I.a.s.* - Convection oven - regular oven?

[soup]

*It's always something.

Our stove started giving us fits last summer (about a month after the extended warranty ran out, naturally). The timer would beep for no apparent reason. Sometimes the oven would preheat, then shut itself off - not good when trying to bake anything. Sometimes it wouldn't turn on at all. Can't set the clock, it just beeps at me, and goes back to flashing 12:00. A few days ago, the ghost infested oven tried to lock itself like it was set to clean, the beeper started beeping and lights were blinking to 'push start'.

Late last night I smell something burning - nasty toxic burning. So, I go investigate. The kitchen is filling with smoke - rolling out of the oven.

I open the doors to let fresh air run through the house and grab a potholder to rescue the huge deep skillet that we store in the oven since it won't fit nicely anywhere else. The handle is starting to melt :-( and a potholder isn't sufficient insulation from the heat, so my palm is bright pink in the flash of time it takes to transfer the pan, our favorite and most used- from the oven to the top of the stove.

A quick look shows nothing is on. All the knobs are 'off'. The electronic portion doesn't indicate anything (like cleaning or timebake or what-all) running. Nothing beeping, nothing blinking - But that oven is Blazing.

So, I holler to my husband to turn the breaker off for the haunted stove. Stop feeding the evil beast...

Call a repair person? Spend whatever on an almost 6 year old stove that we were never enamored of to begin with? - only one large burner -and not paying enough attention at the time, what appeared to be a black glass front on the oven was just a black front- no window.

So my husband calls me from a Sears outlet a little while ago. He sounds like Tim the Toolman on speed. OOh. OOh. new stove - features - features beyond wildest dreams - (and, soup notes - a price tag to match, even at outlet prices)
http://www.pricescan.com/home/photos/photo708551.asp

The only thing it doesn't do is sort socks or answer the phone.

Does anyone have any experience with convection oven cooking? Is something like this worth - outlet price $900+ - almost 2 house payments?! *gulp* Or is this Just Nuts???

edit for alternate title thread:
which oven is best for baked lamb?

[Lars39]

1. Gack!!!! Get him OUT of that store!

It really pays to research when something costs that much! I have a Jennair(Maytag) with a convection oven. Not the one in the picture, though. My convection doesn't work; I've had it less than a year, just haven't called repairman yet. I liked it while it did work, though. :)

[soup]

2. and he walked right past the big screens OOh. OOh.

to get to the OOh. OOh. stove. (What is it about the SuperBowl that gets the big-screen itch raging?)

The man is gadget-struck.

Personally, I'm thinking $900+ in take-me-out, take-out, and delivery is a whole lot of meals - and no clean-up.

[Lars39]

3. That is strong-willed !

He must be desperate for *real* food. :)

[soup]

6. Yes he is. LOL. homemade pizza for the SuperBowl. n/t

[MrBenchley]

4. Depends on how you cook

If you do a lot of breads, cakes, souffles and the like, a convection oven is better....it has a fan that distributes the heat equally around the oven cavity and can cook somewhat faster and better...but may require some computation to convert ordinary cookbook recipes.

If you don't do a lot of fancy cooking a conventional oven is probably best.

[soup]

9. Used to do a lot of baking.

Since we moved to FL almost 20! (can that be?) years ago, it's lowered to the point of seldom to never.

So I'm thinking this is a huge expense that could be better spent in spite of the OOh. OOh. factor.

Thanks for your post. I'm noting that bake time changes have to be considered.

[MrBenchley]

12. Sounds like it is a frill you could dispense with

Glad I could help.

GE and some others have ovens that combine microwave, convection and ordinary heat to give dramatically shorter cooking times, if that is a factor. But they're still way-y-y-y-y expensive.

[radwriter0555]

5. THIS is my dream stove. Bought it a year ago...

utterly simply, totally complete, the god of stoves... and incredibly affordable....

http://www.carlsonsappliance.com/ex36allgasst.html



Can't catch fire. Can't short out. GREAT for baking, roasting, broiling, simmering, woking (massive BTU burner in the middle), built in rotisserie.

I love my stove.

[soup]

8. !

That is just simply beautiful.

We don't have gas, though.

[Don_G]

7. The More Options You Have

The easier it is for something to go wrong. High humidity and grease isn't kind to electronic circuitry.

My parents bought a simple Maytag washer and dryer back in the late '60's and (except for changing a belt on the washing machine) it was going strong until my brother and I let it go with the sale of her house on her death last year.

I'm certain Captain Jean Luc Picard wouldn't have been as sucessful or calm if he had to call an Appliance Repairman every six months or so.

[soup]

10. I was looking at the control panel on that thing and

thinking the clock on the dvd player still blinks because I haven't bothered to look for the manual to reset it after a power failure months ago.

soup and gadgets - yeah, there's a combo. :crazy:

[Rabrrrrrr]

11. Since you're not baking much, no need for convection oven

But if you think you might start again....especially if you HAD a convection oven... :-)

[soup]

13. Uh - Oh.

Do you think he was standing in the store Tim-grunting - with misguided visions of walking in after work finding his aproned woman in the kitchen by the rocket-science range smiling warmly and offering a slice of freshly baked bread?

junesoup cleaver

Actually used to enjoy cooking/baking, just don't seem to do much of either anymore.

and it sure seems like a pile of money for a stove.

[Rabrrrrrr]

14. Could be. Might be time for a divorce.

In fact, I wouldn't let him back in the house, just to be safe. :spank:

Heh heh.

It is a pile of money. I always figure, get what you need and only what you need, and get the best quality of that that you can. Yeah, other people might have more impressive stoves or cars or whatever, but you'll have more money in the bank for your retirement, and as you're retired and hanging out by the pool on the phone with your travel agent planning another trip to the south pacific for the winter holidays, you're friends you previously envied are looking at you and wishing they didn't have to work another ten years to pay off the two mortgages while finally trying to put some money away for their own retirement. :-)

[soup]

16. Am I holding a marguirita in the poolside vision?

details are sometimes very important.

Do you see a gorgeous hunk of a 'poolboy' bringing me a refill?

:slap: back to reality. for me and my husband.

I don't even own an apron.

[midnight armadillo]

15. How about an Aga?

I just learned about these yesterday, so don't take my word on anything. It's a radiant heat type of stove, seems kinda cool, but also seems like an energy hog:

http://www.aga-ranges.com/models/four_oven.cfm