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No matter how big your kitchen is, sacrificing precious space for small appliances can be a challenge. So if you’re thinking about a smart toaster, don’t stop there and invest in a more versatile multi-function oven.
I’ll be the first to admit that the term “multi-oven” is a bit vague. With so many brands touting all-in-one appliances that promise air frying, frying, frying, and sometimes steaming, it can be hard to know what’s what. But for a countertop oven to be a multi-purpose oven and a semi-permanent place in your kitchen, it needs to be more than just a smart oven or air fryer (or even an air fryer and oven combo). A true multi-function oven must perform at least six functions and replace certain small kitchen appliances, including toasters and/or ovens, microwaves and deep fryers. It can also replace a steamer, dehydrator, and slow cooker, depending on which combi oven you are using. If the multifunction oven is big enough and hot enough, it can technically also be used as a pizza oven. While I wouldn’t recommend getting rid of the traditional oven today, I would argue that the home multifunction oven is being used more often.
When shopping for a multifunctional oven, it is important to look for features that can improve and simplify your cooking experience. For example, if you are a baker, a table top steam convection oven can be a real breakthrough. If you cook a lot of soups and stews, a multi-function oven that doesn’t turn off automatically after three hours might inspire you to post your slow cooker on a local “buy nothing” group.
To help you make the right decision, here’s an update on the status of your multifunction oven in 2022, including a comparison chart of some of the most popular models on the market today.
Most ovens have a wide temperature range and precise temperature control, as well as convection fans to help circulate hot air. While no multi-function oven can do everything (at least not yet), most ovens offer great versatility and can perform at least the following six functions.
Fun fact: an air fryer is just a very hot convection oven. So, even if a multi-function oven doesn’t bill itself as a deep fryer, if it can heat up to 350ºF and has a convection fan, this is the deep fryer that will leave your food as crispy as anything on the market. So any tabletop oven with a fan is also a convection oven.
Until recently, steam ovens, better known as combi ovens because they combine steam and convection heat, were only considered commercial kitchen appliances. But now you can find a steam function in some countertop ovens. Steam is a game-changer for bakers, but it also makes juicer roasts.
Sous vide translates to “under vacuum”, a cooking method that initially involves vacuum sealing foods and then cooking them in a water bath maintained at a precise temperature using a submersible circulation pump. The newer “sous-vide” technology uses a food probe that monitors the internal temperature of the food and adjusts the oven settings accordingly. When used with steam, this temperature control can give the same effect as a traditional sous vide, but for the oven to actually work like this, it must be able to stay in sous vide for 24 hours or more.
Any conventional oven can be cooked on low heat – just turn it off and leave it on for a long time. But many countertop ovens automatically turn off after three to four hours, so for a smart oven to cook slowly, it must have a timer that can be set to at least six hours.
Dehydrating food requires maintaining extremely low temperatures for extended periods of time, as well as some sort of system to remove moisture from the food from the oven. A separate convection fan will simply blow moisture out of the environment, but not remove it.
Multi ovens may look like large ovens, but they can do so much more. However, any multi-function oven should perform the basic function of an oven, which is to heat food faster and more efficiently than a conventional oven. You can use the multi-function oven to bake bagels or slices of bread, and to cook frozen foods such as pizza (if you have a high-capacity desktop oven).
Many multi-function ovens are great for baking anything you bake in a regular oven or even a professional oven. The trick here is to find one that will fit on the baking sheet or pan, or at least a quarter of the pan.
Grilling is cooking under intense direct heat. To function as a fryer, a multi-function oven must be able to radiate extremely high temperatures (at least 400ºF) from the top heating element.
Many multifunctional ovens are considered smart appliances. While the term “smart” is as vague as the multi-oven, the smart features often come in the form of presets, a recipe app, or both. Presets usually have a knob or button for cooking functions such as reheating, frying, air frying, etc. Bluetooth or Wi-Fi connected smart multifunction ovens often have a companion app with one-touch cooking modes and recipes , which allow you to set the oven to the optimum time, temperature and steam level, when applicable.
If you don’t know which companies make multifunctional ovens, rest assured you are not alone. Even I — someone who makes a living with kitchen supplies — has been mixing June ovens with Breville joules longer than I’d like to admit. It doesn’t help that some Breville smart ovens have enough features to qualify as multi-ovens while others don’t. Ninja’s range of multicookers is also confusing, even within the Foodi line. Other big names like KitchenAid and Panasonic make multi-function ovens, and Cuisinart had steam ovens for a while, but they were eventually discontinued.
Anova, which entered the market a decade ago with a submersible circulation pump, now produces combi ovens with sous vide capability, and Brava and Fotile have become worthy competitors. Brands like Suvie and Tovala combine the magic of countertop ovens with the convenience of meal kits and offer subscriptions for ready meals and their equipment. Suvie, which the brand calls a “countertop kitchen robot,” even has a fridge so you can put your cooked food in the oven in the morning and program it to start cooking before you head home.
With so many fryer ovens available and smart fryer oven combinations available, it can be hard to keep everything in order. There is even a popular steam oven, but it’s definitely not a multi-function oven.
The Anova Precision Oven is a multi-function variable steam oven and is the only multi-function oven on this list that can cook sous-vide with the precision of an immersion circulating thermostat. You can use the LED display on the handle or a companion app that includes recipes to set the temperature to half a degree and the steam level from 0% to 100% (disclosure: I developed a lot of employees before joining Epi). Although the Anova does not have a pre-installed deep fryer, it can reach 482ºF and has a convection function so it can also grill and air fry.
Brava is one of the few countertop ovens without windows in the door. Maybe that’s because its six heating elements are actually IR lamps, eliminating the need for preheating. This oven can do almost everything except steam. It can also complete these tasks quickly. The starter pack includes an oven and two baking sheets, but the more you spend, the more compatible cookware you get. Considering the price of this oven and all the tech that comes with it, the one year limited warranty seems a bit pricey. But if you don’t like it, you can return it within the first 100 days.
Breville’s Joule Oven Air Fryer Pro is actually billed as a smart oven and fryer combo, and the earlier model got the top spot in our product testing. But this smart oven has 13 presets and enough functions to be a multifunctional oven. It will bake, bake, bake, dehydrate and more. It even has a pizza freezer and enough space for a 12-inch pizza. Breville’s Element IQ technology uses built-in sensors to automatically adjust the temperature during cooking. At a maximum temperature of 480ºF, it also bakes. This stainless steel oven features an LCD display and comes complete with a non-stick pizza pan, grill, grill, enamel pan and air fryer basket.
Fonte’s ChefCubii is an attractive desktop oven sold as a 4-in-1 with 40 presets. It can be baked, fried, grilled, proofed, dehydrated, and even used as a rice cooker. The ChefCubii has three steam settings (high, medium and low) as well as a self-cleaning mode that also uses steam. If you prefer knobs to buttons, you’ll love this oven’s interface. In addition, it comes with gloves, a grill, a grill and a steaming tray.
June calls her multi-function oven a “full-function smart kitchen” with 12 functions including air frying, “grilling”, slow cooking, dehydration, fermentation and grilling, and it can do a lot, although it doesn’t have steam cooking. The “virtual grill” feature is a whole chicken preset, and while it won’t make the bird swirl with saliva, it won’t overheat the meat closest to the heating element. The June oven comes with a non-stick frying pan, crumb tray and thermometer.
A big benefit of the KitchenAid Double Convection Countertop Oven is that it switches between five different heating elements (plus a convection fan) for even cooking. You can set a fairly precise temperature in 5-degree increments, or choose from 12 preset modes, including air frying, frying, dehydration, and fermentation. This oven also preheats in less than four minutes. It comes with an air fryer basket, crumb tray, temperature gauge, and a 13×9″ non-stick pan with grill.
The Ninja Foodi 10-in-1 XL Pro Air Fry Oven is sold as an air fryer, but it can also air fry, bake, fry, and dehydrate. It also has an “air bake” function, which I’m pretty sure just bakes with convection. It doesn’t have steam, and although it runs at 180°F, if you leave, you can’t use it as a slow cooker because the timer has a four-hour limit and there’s no Bluetooth or Wi-Fi. connection. This model comes with a frying pan, airfryer basket, baking dish, crumb tray and smart temperature sensor.
Not all combi steamers need to be connected to your home Wi-Fi network to use the app. The Panasonic Home Chef 7-in-1 Oven has the features of an oven, including an infrared grill, but without the wireless technology that some home cooks simply don’t need. The model also has fermentation presets and even has sterilization settings for cooking tools, canning jars and even baby bottles.
Tovala is a multi-functional steam oven, and while designed to be used with Tovala delicacies, you can also use it to cook your own meals. The Tovala app also has a Scan to Cook feature that can set your oven to perfectly cook over 900 pre-made and frozen meals from Eggo, Pillsbury, Earth’s Best, Amy’s, Annie’s and Trader Joe’s. While Tovala can technically air fry, it does not come with a deep fryer preset. But there’s a new version of the fryer coming out this fall, so the original model is currently only $49.
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Post time: Oct-02-2022