Convection oven?

[Randy in Maine]

I will be replacing my electric range with a new gas one here shortly in the stainless/black trim my kitchen is in. I am trying to figure out if it is worth the extra $200 to go with a convection oven vs a "normal one". ~$900 as opposed to $700.

I like to do some baking (cakes, pies, etc.) and like to roast various things (turkey, pork, chicken, fish, etc.), but I am not sure if it is that much of a plus to have a convection oven.

Thoughts?

[RSorak 71Westy]

My understanding, it may wrong, it that a convection oven is just a regular oven with a fan built into it to circulate the air, this puts a better char or crust onto things.

[Bleyseng]

its worth it if you bake at all as the heat inside the oven is even throughout. This way on the bottom rack cookies cook nicely too while the apple pie on the middle and upper racks doesn't burn.
I even have one in my house in Suriname where we bake rarely as its too hot to bake unless its early in the morning.

[glasseye]

My wife bakes all the time, has done for decades. (lucky me) She swears by convection ovens. They're faster and the heat is more even. Since they're faster, LOTS faster, the oven runs for a shorter time and therefore uses less power. A turkey, for example is done two hours sooner. That's a lot of kWh saved.

The fan in our GE convection oven is an abomination. It's very noisy and, rather than throttle, it cycles on and off, relentlessly, like sleeping next to a semi with a reefer running.

The cooktop is carefully designed to have maximum showroom appeal but its utility is horrible. It traps crumbs and junk around the controls and along the edges of the shiny trim bits. It's a total PITA to keep clean. Pay attention to ease of cleaning.

[RussellK]

The cooktop is carefully designed to have maximum showroom appeal but its utility is horrible. It traps crumbs and junk around the controls and along the edges of the shiny trim bits. It's a total PITA to keep clean. Pay attention to ease of cleaning.

Amen to that. We have a glass cooktop that requires a special cleaner and takes 3 steps. What a mistake buying that was.

[Bleyseng]

I sell Belion appliances (Dutch) and they are great and fairly cheap. Glass cooktops are easy to clean and the 24" (60cm) convection oven is nice. In Seattle we have a gas Wolf professional type range, talk about a pain to clean

[Amskeptic]

like sleeping next to a semi with a reefer running.

Who . . . in this assemblage of august club members . . . should ever find himself by dint of what tragic circumstance . . . sleeping beside a, what did you call it, "reefer"? Why . . . that is almost as shameful as having to "camp" next to the . . . . . . . railroad tracks.
hmmph

[glasseye]

like sleeping next to a semi with a reefer running.

Who . . . in this assemblage of august club members . . . should ever find himself by dint of what tragic circumstance . . . sleeping beside a, what did you call it, "reefer"? Why . . . that is almost as shameful as having to "camp" next to the . . . . . . . railroad tracks.
hmmph

O Father, forgive me, for I have sinned.

It came to pass one evening somewhere in Nevada that tiredness didst overtake me and I forsook the road for a Highway Rest Stop. I knew, O Father, that the use of a Highway Rest Stop for other than personal plumbing procedures is forbidden to all travellers. To dwell in a Highway Rest Stop for more than the absolute minimum of time necessary constitutes a sin. A sin of such magnitude that one's very soul is in mortal danger should one trespass thereupon. All this I knew and held to be true, for it is written. Somewhere.

But, O Father, my need was great and my flesh was weak.

It further came to pass, O Father, that the blessed and holy peace of the previously empty Rest Stop was broken a few hours later by the invasion of another. An infidel. A large commercial transport vehicle carrying refrigerated goods to distant shores did park nearby. His refrigeration unit, did then cycle on and off with monotonous regularity and sonorous resonance, thus destroying my deep sleep and faithful contemplation of all that we hold to be true and just and right. (Amen)

So, O Father, I left.

My transgression was brief. My restoration incomplete. My journey interrupted. But my faith, O Father, my faith was undamaged and I promise that I never shall engage with infidels nor reefers again. So help me. Kinda.

O Father, I must confess to another sin. It occurred many years ago on a motorcycle trip in the desert near Yakima, and involved a railway and my sleeping bag. But I see that our quality time is up, so I must leave you, O Father, to other confessors.

[Amskeptic]

I must confess to another sin. It occurred many years ago on a motorcycle

We Await . . .

[whc03grady]

The cooktop is carefully designed to have maximum showroom appeal but its utility is horrible. It traps crumbs and junk around the controls and along the edges of the shiny trim bits. It's a total PITA to keep clean. Pay attention to ease of cleaning.

Amen to that. We have a glass cooktop that requires a special cleaner and takes 3 steps. What a mistake buying that was.

Double amen. Two people I'd strangle in infancy if I had a time machine: Alexander Graham Bell and whoever came up with the glasstop range.

That said, forget the fancy cleaners: use baking soda.

[TrollFromDownBelow]

a 'reefer' is a refrigerated semi trailer. The refrigerator unit runs on diesel.

[Amskeptic]

a 'reefer' is a refrigerated semi trailer. The refrigerator unit runs on diesel.

(I am celebrating the return of the smilies)

I can tell you the aerodynamic qualities, the cut-in-cut-out differentials, the age, condition of the trailer load, number of cylinders, and head pressure in every damn reefer in the United States at this interrupted sleep point of my life, plus the number of truckers who defy the No Idle laws as they run the tractor's engine with shrieking a/c clutches or engine fans that go on hovercraft hyper drive speed at every cycling, especially the too-short cycles occasioned by a low a/c charge, just writing about it reminds me of the smell of truck stop urine baked into the pavement and the bugs flitting around the flourescent lights, 2:00AM yelling "Hey Jimmy, tell dispatch the reefer ain't pullin it down! No it aint, we gotta get going. It ain't gonna last. That reefer is on its last legs. "

This reefer is too,
Colin

[Randy in Maine]

Brief Update....

Well about a month ago I bought this Maytag gas covection oven. I bought it as a "clearence" item at the local Home Depot. I paid about $800 as opposed to the list price of about $1200. It was deliverd to the HD store in August of 2011. It comes with the basic 1 year warranty from Maytag (now part of Whirlpool out of MI and no longer made in Iowa).

Took it home and had my "heat guy" re-jet it for propane and install it last week. Oven and broiler unit doesn't fire up. I called Maytag and at first they told me that it was no longer under warranty as it was delivered to HD in 2011. Of course I just purchasd it in May of 2013.

I went to the Maine Attorney Generals website and found this ...

http://www.maine.gov/tools/whatsnew/ind ... e&id=27922

It apprears that here in Maine, the warranty is really for the serviceable life of the appliance (around 15 years), not the "one year" Maytag claims. The AG's office tells me to go through the seller and to let them deal with the manufacturer. Some interesting case law in there also.

So I sent a registered letter on the form the AG's Office provides to both the "seller" (local HD store director) and to the "manufacturer" (Maytag legal department), stating the manufacuturer's defect. Maytag through HD urging is sending a repair guy out to fix it this morning. I am sure it is a hack national company (AE Appliance Repair), but we shall see what happens.

[Randy in Maine]

All fixed. Works great. No charge.

[dtrumbo]

Power to the people! Assuming the people have armed themselves with the information they need to empower themselves. I wonder if Washington and other states have similar implied warranty laws? I know the sellers and manufacturers hope we never find out.

Thanks Randy!