From air fryers to combi microwaves: Does your home really need an oven?
Jennifer Sheahan's kitchen. I do have a full-sized oven in my home, because I bake a lot and I need multiple racks to fit many cake tins at once, but this is not true for everyone. Picture: Moya Nolan
Recently I was working on the redesign of a small galley kitchen. As always in my world, space was at a premium and we had to get clever about how to maximise what was available.
It was only when I discovered that the owner was primarily using her oven for storage that I realised we could free up this space. It never occurred to me to not include an oven in a kitchen, but of course, a full-sized regular oven is not always necessary.
The oven is the oldest known appliance, and as such is ubiquitous in our homes, but cooking and lifestyles have changed, how we eat has adapted, and there is such a variety of cooking appliances on the market that you may discover smaller appliances are perfectly sufficient for your needs.
I will caveat all that follows by saying that I do have a full-sized oven in my home, because I bake a lot and I need multiple racks to fit many cake tins at once, but this is not true for everyone. Outside of baking I only occasionally make full use of the space in my oven — usually for a Sunday roast — but even that would be possible in my combi microwave oven alone.
If you’re currently designing your kitchen or struggling to free up space in your existing one, here are some alternatives to installing a full-sized oven depending on your cooking and baking preferences.
These are really the only thing most people need and the one appliance I would choose above all others. Combi microwave ovens are the size of a regular microwave and have all the functionality of an oven, a grill, and a microwave in one.
If you’re low on space and don’t often cook big meals in the oven, this is the answer for you. There’s really nothing you can’t do in these, except fit a lot of things in them at once.
If you do like a big Sunday roast every now and then, you can still achieve this by cooking some things in advance and finishing them off or heating them up just before serving. Mine is the AEG and frankly if I didn’t bake so much I would do away with my full-sized oven and just use this.
Microwaves may not do everything, depending on what “everything” means for you, but they do a lot more than most people think — plus, they are more energy efficient than regular ovens.
Microwaves work by causing water molecules in food to vibrate which creates heat. The downside is that heating can be uneven — you can have food that is burned on the outside and cold on the inside. The way to get around this is to pause and stir frequently to spread the heat around, or to cut food into small pieces.
Primarily, microwaves are great at heating or reheating, but you can actually do a lot more than that. Pasta and rice will cook just fine if they are submerged in liquid; potatoes can be roasted; you can even cook a whole chicken, covered, although it won’t quite have the same delicious crispness as an oven-roasted chicken. Indeed, there is an abundance of cake recipes that work great in a microwave.
Air fryers have exploded in popularity recently and for good reason. Air fryers are extremely efficient convection ovens — basically, regular ovens that heat up quickly with high-speed fans that circulate the hot air inside very effectively. This ensures your food heats evenly and quickly, in less time and using less electricity than a standard oven.
This functionality also provides a delicious crisp coating where foods have been drizzled with oils or fats, such as chicken or roast potatoes. Air fryers are incredibly versatile — you can cook, fry, roast, broil, grill, stir-fry, and bake. There are versions with rotisserie attachments and pizza pans.
The only real downside to an air-fryer is size — even the largest ones don’t fit as much as a regular oven — but they are only growing in popularity, and I suspect — as the design evolves — they may replace regular ovens in the near future.
I have one friend who exclusively uses a slow cooker and a hob, and there is a lot to be said for it! Slow cookers are nothing new — before convection ovens many homes had cast-iron range cookers (still hugely popular) which often served as the central heating unit for the entire house. Range cookers were rarely turned off, it being more efficient to keep them on and turned down low than to turn them off only to reheat them again.
It was common to put food inside to utilise the heat, allowing it to slowly cook all day long.
The flavour from slow-cooked food is delicious. Slowly braised meat, thoroughy infused spices, and tender vegetables are all compelling arguments for this style of cooking.
In the absence of a range, electric slow cookers are available as countertop appliances, and they are simply wonderful inventions.
A little more effort is needed than chucking all your ingredients in and pressing a button. As a baker, it doesn’t tick all boxes of course, although I have seen videos of people cooking poached fruit and sponges in them. If you adore stews, roasts, casseroles, and the odd dessert then the humble slow cooker may be all you need.
Finally, camping enthusiasts may argue that you don’t need any of the above at all — there is a lot that you can do with only a couple of gas or electric rings. I adore The Campervan Cookbook by Martin Dorey and Sarah Randell — it contains fabulous recipes for stews, Sunday lunches, and more that require nothing more than a hob and some pans.
You don’t need to be on the road or roughing it in the wild — this is a super guide that will be useful for anyone cooking in a tiny space with minimal equipment.
- Got a question? Email home@examiner.ie
