We have two Bertazzoni-brand wall ovens. One is a microwave that purportedly also works as a thermal oven, but is wildly inaccurate for temperature. The other is a big convection oven that is even worse for temperature control (if you set 350 you might get 310 or 400).
I’m trying to figure out if I can live my domestic dream of a GE Advantium microwave that can also broil via a halogen light and a wall oven that can inject steam into the cavity for roasting turkey without drying it out, a feature that we had on a KitchenAid range back in Maskachusetts. GE and its brother/sister/binary-resister brands Cafe and Monogram don’t make any full-height ovens with a steam feature. LG and Samsung are the reasonably-priced brands that do make full-size ovens with a steam kicker and they don’t offer Advantium. So I am trying to do a photo montage of the disparate brands to see which ones clash the least.
The LG oven photo comes with a huge red badge on it. I asked ChatGPT 4 to remove it:
I’d like you to edit this photo to remove the red badge at lower right and fill in the pixels to be symmetric:
Maybe readers will want to weigh in on this important decoration issue! Here are Monogram, Cafe (no logo!), and GE versions of the same 240V 30″ Advantium wall oven:
Here is the Samsung steam-capable oven:
(The LG is above.) Here’s another version of the LG:
The “Signature Kitchen Suite” product appears to be exactly the same oven internally, but costs about $2,000 more, maybe due to heavier and fancier faceplate and door, a three-year warranty, a dedicated service organization for the elite/stupid. etc.
I’m thinking that the Monogram+Samsung and Monogram+Signature are least likely to cause a visitor to the house to ask “What happened?” or “Who hurt your kitchen?”
Go woke go brock(en image recognition component)!
Does anyone think about anything but kitchen appliances anymore & why does the government say inflation expectations are under control if everyone’s putting everything they have into their houses expecting prices to explode?
Logically, government has high expectation for the inflation. At least through November elections.
How can it possibly be worthwhile to risk your sanity on a potentially malfunctioning liability like a “steam” function. How frequently do you make turkey or baguettes? Can’t you achieve the same effect with a pan of water? Doesn’t it make the turkey skin soggy? Why aren’t you using Kenji’s turkey roasting method for great turkey with a crisp skin and well-cooked meat?
Mitch: You might be denying #Science. The newspaper that assures us of the miraculous benefits of low-skill immigration everywhere other than in New York City also assures us that steam is the best way to cook turkey! You go heavy steam at first and then no steam or light steam towards the end to crisp the skin. https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/12941-jacques-pepins-steamed-and-roasted-turkey (I adapted this recipe for our steam oven by steaming 100% on the lowest heat (I think it was 250) and then going 30% steam at 375 and finally no steam at 400. https://archive.is/cmlsP is a non-paywalled version.
We don’t make turkey that often, but the steam oven is awesome for any kind of roast meat, including chicken. A pan of water won’t do it. Even the ghetto-class LG/Samsung “steam assist” ovens have a 2000-watt element for producing steam from their 1-liter tanks (they require 30-amp breakers at 240V when a standard wall oven requires only 20). There is no way a pan of water is producing as much steam as a 2000-watt heater.
Is it another thing to break? Sure. But we can get an extended warranty!
“steam is the best way to cook turkey”
Where’s your smoker?
Sam: “Our” smoker is in the neighbor’s garage and we could borrow it at any time. You think I should try it? I think it might require wood or charcoal. That’s way too much effort compared to sticking a turkey in a roasting pan and touching a few configuration buttons for steam cooking!
I will add that the steam feature greatly accelerates the cooking process. The turkey hits a safe internal temperature in 1/2 to 2/3rds the time compared to a dry roast at 325-350.
I’d say try the smoker at least once, if it’s not too much trouble for your neighbor. Some smokers are more automated than others.
We usually have some combination of roasted, fried, and smoked turkey during the holidays, and I think the tastiness increases in that order. I haven’t had steamed turkey, though.
Any combination will do, nobody is paying attention to kitchen appliances these days.
Two ovens with even the slightest difference in appearance? That’s a kitchen nightmare I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy! I’d rather embark on an epic quest, cycling across continents to gather matching appliances, than try to sleep at night haunted by the horror of mismatched ovens lurking downstairs. The rule is simple: All kitchen appliances must be from the same brand, same line, same design. It’s the unwritten law of kitchen aesthetics!
Why not buy both ovens and tuck the less attractive one away in the island, facing away from the room? Sure, it won’t be at eye level, but more importantly, it won’t be in direct line of sight. Or, if you’re lucky enough to have a chef’s kitchen, a back kitchen, or even a fancy pantry, that could be the perfect hideout for your appliance misfit. Out of sight, out of mind, right?