'd appreciate it.

  • compumom
    9 years ago

    I'm interested in this option too. I'd appreciate more input on affordable steam ovens that I can pair with a 27" built in conventional oven.
    Thanks in advance!

  • bethpacyk
    3 years ago

    I’d love to hear an update on what you got and if it’s working well for you!


    I also use our breville almost exclusively and when our combo oven broke I figured I could replace it with something com