In the conditions of a small-sized city apartment or dormitory, or with seasonal dacha living, there is no need to purchase bulky household appliances. An excellent solution can be a desktop oven, which, if necessary, will completely replace the usual stove with a built-in oven.
Externally, a desktop oven is similar to a microwave oven, but functionally they are completely different.
Benefits of a tabletop electric oven
- Compact size. There is a mini oven with a capacity of only 6 liters. Such a unit is especially convenient in small rooms where you need to save space. But there are also large desktop ovens that are in no way inferior in size to built-in appliances - up to 50 liters in volume (for comparison, the oven of a standard stove has a volume of 40 to 50 liters).
- Mobility. It is easy to take such a mini-oven with you on a trip to the country, put it in a closet or refrigerator, store it on the balcony or in the closet.
- Combination with a hob. There are models with one, two or three burners of different sizes and powers, located on the top cover of the electric oven. Such a combined oven significantly saves kitchen space.
- Environmental friendliness. Unlike the gas counterpart, the electric desktop oven does not leave combustion products that can spoil the taste of the finished dish.
- Easy cleaning. The enamelled non-stick surface of the mini oven is resistant to sticking and can be easily cleaned with any detergent. Most of the models are additionally equipped with a pyrolytic or hydrolysis cleaning function, there are ovens with a grease filter.
See also - Review of the electric oven "Russian stove"
Mini oven selection criteria
When choosing a mini oven, first of all, you should pay attention to its power and size. It should be borne in mind that you can cook quickly and a lot of food only in a large or medium sized electric oven. It is possible to bake bakery products and pizzas, bake any products, stew and simmer, grill chicken.
The power of the oven also directly depends on the size - the larger the size, the more powerful the oven (from 600 to 3200 W). But a large and powerful unit becomes less mobile - it will be much harder to move and transport a large oven, and it will also take up more space in the kitchen. There are also models with microwave function.
Modern models of desktop mini-cabinets are equipped with more than 10 heating modes, such as top or bottom heating, uniform heating from all sides, intensive heating, defrosting and other modes.
In addition, you should pay attention to the set of necessary functions. The more functions the unit has, the better, but the price of a fully equipped electric oven will also be significantly higher.
The main functions of the mini oven
- Timer - signals the end of cooking, in more complex models it turns off the mini-oven by itself.
- Convection - forced circulation of air currents inside the oven, allowing food to cook evenly.
- The grill is a heating element (ten), due to which a golden brown crust is created.
- The skewer is a rotating rod that ensures large cuts of meat are cooked evenly on all sides.
- Defrosting function - makes it possible to cook frozen food without preliminary defrosting, namely by gradually increasing the heating temperature in the mini-oven.
- Brazier - used on some models with a removable cover, turning the stove into an electric brazier.
- Boil control - maintains the set temperature at the selected level and, if necessary, automatically lowers it, preventing the food from boiling over.
- Self-cleaning function - it can be hydrolytic or pyrolytic. However, neither one nor the other will replace, but will only facilitate manual cleaning of the oven.
Depending on the set of functions and the manufacturer, the price of an electric desktop oven varies from 1,200 rubles to 35,000 rubles.
Additional functions
In addition to the usual set of functions, the electric mini-oven can be equipped with additional features that are not interesting to everyone, but can provide additional comfort and safety.
For example, a function such as a residual heat indicator will protect the hostess from scalding by showing that the oven is still hot. The indicator turns off when the oven cools down to 60 degrees.
The built-in metal detector recognizes metal dishes inside the cabinet - if they are not there, it becomes impossible to turn on the oven. If you have such a function, you should ask the seller about the possibility of turning it off, since otherwise you will not be able to cook food on a heat-resistant glass baking sheet or in ceramic pots.
Built-in appliances and the design feature of the mini oven play an important role for comfort and safety. The tightly fitting oven door and the presence of several heat-insulating glasses prevent heat from escaping outside, which means that they allow you to cook food much faster.
Many electric ovens are heated not only inside, but also heat up the space around them - this must be taken into account and before buying, find out from the seller how much this model is thermally insulated. It is desirable to have retractable telescopic guides that allow you to safely remove hot baking sheets from the oven.
The function of memorizing the cooking mode makes it possible to simply select a program stored in the oven's memory once, without setting new parameters each time. This function is especially convenient for those dishes that are prepared daily.
See also - How to choose the right microwave for your home
Power selection
Undoubtedly, a high-power oven will cook a dish much faster than a more compact, but less powerful unit. But at the same time, a powerful oven will consume more energy.
Therefore, each customer needs to independently decide what is more important for him - short-term and intensive power consumption, or a longer cooking process with economical consumption of electricity.
Manufacturers label their products according to the energy class: class A is considered the most economical, and products marked with the C mark are considered the most energy-intensive.
You should also take into account the condition of the electrical wiring in the room - it must withstand the load created by a desktop electric oven. On average, an electric oven consumes 2 to 4 kW. In a rural area or at a dacha, the supply voltage is sometimes not enough, in this case it is better to purchase a mini-oven of low power.
Brief summary
When choosing a desktop electric oven, you should pay attention to multi-functional medium-power units from a well-known manufacturer.Such a desktop oven will replace a large number of kitchen appliances, which will save space and money.
To confirm the quality of the selected product, you should ask the seller for a quality certificate and warranty obligations of the manufacturer. The choice is yours!
See also - Built-in electric oven: which is the best to choose?
