Microwave/Convection Combo's anyone?

[icunurse]

I was looking into buying a new toaster oven, then switched to considering a convection/toaster oven (it would be nice to be able to make a pizza or bake some small stuff without having to turn the oven on in the summer). Then someone mentioned the microwave/convection ovens. We have a small kitchen, so to be able to combine appliances would be helpful. Does anyone own one? Do you like it? Does it seem to work as well as having the individual appliances? Will it fit a 12 inch frozen pizza (I've found the toaster ovens that state they will cook them, but not for the micro combos)? Thanks for the help!!

Traci
~Connor's Mom 02/2004~
Agency paperwork completed - waiting (and waiting) for another baby!

[DebbieJ]

Traci,

We have one above our stove and I love it! Honestly, I don't use the convection function that much. Mostly for frozen chicken nuggets :) but I really need to start trying it more. Oh, I think I did baked potatoes in there once.

I love that I can use my Stoneware in it. The Medium Bar Pan fits perfectly. :)

I just grabbed a Tombstone out of the freezer--it fits in there.

~ deb
DS born at home 12/03
2 year check up: 25 lbs with clothes on and 35 inches!
BFARed for 20 months and 6 days
(Breastfeeding After Reduction is possible! www.bfar.org)

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[bostonsmama]

My MIL recently purchased a convection toaster w/ a gift card we gave her for a holiday. I wish I remember the manufacturere (I'll ask tonight), but she really likes it. I don't know that she's used the convection feature too much, but she bakes whole casseroles, pies, steaks, roasts, whole chickens, pizza, dinners, etc in there. They live in Arizona, so cooking dinner in a small toaster oven (and not heating up the house when it's 110 degrees outside) is a boon to her. My microwave, on the other hand, can heat up my kitchen b/c the blower moves the hot air throughout the room.

FTR, I have a gas & convection range. I thought I would use the convection feature so much more than I actually do. It made my cookies and brownies too cakey, whereas normal baking left them moist and chewy, plus it only saves 2-3 minutes per batch, which is neglible. And recently I tried to bake a whole 5 lb chicken w/ convection assist and it shaved all of 10 minutes off the 2 hour and some change bake time! Actually, I probably won't ever use convection assist w/ a chicken again b/c the legs were done w/ a quick read thermometer (185 degrees) but the inside of the breast was pink and bloody still. It was such a nightmare (as I had company over). Plus, you can't use tin foil to cover dishes or else the convection feature doesn't really work. It has to circulate the hot air around the food. This is hard when you're baking lasagna, pies or even a chicken where you don't want it to burn after 2 hours of roasting. I know this is less of a concern w/ a microwave, but I just wanted to throw that information out there.

I guess I'd probably go more for the convection toaster since I don't microwave a whole lot anymore. My toaster oven, which is just a budget Sunbeam model, is my second favorite mini-appliance.

Larissa

Baseline appt July 25th! Tentative retrieval ~Aug 10th, transfer ~8/13 or 15

Proud Aunt to Jack Dorian, born to my bro & SIL 3/06
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[kristenk]

We have a GE microwave/convection combo. We mainly use it in its microwave capacity, b/c I sort of forget that it has convection capability. Also, while using it in convection mode, it can be sort of loud. Actually, scratch that. I decided to bake a couple of cookies to test out the convection mode since I haven't used it in so long! LOL I'll be back later with a full report! :)

Okay, here's the report. It didn't take long at all for the microwave/convection (herein after referred to as "oven") to heat up. The way it works, is that you press the little convection button and it asks you what temp and then starts preheating. When it's preheated, it beeps and says that. After putting the cookies in and closing the door, it prompts me for a cook time. I don't like that so much b/c there are a lot of things that I cook until they look done, but don't know the exact # of minutes that takes. The oven turns itself off when the time's up, so it's sort of annoying that I have to go through the whole preheating, input time process again. I think I could probably get around that, but I'd need to look at the manual to refresh my memory.

The oven wasn't very loud at all. Well, it was louder than when I use it in microwave mode b/c of the fan, but it really wasn't bad. It also cooled down a lot quicker than my big oven does. I don't think the cookies browned as uniformly as normal, but I might have taken them out a little earlier than normal. The bottoms were a nice level of doneness.

I don't have any experience with toaster ovens. I think we had one at works eons ago but I don't really remember too much about it and no actual cooking was going on in there. We decided on the microwave/convection b/c I grew up with double ovens and think that having 2 ovens comes in so handy when you're preparing a big meal. We didn't have enough room for a double wall oven, so the microwave/convection seemed like our best bet. We mainly use it for the microwave, as I've mentioned, but I do think that we'll try to use it a little more this summer to keep the kitchen from getting so hot. If you have any specific questions, I'd be happy to help!

Edited once again to answer that a 12" pizza should fit no problem. The pan that I normally use for convection mode is 12".

[mamato1]

I think you will be OK with a regular toaster oven. I have a full-size oven and Like Larissa I just do not use it like I thought I would. However, I cook a tom of stuff in the toaster oven so i do not have to warm up th big oven. I've done small pizzas and the have turned out great even w/out convection.

Chris

Mama to Brendan (aka Boomer) 01/04


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[mamato1]

Chris

Mama to Brendan (aka Boomer) 01/04


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[slr]

We have a microwave/convection combo that the builder had put in when we bought our house last year. I really haven't used it as a convection oven much, but it is nice to know it has the capability. I used to have a cuisinart convection/toaster that was pretty nice. We mainly used the convection aspect to reheat pizza, but I did bake some fruit breads and they turned out OK. Ours definitely wouldn't hold a 12 inch pizza. Even before we moved and got the new micro/conv oven, I was thinking of getting rid of the toaster oven. Even though we used it every so often and I liked it, it took up more space than I wanted on the counter. In order to fit a 12in pizza, the toaster is going to take up a fairly large chunk of your counter. If you don't mind that, I've found the toaster/conv ovens work fairly well.

One more thing, I've found that toaster ovens don't toast your bread as well as regular toasters. They take longer and given the spacing of the heating elements the toasting isn't as uniform as a regular toaster. Just wanted to add this as my parents bought this big toaster oven that takes up a lot of space and then ended up buying a small cheapo toaster specifically for toast. So now they have an additional appliance in the kitchen!

[KBecks]

We have an advantium over the range and like it. It was pricey though. A pizza will fit. It seems to work just as fine as a regular microwave... I never had a toaster oven, but it cooks things like baked potatoes very well.

The advantium is made by GE and it's a "speedcook" oven. I don't know if it's a convection. It does not require preheating.

[Karenn]

I have one. The only thing that bugs me about it is that once you've used it as a regular/convection oven, it is *HOT* like a real oven and I usually find that I have to wait for it to cool down before I use it as a microwave again. Sometimes, that's fine, but usually the only reason I am using the micro/convection is because I'm cooking a big meal and the regular oven is full, so I really need the micro too. I still like having, in essence, a second oven though. I just don't use it as often as I might if it weren't combined with my mircrowave.