Looking for a home oven that bakes well....

[mikef]

Hello, all -

My wife and I have been looking into re-doing our kitchen. Part of this involves getting a new range or oven/cooktop combination. My wife is an avid baker and very much wants an oven that can give her the best possible results for tarts, cakes, pies, etc. (She's not much into baking bread.) I've read a few of the threads on the other boards regarding which of the "professional-style" home ranges are best. I was wondering if the bakers here might have any more specific opinions??

Thanks much!!

Mike in Sacramento

 

[bubbamom]

Depends on the price range you were planning to spend. I can't address commercial ranges, but after almost 20 years with a convection oven, I'd recommend one any day. We had a Caloric combination (gas) microwave/convection oven (no longer on the market). There was a definite benefit in using convection rather than radient heat and even more benefits in using the oven in combination bake (both microwave and convection - these features were in the same "oven", not a separate microwave and a separate convection oven. Tomorrow we are expecting delivery of a GE gas convection range. There are many options out there including dual fuel ranges (gas burners w/ electric convection ovens), convection-type ovens which don't have a heating element with the fans, only fans to move the already warmed air around, etc. Again, it depends on the price range. :chef:

 

[ronnie_suburban]

...I agree that convection is a must. I'd also choose electric over gas if baking is her thing, because electric ovens generally hold temperature more evenly than gas ovens do.

If bread-baking isn't an issue, you don't have to worry about steam injection, so you'll have a very wide array of choices.

I've had some experience with GE, Garland, Dacor, Thermador, Kitchen-Aid and Viking. I've found very little difference between them in terms of cooking quality. You may want to focus more on the interface and appearance of the oven. In the end, those are the 2 aspects that will most likely distinguish the different brands from each other--and they are, for the most part, purely subjective criteria.

=R=