Counter Top Convection Oven... ??

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Tim Horton

Tim Horton

Old Bush Bear
Neighbor
Joined
Apr 16, 2022
Messages
892
Location
Lake Superior
The other day I saw a counter top convection oven in a thrift store...
I didn't stop to look closely at it.. Just the label on it saying what it is.. From what little I know convection ovens are faster, better, more versatile in many ways than conventional ovens, full size or counter top size... At the time I should have looked more closely for a brand and model and looked it up on Google.. Like many, counter space is limited but if an appliance will do multiple things it is good.. I wouldn't expect this to replace a microwave, but be a good accompanying appliance..

Anyone have a conventional size or counter top convection oven ??
Facts, details, experience, opinions.. Thanks..
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A bit of info..
https://buyersguide.org/countertop-...k2BuPVbowq3-2GSVZIaAio7EALw_wcB&tdid=10499287
 
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My MIL likes hers, uses it for large pieces of meat, like roasts. I don't have one, but I do have a large toaster oven. A few years back I cooked a Thanksgiving meal in that and using my dutch ovens on briquets outside, because my oven went out the day before. I don't know how much power the convection oven uses, but I know small toaster ovens are handy if you don't have much but solar power. Our solar charged battery and an inverter runs one fine for cooking indoors.
 
My problem with stuff like that is where do I store it when it's not being used.
The list of things that I thought would be nice to have but eventually realized they weren't is long.
Toaster oven, bread maker, blender, rice cooker, Keurig coffee maker, Kitchen aid mixer ( which we still have) and more that I can't remember right now.
I know there are people that can't live without some of those things but for me they just weren't worth the storage space the took up when not in use, which was most of the time. There are other things that we can use that work just as well.
We had a toaster oven-air fryer-convection oven-dehydrator combination. It did all those thing but none of them well.
 
The Princess has a counter top convection oven. It has a place on the counter in the primary kitchen. It is her go to oven for everything except large dishes it has options for toasting and broiling as well.

If it were to suddenly fail I would expect she would have a replacement on the way ASAP.

Ben
 
We have a Cuisinart counter top convection oven. We use that a lot more than our regular ovens. The regular ovens are only used when something is too big for the counter top oven.

HOWEVER, now that we have an air fryer, we use that ton's more than the counter top convection oven. To my thinking, you would need a very large air fryer (which we have) to take over for a convection oven. There are air fryers that look just like a convection oven. That's because they really are nothing more than a convection oven ... just renamed. My daughter had one of this type, and never used it. Why? Because you have to use oven mitts of pot holders to get stuff out of them. Because you can't easily shake or stir things in them (they have little shallow pans that don't support this). Really, this type of air fryer is nothing more than a convection oven. Convection ovens and their air fryer twin type can get to be impossible to clean once you start cooking crumb-producing things (like toast) in them combined with grease-producing things (like french fries, chicken strips, etc.) There are so many nooks and crannies and slots and holes and burners in there that you just can't easily get around everything for a good cleaning. Most have a glass door that can get incredibly nasty after food that splatter and pop to any extent.

Now, the air fryers that have a removable basket that you can shake did not appeal to me initially one little bit. I was looking for the more conventional "convection oven" type. My daughter warned me against this. Don't confuse this warning as a slight against convection ovens. Those types of oven are good. But they are NOT air fryers, so it's unrealistic to expect them to be, despite how they may be advertised. They are convection ovens with an "air fryer" tag slapped on them. A marketing move. A large basket-type air fryer is quite different than a convection oven. Much faster, and more convenient. One heckuva lot easier to clean too. But even the largest basket-type air fryer is only good for two people, three max (if you don't eat terribly much). So there's a trade off. FWIW, the air fryer that we have is a Cosori Dual Blaze model. It's about as big as they come, and has a square basket which is much more useful (holds more food) than the round basket type.

Either a convection oven or an air fryer will beat a microwave for most all uses around our house. The microwave is good for reheating many things (except meat). It's not very good for actually cooking things. Pretty terrible at that, actually.

We have lots and lots of small kitchen appliances - rice cookers, steamers, waffle irons, George Foreman grills, espresso machines, Keurig coffee makers, Instant Pots, Crock Pots, sandwich grills, electric tea pots, blender, food processor, etc. Looking around my kitchen, these are the items that have a permanent place on the counter: Microwave, convection oven, air fryer, electric can opener, Keurig coffee maker. Everything else is put away after use, and pulled back out again as needed. If I only had counter space for two items to sit there permanently, those two would be the Keurig coffee maker and the air fryer. I never would have believed an air fryer would be in the top two, until I purchased one. But as I said, get a large one of the basket type (that is highly rated and easy to use).
 
We have a "Ninja" multi use thingy. Air Fryer, bakes, etc etc. Replaced our single use Air Fryer and our toaster oven. Supposed to dehydrate, but I haven't tried it yet. As a hint, get parchment paper, makes cleanup a breeze.
k73014_182.jpeg
 
backlash said:
I just bought some paper baskets to go in the air fryer so it's easier to clean.
Click to expand...
Make sure you have enough weight on top of them to keep them from getting lifted and flying around. I made a related mistake early on with my air fryer - I was reheating an already cooked hamburger patty and I decided to melt a piece of cheese on top of it. The cheese evidently took off like a fighter jet in there and attached itself to the top burner, with predictable poor cheeseburger results. Lots of times when I reheat (not cook) in the air fryer I put a piece of foil under what I'm reheating to keep the air fryer clean. When I do this, after putting the whatever on top of the foil, I roll up all four sides so the foil is just barely bigger than what's on top of it, to help prevent lift-off.
 
backlash said:
My problem with stuff like that is where do I store it when it's not being used.
The list of things that I thought would be nice to have but eventually realized they weren't is long.
Toaster oven, bread maker, blender, rice cooker, Keurig coffee maker, Kitchen aid mixer ( which we still have) and more that I can't remember right now.
I know there are people that can't live without some of those things but for me they just weren't worth the storage space the took up when not in use, which was most of the time. There are other things that we can use that work just as well.
We had a toaster oven-air fryer-convection oven-dehydrator combination. It did all those thing but none of them well.
Click to expand...
I even got rid of the kitchen aid 😯. We don’t have a microwave, dish washer, electric mixer or toaster. I discovered that a spoon or a knife did what many of the gadgets claim to do. I do still have probably too many baking utensils as I am in my kitchen a lot! Gadgets take up a lot of space. My opinion: if I can have 1 thing that serves multiple tasks, that’s better than multiple things that each do a single task.
 
LadyLocust said:
I even got rid of the kitchen aid 😯. We don’t have a microwave, dish washer, electric mixer or toaster. I discovered that a spoon or a knife did what many of the gadgets claim to do. I do still have probably too many baking utensils as I am in my kitchen a lot! Gadgets take up a lot of space. My opinion: if I can have 1 thing that serves multiple tasks, that’s better than multiple things that each do a single task.
Click to expand...
I'm still not over you getting rid of the vegetable peeler!!😮
 
Haertig said:
Make sure you have enough weight on top of them to keep them from getting lifted and flying around. I made a related mistake early on with my air fryer - I was reheating an already cooked hamburger patty and I decided to melt a piece of cheese on top of it. The cheese evidently took off like a fighter jet in there and attached itself to the top burner, with predictable poor cheeseburger results. Lots of times when I reheat (not cook) in the air fryer I put a piece of foil under what I'm reheating to keep the air fryer clean. When I do this, after putting the whatever on top of the foil, I roll up all four sides so the foil is just barely bigger than what's on top of it, to help prevent lift-off.
Click to expand...
I did the same thing the first time. Burning paper flying all over the inside of the air fryer.

LadyLocust said:
My opinion: if I can have 1 thing that serves multiple tasks, that’s better than multiple things that each do a single task.
Click to expand...
Alton Brown said there is only one thing in his kitchen that is single use. A fire extinguisher.
 
Haertig said:
We have a Cuisinart counter top convection oven. We use that a lot more than our regular ovens.
Click to expand...

I still have this one from Jan of '18, in an old air fryer thread. It was interesting to read some of the posts. Has my opinion changed? Nope.

I use the convection and microwave a lot. I cook big meals, freeze excess portions. I always have leftovers or thawed items that need heat. I use one or the other everyday for something.

https://www.homesteadingforum.org/threads/all-about-air-fryers.896/
2850-Kitchen-01-v1.jpg
 
We had a Kitchen Aid microwave/convection oven/ fan hood, got it around 1995, it died a few years ago and at the time I couldn't find another Kitchen Aid but I did find a ZLine model and it matched up to the same space. We like the fan hood style just because it is out of the way and doesn't take up counter space. The new unit takes 1,500 watts so it would discharge solar batteries pretty fast, however we lucked out by finding a couple of slow cooker elements that can take a sauce post or a small fry pan and it only draws 200 watts, we ran one just like in our motor home from the 410 amp hour solar system, it ran for 8 hours and the batteries still had plenty of juice left.
 
I have an old Farberware convection oven and I use it all the time. It is large and lives in it's own space. I use it for everything since propane is expensive. The oven adds very little to my electric bill, in fact I haven't really noticed an increase. DH put a kill-a-watt on it and was pleased. I like the large size, I use it to bake bread. I can't comment on meat because we are vegetarians. Casseroles, pizza, yeast and quick breads, roasted vegetables, it is used for everything.
I would love to find another one just in case, but they don't make them anymore. I have yet to find a new one that is large enough.
This one can proof bread, dehydrate, roast, etc.
The propane oven does some things better, but not enough to justify the cost of the propane when the convection oven does it well enough that the difference is minor.
 
The wife has been using a Breville counter top oven, it works okay up to about 450F... The temperature seems to be a little hot ~+15F. We use it mostly to heat things up or make toast. From time to time we use it to cook a small roast or something like that. The wife likes it and that's all that really matters.... Ours is an older model, about 1800 watts, I wish we had been able to get the later model that was also an air fryer. Mostly just to have 1 more option and still keep the counter space.
 
Thanks for all the info and first hand experiences..
I haven't done any shopping yet to see what is available.. But will..
 
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