Category Archives: Appliances

The day has finally arrived, after weeks or months of researching, shopping around and choosing your new appliances, your new cabinets, benchtops and splashbacks your new kitchen is finally finished!  You have cleaned out the builders dust they left in the draws and on the cooktop from installing the rangehood.  You have wiped the shelves and marvelled at all those gorgeous new draws and ‘space’ you never had before.  If you’re lucky, you have even washed and put the new cutlery in the new cutlery draw, positioned the new toaster and kettle in its appliance cupboard and you are now ready to deal with the serious stuff….. the new appliances! The first thing you do is marvel at just how ‘clean’ they are, you promise yourself that you are going to keep them looking like this forever.  Now how do you turn it on?  What are all those functions and what do they do?  I have already written about that here so check out how your symbols compare.

Before you start

Before you do anything else, first remove all the racks, any plastic bags full of instructions, warranty cards, and packaging that has been left in the oven.  Check to see what actually is there.  Is there a metal cover for the fan? Is there a grill pan and any other baking trays?  Make sure your oven comes with the hardware you anticipated, if not call your retailer and check with them.  The fan cover is to help the fan stay clean during roasting and grilling.  Not all ovens come with fan covers, particularly if you have purchased a pyro oven.  You don’t use the fan cover when baking cakes or anything that is not fatty as it can inhibit the air flow.  If you’re lucky you will have a draw somewhere to fit all this stuff – you don’t cook in your oven with all those trays living in the bottom.  Wash everything in warm, soapy water and put them into a draw, with the books, the Invoice for when you need it one day and fan cover if you have one.

Now check you if you have ‘self cleaning liners’ on the back or sides of your oven or do you have a Pyrolitic oven that will clean itself?  If you have liners most manufacturers will have installed them already for you.  Take a photo inside your oven so that in the future you will remember where and how they were fitted.  Liners are not made to last forever but they can last up to 10 years if you look after them properly.  Feel them – they are slightly rough.  Try to remember that they can never be sprayed with oven cleaner or scrubbed.  In fact the less you do to them the longer they will last.  They are activated at high temperatures to burn off any fat either when you do a cleaning program (read your instruction book) or when you are cooking bread, pizza or scones. Occasionally, if necessary, they can be washed in warm, soapy water and left to dry.  Most people never do this.  Your racks, door and oven base can be sprayed with a non-caustic oven cleaner to keep them looking new.  Make sure if you have liners that none of the spray touches them and make sure anyone cleaning the oven except you knows this too.

If you have a Pyro oven then lucky you!  You will only need to run the pyro cycle about after every third roast and clean the racks.   Some models now allow the racks to remain in the oven while the pyro is running but check the manual for this confirmation.  The pyro will leave a ‘dust’ residue on the base of the oven that you can easily wipe out when cold.  You must read your instruction book for this information.  If you are also lucky enough to have ‘telescopic runners’ in your oven then these must be removed before a pyro clean or, as mentioned above may remain depending on your oven.

Prepping the oven

Whilst you’re probably bursting to cook something, you first have to ‘burn in’ the heating elements to remove any machine oil that is on them from manufacture. Basically most ovens have three elements.  One at the top for the grill, one under the floor for conventional cooking or bottom element only and one around the fan that you can’t see for fan forced.  Once you understand that, then the programs will all make sense because that is where the browning is coming from.  You can now know where to position your food in the oven. When you cook on fan forced and only the back element is on then, of course, you can ‘stack’ the oven from the top to the bottom.  There is no need to cook only in the centre like the old days.  Ovens however are made to a price point so hopefully you read my post here on how to choose your main oven before you decided to buy as some ovens do only have two elements.  That’s fine if it suits the way you cook.

To do this burn-in, you can follow your instruction manual or simply turn the oven on.  This usually means turning one knob or pushing one button to the first ‘function’.  Close the oven door.  Now turn the other knob or push the other button to select a ‘temperature’.  Most manufacturers say a hot 200°C.  A light will go on.  If it doesn’t your oven is not connected yet so call your kitchen guy!  In a few minutes check that it is getting hot.  Now run it empty for 10-15 minutes before opening the door to let out the smell and moving the function knob to the next setting.  Do this on each and every setting except the Pyro cleaning setting if you have one until you’re back at the first one.  Your oven is now ready for cooking!  If you have turned on the Pyro by mistake the oven door will lock and the program will start.  It will run for around 1-4 hours and you will just have to let it finish.  No harm will be done, it is just an unnecessary clean.  Be aware some brands have multiple Pyro settings so please, read your instruction manual.

Read the Instructions!

If you haven’t read your instruction book supplied with the oven, the time to do so is now!  I know you don’t have time but you have spent all this money so it is important.  Read “How to” and set your clock.  Clocks are not difficult these days, especially for programming the oven to start at a later time.  You can practice that another day.  Look at the way they describe your shelf positions so you will know what levels to cook on.  Make sure you are familiar with the functions (especially if you have a Pyro) and what they do as I mentioned above.  Most ovens now grill with the door closed.  Find the grilling section in the manual and read it!  You should have two grill settings nowadays; one Static grill and another Fan grill.  Some brands have a different position for the knobs for grills that you should be aware of.

At last – cooking something

Now, when you have time, cook something you have cooked before in your old oven, adjusting the temperatures if necessary.  A fan forced oven is not just an oven with a fan in the back.  It has to have an element around it and your old oven may not have had this and could have been a ‘Fan Assisted oven’.  A true fan forced oven needs 20°C reduced off your old recipes unless already stated for cooking on fan forced.  Some brands will automatically reduce this temperature when you select the function.  How did it turn out, was it cooked in time, did it brown evenly or to your satisfaction?  Keep testing things, use my recipes and enjoy it!  You will soon get to love your new oven and wonder how you coped for so long with the old disaster!

If your having problems, the food isn’t cooking properly or browning only on one side then call your manufacturer for a service call.  It maybe could be that the thermostat is out of wack or another issue that they can check.  Do this, don’t suffer with it as all appliances come with a warranty and this is what it should be used for.  Don’t leave it so long that your warranty has lapsed!  Items such as globes are not covered under warranty so be sure to call and check before you book your call.

Finally, a new oven is like a new member of the family – they take a little bit of time to get use to!

Whilst on holidays in South America I had a lovely email from Wendy who briefly explained to me that she had ‘got a bit carried away’ with her new kitchen and despite being a good cook she didn’t know when to use her combi, her oven with moisture plus, her steam oven or just the grill!  She also had a warming draw which must be heaven.  I actually haven’t ever had one of those….

I can understand her dilemma, especially when confronted with a whole tower of new appliances (and all the instruction books)! I will try to keep this as simple as possible. Remember,  the more you use your new appliances the easier it all will become.

I am getting a lot of emails from people who are not happy with the level of support given by manufacturers.  Try to attend any classes they may have in your area as these can really be very beneficial.  I would suggest you do this, not before the kitchen is installed but actually a few weeks after you have been cooking.  How did your familiar recipes turn out? Take notes! If something is just not right then it isn’t that uncommon that it may be a problem with the thermostat.  It may need adjusting by the manufacturer.  Get this checked BEFORE it is out of warranty.  You can buy an oven thermometer to double check before you call them.  Remember to adjust your cooking temperatures in a new oven on Fan Forced.

STEAM OVEN:

Most importantly use the steam oven to help you prepare different elements to use in other recipes.  Because the steam retains the nutrients, food tastes better!  For example never ‘blanch’ any vegetables again for a salad as you are loosing the nutrients in the water.

Rice, all types
Quinoa and other grains
Cous cous
Porridge
Noodles
Fish
Prawns, mussels & other shellfish
Vegetables – all, but longer timing for root vegetables
Eggs of any type
Fruit
Puddings including Christmas
Custards including crème caramel & some sauces
Desserts including crème brulee & some cheesecakes
Meat (some after searing)
Chicken, breast for salads etc or steamed chicken
Dumplings, won tons etc
Pasta (you can cook pasta but I tend not to.  I would use for large ravioli with fresh pasta)
Soups in smaller quantities
Curries and braised dishes are good but remember you will get more moisture in the sauce.
Melt chocolate
Proving bread or dough
Sterilise jars
Hot towels – just like a Chinese restaurant!
Let me know if I have missed any!

COMBI OVEN:

Bread
Roasting meat, chicken
Slow cooking meat
Yeast dough of all types
Proving bread or dough
Pastry all types
Scones are better in the combi see here
Heaps of Automatic programs – check your appliance for more information
Normal oven cooking with a smaller capacity – saves money in power costs.

NORMAL FULL SIZE OVEN:

General multi-level baking
Large quantity roasting, multi levels
Pizza
Grilling of all types fan grill and static grill in most models (although some combi ovens also have a grill element)
Casseroles
Pasta bakes
Large vegetable bakes, stuffed vegetables etc
Pavlova
Soufflés
Quiches
Pastry items, particularly anything you want browning from the base of the oven which some models have available.
Large cakes, Christmas cake etc.

Now see my post “What function do I cook that on?” here

Moisture plus or ovens with the ability to add extra moisture during the cooking process are not full ‘steam ovens’.  What they do is give you the ability to add one or more shots of steam into the oven cavity whilst it’s cooking.  You should use this for pastry, bread if you don’t have a combi, and some meats.  Please check your manufacturers instructions on this.  It is also handy to use whilst keeping something warm so it doesn’t dry out.  An example would be a lasagne.

Generally if it doesn’t fit into the combi – use your main oven!  IF you are lucky enough to have a pyrolitic, self cleaning oven then use this oven for ANYTHING that is going to spit or dirty your oven.  Particularly grilling.  It is a lot easier to clean than the combi.  See “Combi cleaning” here.  I would suggest doing the ‘Pyro cleaning’ after say three roasts.  Check your manufacturers instructions before you start.

WARMING DRAW:

Plates, cups etc
Proving flat pizzas
Resting meat
Keeping plates of food warm
Baking very slow items in some brands.  Small meringues, some fillets of meat even can be ‘cooked’ in a warming draw depending upon its maximum temperature.
Unfortunately I haven’t ever had a warming draw as I mentioned earlier so let me know if I have missed anything out here…

I hope this helps.  Would love to hear any other comments you may have so email me if you have any other suggestions.

“Help” you say.  “I need to choose an oven and there are SO many choices!”  This is a familiar saying when people are forced to making a decision on what sort of oven they should buy for their new kitchen.  The kitchen designer or kitchen company have already been, you are committed to going ahead with this but you need to decide on the appliances by next week before they come for the final check measure.  Sound familiar?

Basically people doing a new kitchen fall into one of four categories:-

1. The ‘foodie’ who loves to cook and will probably live in the property for a long time.
2. The ‘family’ who don’t really care about cooking, they do it because they need to but want something decent to last.
3. The ‘renovator’ who is doing the property either for a quick sale or as a first timer on their first renovation with a limited budget.
4. The ’empty nester’ or ‘downsizer’ who now has the chance to get what they really want after all these years.

As I have mentioned before in the steam oven article a good salesperson should ask you if you like cooking very early on in the discussion.  In my opinion this is the most important piece of information that they can know.  It tells them what to recommend to you.  If you like to cook  you have certain requirements and expectations of an appliance.  This isn’t as complicated as it sounds – it just means you expect your thermostat to be accurate, the oven to brown evenly from one side to the other and you expect that the quality is going to last for a long time.  These people would fall into Category 1 or 4 above.

Unless they are vegetarian, people in these two categories probably also don’t like cleaning and may roast meat.  I would recommend they buy what is called a Pyrolitic oven.  Otherwise known as a true self-cleaning oven.  This type of oven will heat to 500°C and burn off any fat in a program that lasts approximately 2-3 hours.  Easily done overnight.  The door of the oven will lock so it cannot be opened during the cleaning process and once cool enough the charred remains or ‘dust’ on the bottom and sides of the oven can simply be wiped out with a wet sponge.  “Does it really clean?” you ask – yes it does!  Pyro ovens as we call them have been around for a long time, have up to 4 layers of glass so they are quite cool to touch and are the oven of choice for most people who roast and grill a lot of meat.  Nobody likes cleaning – if you roast once a week and grill meat at least once a week you need to buy a pyro oven!

Let’s look at the people in Category 2.  They probably roast once a week and grill most nights with a family so I would suggest a pyro for them as well.  Only problem here is they are a bit more expensive and often a family needs more than one oven.  A double oven or a large, full size oven and a smaller or half oven is the best for a growing family.  If cost isn’t an issue then a Pyro oven as the main oven and a smaller combi oven would be the ultimate.  See my article on choosing a combi.   A combi can either be a combi-steam oven or a combi-microwave oven.  The combi-microwave is probably the most popular for a family but I personally prefer the combi-steam oven as mentioned in my previous article.  If your family doesn’t want to invest in a Pyro oven and would prefer the typical double oven then it will probably have catalytic liners on the sides that will help protect the oven from getting fatty but you still need to clean this type of oven.  The liners cannot be scrubbed or sprayed with oven cleaner but if you look after your oven it will still be a good choice for you.  As with any oven, please read your instruction manual on how to maintain it.

Now the last category – 3.  Basically these buyers want something that looks good and is cheap.  As long as it works they don’t really care what it does, what functions it has or how it cooks.  They certainly don’t care about how you clean it because they either wont be living there or don’t cook very much anyway.  It’s all about the price and usually they will jump at what we use to call a ‘builders pack’ where they could get everything for a set price, even including a sink and tap!  It was really nice to be able to offer purchasers like this such a deal.  It was a good way to buy for them and they were happy.  After all it’s all about making people happy isn’t it?  The classic win-win situation.  So my only advice to these purchasers would be to choose a recognised brand over a no-name or never heard of name.  If it’s your first property you will probably live there for a while so look carefully at what the difference is in price between the base model and perhaps one that might have conventional cooking (top and bottom elements) as well as fan forced as you may be surprised that the difference in price isn’t as much as you might think.  At least then you can turn the fan off so your mum can cook a pavlova when she visits one day!

Finally, try to buy an oven that suits the way YOU cook!  It has to last a long time and cook a lot of meals.  That is the best advice I can give you…..

Now that your convinced you need a steam oven rather than a microwave in your new kitchen the next question is which one?

There are so many models to choose from but it is easy if you make the decision based on a few simple questions:-

• Do you want your meat and chicken to ‘brown’?  Do you want to roast in it so you get beautiful tender meat as the steam and oven work together?
• Do you need a ‘second oven’ or a small oven to do another course or dessert if your main oven is full?
• Do you really love to cook?
• Do you cook bread?
• Can you get extra power to that spot?

If you answer ‘yes’ (including the last question) to at least three of those items then a combi steam oven is for you!  I know they are more expensive but I cannot tell you how much fun your going to have cooking in this thing!   I only use my main oven now for heating plates and cooking really large quantities.  I have a 900 wide oven so now with only two of us at home I use the combi for just about everything.  My model does not have the grill element at the top or a bottom element so be mindful of that when you are selecting the model that you think will suit your needs.

If you are into baking bread and pastry then read my article on this here.

Also be mindful of cleaning the combi steam oven.  You do have to clean it after roasting.  The results more than outweigh the fact you have to clean it.

Now let us just back track a fraction and look at what you can’t do if you decide on just a steam oven:

• The steam oven will not brown food.  It is purely steam.  You can sear a small piece of meat on your cooktop and then finish it off in the steam oven but that is the only way you will get colour on the outside.  The Miele girls do a small eye fillet like that for a class that is fantastic.
• You cannot bake bread, pastry, cakes, biscuits or pizza in a steam oven.

“Oh, I am more confused” you say…. To be honest it’s not that difficult.  Read the questions above again – it really does depend on how you cook.

If you have a large family or intend to live in the house for a long time then try to think of the big picture!  If you have a young family then, in my opinion you need two ovens.  Or one main and a smaller one if you have the space.  They are not going to eat those little baby meals for much longer.  Are you going to have 50 people for your daughter’s 21st like I did? Try to get this kitchen to be everything to everyone in the family.  A small oven is the best for teenagers who come home late and heat one piece of pizza.  It’s great for you when you want to brown one handful of nuts.  It is also the best when the kids leave home and you are back to cooking one rack of lamb with 4 little potatoes!  Try to think like this, yes a combi is more expensive but in 12 months time you probably wont even remember what it cost you as you will love it so much and use it everyday! 

One last thing, which ever way you go, USE your appliances to get the maximum benefit from them.  Experiment, cook some Auto programs, go to cooking classes on the product, convert some recipes and use some from my site.  You will never know how you survived without a combi or steam oven before!

It is such a difficult decision for most people.  Choosing a bunch of appliances that meet your needs.  If this kitchen is for a property you intend to live in for over 5 years then you are probably also looking for quality that is going to last as long as the cabinetry.  The life of an average good quality kitchen is about 20 years.  That is a big ask these days!

So you’ve decided on the main oven, the cooktop to fit your special giant cast iron pot and the rangehood to cope with the type of cooking you actually do.  Next the dishwasher to fit in your large dinner plates and wine glasses, the sink (and there are a million choices here) and finally the tap.  You are exhausted, you’ve spent about 2 hours in this busy showroom with all these people and your head is spinning.  Luckily you had an okay salesperson who could help you battle your way through the maze.  You had no idea how complicated it was going to be.  This is why a good salesperson would have asked you if you love cooking at the start of this whole process.  Now the salesperson asks you “do you want a microwave?”!!  At this stage you feel like screaming…..”I hate microwaves you reply, I only ever use it to reheat or defrost the dog’s food!”

It’s the truth, you need something to reheat with but unless your told about it you actually do have a much better option out there these days….. It’s called ‘the steam oven’.  “I’ve never heard of it you reply”.  A steam oven can replace the microwave in certain circumstances.  It’s pretty simple actually you can choose between  moist and succulent food, beautifully cooked tender vegetables, fluffy rice and more plus perfectly re-heated and rehydrated meals compared to dry, overcooked and dangerously hot microwaved food!

“There must be things it can’t do?” you ask. Yes, it can’t reheat the wheat bag for your sore neck and you wouldn’t bother using it for heating a cup of tea or milk but they are the only things.  A steam oven also takes a long time to defrost because it defrosts at 40°C so you actually get cold, defrosted meat or chicken.  Not half-cooked meat or chicken.  If you defrost regularly then you probably still need a microwave.  My suggestion is just a little cheap one in the laundry or in a cupboard would be best.

If you hardly ever defrost, love cooking and want healthy, beautifully cooked eggs, dumplings, fish, chicken, custards, vegetables, rice, puddings and fruit then buy a steam oven.  You won’t be disappointed!