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!