May 6, 2008

OD on Ovens

I've been on a quest to buy a new oven.

So first question - Table top or built-in? For the uninitiated, a table-top oven are the oven toaster lookalikes, usually without turbo fan (convection). Some call it static or electric oven, small size ranging from 20+ to 40+L. The built-in oven, is well, a built-in oven, usually bigger in size, usually more than 50L and has multi-functions. And of course the price is quite different. Table-tops are around $100 for small ones, going up to about $400 for big ones whereas built-ins start at about $500 and can go into the thousands for a high-end one like Miele.

I already have a small table-top oven right now that is seldom used, and since we have space for a built-in oven in the new set of kitchen cabinets, might as well utilise the space right?

After browsing several forums and websites where people discussed their oven-buying experiences (useful articles here and here), I've narrowed down to a couple of choices. My budget is about $500 so it rules out all the top-end brands. There are also so many different combination of functions such as top+bottom heat, fan-assisted, top only, bottom only and whatever combis in between. Each apparently helps bake/cook different stuff optimally. Below are some of the ovens I saw...

Clockwise from top left: Delonghi Table-top Oven, Rinnai Built-in Oven 5CSI (~$510), Ariston FB51.2 IX (~$600), Cuizino OV728X (~$470), droolworthy Miele (not sure model, >$3000)

So which one to get? The real contenders are really the Ariston and Cuizino (those on the righthand column). Considerations are that Ariston is a well-known Italian brand whereas Cuizino isn't, plus it's made in China so dunno when it'll go kaput. The Cuizino has more functions than the Ariston despite being cheaper but I'm not really a heavy-duty baker so I probably won't require super many functions. Both look pretty good and fit into the cabinet. I guess it sounds like I'm biased towards the Ariston for now... How?? More money but do I really need it??

No comments:

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...