GE's single/double wall oven

I am all about conserving space in the kitchen. My Fisher & Paykel dishdrawers let me have two separate dishwashers in the space of a single unit. My French door bottom freezer fridge holds a fairly ridiculous amount of food. And now that I've seen GE's new single/double wall oven, I'm looking at my ordinary double wall oven with a newly critical eye.

The new GE Profile 30-inch single/double wall oven fits two ovens into the space of a single standard wall oven. You could, for example, roast a 22-pound turkey in the 2.8 cubic foot lower oven while you warm up your hors d'oeuvres and side dishes in the 2.2 cubic foot upper oven.

So what exactly can you fit in that upper oven? According to GE, it's large enough to hold two 10-1/2-inch-by-14-3/4-inch casserole dishes. Not too shabby, and it's a safe bet your guests won't go home hungry.

The lower oven offers convection cooking for faster cooking and flavorful results. And if fast food isn't your thing, it also has a slow-cook mode with settings for pork, poultry, beef, and stew. I think the crock pot is getting nervous. Meanwhile, back on top, the upper oven's pizza mode can produce fresh or frozen pizzas with crispy crust.

The oven looks good, too, in sleek stainless steel. The hidden glass-touch controls are actually an important design element--moving the controls to the inside of the upper oven door frees up the space needed to create two usable ovens in the space of a single 30-inch wall oven. And in a nod to harried housewives everywhere, the oven's self-cleaning racks can stay in the oven during the self-clean cycle.

Look for the new single/double oven in October; it'll retail for about $2,800.