Types of Wall Ovens

A wall oven, also known as built-in oven, is a great space-saving appliance. Unlike a freestanding range, it's built-in to the cabinets or an opening in the wall in your kitchen.

They're available in both gas and electric, however electric models are more common and tend to offer more choices.

Convection Ovens
Convection ovens utilize a fan in the rear of the oven cavity that circulates hot air over, under, and around food. Because it circulates hot air, convection ovens cook more rapidly (30% faster than conventional ovens) and at a lower temperature, helping to retain flavor and moisture in foods. The circulating air also helps to eliminate hot spots, allowing food to cook more evenly, and speeds up the browning of roasted meats and poultry.

Convection ovens tend have a smaller internal capacity than standard ovens due to the fan, but they can cook several dishes of food at one time. In fact, the oven can be filled from top to bottom as long as there is at least an inch of space between items for the air to circulate. (In a conventional oven, items should be placed in the center of the oven to cook thoroughly.)

There are two types of convection ovens: ovens with the heating elements at the bottom of the oven; and "true" convection ovens with the heating elements at the rear of the oven, which are the preferred type as the heating elements are closer to the fan creating a more even heat. In addition, some convection systems are combined with microwave energy to offer increased speed on top of the benefits of convection. Ovens with convection and microwave energy can be expected to cut cooking times by up to 50%.

Steam Ovens
When you think about cooking with steam, you typically assume you're going to be cooking on the cooktop, however newer advancements now allow you to cook with steam in the oven too.

Steam cooking as been found to retain more vitamins than other cooking methods and is therefore touted as a healthier way of preparing foods. Dry heat cooking relies on added fat to keep meats from drying out, but with steam, the meat doesn't need any additional fat to stay moist. Temperatures of steam ovens vary - 200 degrees F to more than 500 degrees F - and cooking times are generally cut by more than half.

Steam ovens work by filling a reservoir with water to begin the baking process - installed ovens don't need to be hooked up to a water supply as the reservoir is detachable and easily accessible. A major drawback of steam ovens is it's inability to brown foods. Pre-browning meats before cooking in the oven results in more time in the kitchen, but is an option. Similarly, baked items such as breads and pies will not come out as crispy or they'll appear pale, so browning in a convention oven will be necessary.

Speed-Cooking Oven
One of the newest and most expensive technologies for all ovens is Speed-Cooking. Speed-cooking combines heat, convection, microwave energy and a halogen-quartz light all in one oven. These functions can be used separately or together for the fastest of fast meal preparation. With speed-cooking, baking and roasting can be reduced as much as 25% of the conventional preparation time.

Manufacturers often have their trademarks for this type of technology: look for trademarks such as Tri-Vection, Ultima and SpeedCook.

Some double ovens are available with a combination microwave / convection oven as the top oven - this top oven can be used as a microwave or as a convection oven - and is a great way to get the flexibility of two ovens and a microwave in one space.