Find the Perfect Oven to Bring Out the Chef in You

Singaporeans tend to eat out a lot due to long working hours. We would rather grab something from the hawker centre than whip up a meal at home. This unhealthy habit is what’s causing the nation to expand horizontally (gasp!). The Health Promotion Board is doing its part by getting food stalls to provide healthier options, and you can also trim a few inches off your waist by controlling the amount of oil and sodium you consume.

To get started, you need to be motivated to cook, which means you need to find cooking equipments that best fit your lifestyle.

The oven is a fuss-free appliance and a staple in every kitchen; therefore, getting the right one is important. We've gathered information on both Built-in Ovens and Range Ovens, and picked out tips from fellow RenoTalkers. Read on to find out which type of oven you should purchase!

Built-in Oven

Advantages

1. It’s personalized

You would be able to choose the height of your oven to match your arm length. This makes putting and removing food items a whole lot easier. No more dropping of trays and wasted food!

2. Sleek

If you want a more modern look for your kitchen, a built-in oven is the way to go. It keeps things more organized, and you can even add door panels for a more polished design. Renotalker Joper suggests Brandt as a more affordable alternative to high-end stoves.

3. Allows flow in the kitchen

Sometimes, you need to stir-fry vegetables, while your partner needs to check on the chicken baking in the oven. Cooking together would be a breeze with a separate cooktop.

Disadvantages

1. Cost

Built-in ovens are generally more expensive in the market, and you might even need to hire a contractor to fit it in with the rest of your cabinets. More help = more costs!

2. Takes up more space 

You would need to find another spot in the kitchen for your cooktop. So if space is a concern to you, it would be difficult to accommodate these 2 appliances together. To counter this, Renotalker Elfettucine introduced a small and decent one from Tecno.

3. Narrow 

If you have an upcoming dinner party and need to do lots of cooking, you might find it challenging with a built-in oven since they are narrower. Large dishes wouldn’t be able to fit, which means more rounds of cooking with smaller trays. (Yikes!)

Range Oven

Advantages

1. Flexibility

Since it is a single equipment, your installation process would be smoother. Plus, a range oven is easy to move around, so you wouldn’t need to worry about its placement if you need to do some kitchen redesigning.

2. One stop appliance

It is easier to shop for a range oven than to source out a cooktop and built-in oven separately. Double the shopping equates to double the work. Talk about hassle-free! 

3. Quality at a cheaper price

There are plenty of good quality range ovens that cost less than built-in ovens. So essentially, you are forking out a smaller sum of money for 2 equipments (stove and oven). Ariston seems to be a popular choice on our forum and Froggy absolutely "fell in love with the full stainless steel model with a big oven capacity".

Disadvantages

1. Bad Height

Don’t we all hate that awkward bend or squat we have to make every time we take food out of the oven? Or the conscious effort not to burn our legs every time we cook on the stove and bake at the same time. This would be a struggle if you own a range oven.

2. Repair

If parts of your range oven become faulty, you would need to send the whole appliance for repair, which means no cooking for a while!

3. Hard to match

You want your oven to belong to the same theme as the rest of the kitchen. Choosing one could give you a headache, especially if you want a brown, wooden layout.

Excited to cook already? Just imagine, you can pre-make all your dinners and store them in the fridge. Every evening when you come home from work, just plop one into the oven and you are good to go! Join in our forum discussions here and here.