It is hard to imagine a modern kitchen without a device for baking food. Today, when arranging their workspace, housewives try to save every square centimeter, so mini-ovens with convection are very popular.
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What is a mini oven?
Mini-oven - a kitchen appliance designed for cooking home baking, baking meat, vegetables and other products. Mini-ovens are only electric. In terms of functionality, a good mini-oven differs from an oven only in size and capacity. Outwardly, it looks like a microwave, but, from a technical point of view, they are completely different.
Mini oven or microwave: which is better?
A microwave oven provides cooking through specific electromagnetic waves that heat foods inside the oven. The use of electromagnetic waves imposes certain limitations on the possibilities of cooking in the microwave. So, in a microwave oven, metal dishes cannot be placed and it is impossible to cook an omelet.
A mini-oven also heats products with heating elements and a convector. The capabilities of the mini oven are limited only by its size.
Therefore, a mini-oven is definitely more necessary and more useful in the house than a microwave. In addition, the wave action of the microwave is unsafe for health. Such a device is good for quick heating of food, but it is absolutely not acceptable for daily cooking.
How to choose an electric tabletop oven?
Mini ovens are spacious and the number of heating elements.
Any mini-oven can be installed on the table, but in this case it should be in harmony with the repair in the kitchen. Mini-ovens are available in different colors, which expands the choice. May consist of one or two shelves.
You can cook several dishes at the same time. Some mini ovens are equipped with electric hobs on top. Such a technique can replace a full-fledged stove, for example, in a country house.
The big advantage of the mini oven is the convection function. In the old Soviet ovens there was an eternal problem: baked goods burned out on one side, while inside it remained damp. The reason for this is the insufficient circulation of hot air inside the oven. The baking sheet, as a rule, occupies the entire area in the oven and blocks the way of heat from the heating element located below. In all modern ovens, there are several heating elements, and they are located both above and below. But this does not always save from an unpleasant outcome of cooking, especially in ovens with several shelves. Baking often burns out on both sides, but remains damp inside.
Convection completely solves this problem. Its action is to force air by a special fan inside the oven. Convection is cold and hot. Cold convection pumps up air heated only by heating elements inside the oven, while hot convection also uses a special heating coil inside the fan. Hot convection allows faster cooking at high temperatures.
Electronics or mechanics
Mini-ovens are available with mechanical or electronic control. Furnaces with a mechanical control panel are favorably priced, but have a number of functional limitations. A mechanical temperature controller can have an error of up to 10 degrees. But for most dishes, this is not critical. The mechanical timer does not technically allow baking in delayed start mode, only automatic shutdown.In this case, in case of power outages, the mechanical timer will not stop working and will turn off at the scheduled time regardless of when the power supply resumes.
Electronic control is more accurate and allows you to display the status of cooking processes on the screen. An electronic temperature sensor allows you to precisely set the required temperature and notify the hostess about the oven reaching the desired state. The delayed start function allows you to program hot pastries in the morning for breakfast, putting in the oven all the necessary components in the evening.
MYSTERY MOT-3334
Despite the fact that the mini-oven with convection, equipped with electronic control, has clear advantages, mechanical ones are in the greatest demand. Apparently, the benefits of electronics are not so important for most housewives to overpay. And the price of electronic mini-ovens is much higher.
A vivid example of this is the inexpensive MYSTERY MOT-3334 mini-furnace, which is made of metal, has two heating elements, a non-stick coating and a convection mechanism. The oven is equipped with two shelves: for a baking sheet and a wire rack. It allows you to cook two dishes at the same time, avoiding the mixing of odors. The oven supports the skewer mode, allowing you to cook with bonfire effects.
Bork w500
Fans to keep up with the times should like the Bork W500 mini-oven. It is completely controlled by electronics, has all the functions that Mystery has, plus several of its own. The function of intelligent heating, provides significant energy savings. The built-in temperature sensors and the processor independently select the temperature and use the necessary heating elements for the fastest and most efficient cooking.
On the front panel of the mini-oven is a large information LCD screen, which displays information about:
- active heaters and convection mode;
- cooking time, current time or delayed start time;
- programmed and current heating temperature;
- selected baking mode.
The screen has a nice looking blue backlight for use in the dark.
This convection tabletop oven is equipped with a delayed start function and is made of brushed stainless steel, which looks very expensive. This mini-oven is also not cheap. 10 times more in comparison with the above Mystery.
Mini-oven Delonghi EOB2071
Delongi - a time-tested manufacturer of household appliances, has put on the market a compromise and interesting model of a mini-oven. Its size does not exceed a standard microwave, but the device combines a mini-oven and a bread machine. The compromise is the use of mechanical control for the functions of the oven and electronic for the bread machine. In this case, it is not necessary to change any functional blocks to switch between a mini-oven and a bread machine. Simply remove the wire rack and place the bowl with the ingredients in a device that will knead the dough and bake the bread.
In addition, this device is also intended to replace the microwave oven, as it allows you to heat food in the mode of hot convection. Of course, heating food in a mini-oven will take longer than in a microwave, but you can not worry about overheating and food safety. In addition, the lack of a microwave will save extra space in the kitchen.
The device is made in steel color, which fits perfectly into the interior of a modern kitchen.
Today, many models of mini-ovens are produced. In addition to functional characteristics, the device should be pleasant to its owner purely aesthetically, and this is a matter of personal taste. But it is important to choose a model with a basic set of necessary functions, including a convection function, without which baking will turn into an eternal struggle with equipment for a golden brown.
