oven

A cool new solar oven

Last night, the kids wanted pizza. My 30-minute pizza recipe calls for heating the oven to 500 degrees. I live in Houston. It is June. It was, shall we say, slightly warm in my house last evening. I do not enjoy heating the house just to feed my children.

I'm not sure a Sun Oven would solve my problems, but it is a cool concept, and a nice way to experiment with greening your footprint a little.

The Sun Oven can be used for anything you'd cook in a conventional electric or gas oven and most things you … Read more

Countertop oven adds rotisserie and more

Having a handy second oven is a convenience like no other. It doesn't have to be big like an oven-oven, just big enough to accommodate side dishes or small meals. If that small second oven contains a rotisserie, then it's all the better.

The Wolfgang Puck 23L Digital Convection Oven with Rotisserie replaces your toaster oven and adds more features. Measuring 18.75 wide inches by 15.25 inches deep by 10.25 inches tall, the oven doesn't take up much room, and provides more than just toast.

An included rotisserie spit with forks (along with the … Read more

Pac-Man oven mitt channels inner child

When I was a child, I loved playing video games. Before my parents invested in a gaming system, I would go to great lengths to secure a spot on my friends' couches, playing Nintendo classics for hours on end. I never went to arcades, so I got all of my gaming in at home.

In high school and college, I finally discovered the arcade classics, and my all-time favorite was Pac-Man. It was easy enough for me to master, and just complicated enough to be challenging and interesting. I'd visit arcades with friends and plunk quarter after quarter into … Read more

Keep cool with this heat resistant oven mitt

"You know what we need to get you for Mother's Day?" my almost-10-year-old asked me last night. Off the top of my head, I could think of at least 47 things that I need--want--from a full-time housekeeper to a MacBook Pro, or, heck, even an iPhone. But my daughter had something else in mind. "An oven mitt," she said.

I will admit that my first response was disappointment. An oven mitt? Really? But my daughter did have a point--I have decreased sensitivity in my extremities, so by the time I react to heat, I've … Read more

Bake one honey of a pizza with a Beehive

Pizza is an amazingly complex thing for a food item so seemingly simple. Bread, cheese, sauce, that's it. That's enough to get you going. Oh sure, you can drown your pizza in a sea of toppings, but the essential structure starts from basic everyday ingredients. The deceptively complex nature of pizza is both a good thing and a bad thing. Endless varieties abound, and there are certainly great pizzas to be found, but it is all too easy to order up a lousy pizza. Good thing you can bake your own.

But don't pick up that pizza … Read more

An oven with some lift

When you're baking, the time your recipe has to stay in the oven can vary incredibly from what the cookbook says. That's due, in part, to the fact that whenever you open the oven door, heat escapes. Gaggenau has come up with a unique approach to the problem: because hot air rises, the Lift Oven opens in such a way that all the hot air stays inside the oven. Rather than have a door that opens on the front of the oven, the base of the Lift Oven lowers to let you access whatever you're cooking, leaving … Read more

This microwave oven will also brown, bake, broil, crisp, and steam

Microwave ovens are overrated. Oh, sure, they can do some things really well, but for other tasks, they fall quite short. Personally, I like an appliance that is capable of doing more than softening butter and popping popcorn. (OK, I know that's an understatement, but bear with me.) Considering how manufacturers love to integrate several appliances into one (usually with toasters, it would seem), it should come as no surprise that the ubiquitous microwave oven is finally starting to diversify.

The Kalorik Steam Microwave Oven w/Real Convection certainly isn't the first combination appliance based upon quick-and-easy cooking, … Read more

This is no overgrown toaster oven

The other day a friend and I were discussing which was better to own: a toaster or a toaster oven. Toasters, being specialized appliances, tend to do a really good job at making toast. Toaster ovens however, sometimes fall short. But when it comes to practicality, the toaster oven is perfect for a multitude of tasks. In the end there is really no debate, as the only answer is simply to have one of each. While that may seem a bit overkill to some, it certainly isn't if the appliance you choose is more oven than toaster.

The Cadco Commercial Convection Oven … Read more

Bake and boil on your baby Belling

In many battles, bigger is better. But, when it comes to working efficiently in tight kitchens, the little guy almost always comes out on top.

Belling makes a wide range of standard kitchen appliances, from ranges and built-ins to free-standing cookers, but it's the "Baby Belling" line that caught my attention. Specializing in compact appliances, the line features things like ranges and induction cooktops that make the most out of small spaces.

One product of the Baby Belling line is this Table Top Mini Kitchen, which combines a range top and a conventional oven in a unit … Read more