Mom’s new house came with a new free standing range. Has a glass cooktop that scratches easily. It’s not an induction cook top. Just glass covering the burners. Which of course gets in the way of heat transfer to the pot.
The digital controls on the oven are just, plain dumb. Press bake. Display comes on with ----. Press up or down. It starts from 350. So typically it requires pressing up twice to reach 400.
Then this fan starts. The entire time the oven is in use. It doesn’t shut off until 30 or more mins after the oven is shut off.
It’s not hard to use. Just clumsy compared to traditional ovens.
It makes me treasure my 1980’s GE range. My oven temperature stays set on 375 for months at a time. Nearly everything I bake is at that temp. I turn on one knob to turn on the oven. There’s no silly fan either.
It’s only been repaired one time. I had one of the oven elements replaced 6 years ago.
My range will be used for as long as possible. Most of the parts are generic and easily found. I have no interest in ever replacing it.
Our oven is nearly 40 years old. Replaced an element at least a couple times. Had an analog clock which got stuck. A couple years ago I got a digital replacement off eBay for very little money. These used to be quite expensive but with all the appliance places trying to sell off their old surplus parts, the prices have come down.
Now I have a “new” digital oven. But the settings knobs are still original. We have a bunch of timers which are a lot easier to use than setting the oven’s one.
Oh, we also painted it almond over the harvest gold at some point. Still looks good.
Our cooktop is a replacement glass one. We love it. But it is really showing the wear and tear. Had to replace an element a couple times and those are not cheap.
A few years ago, I got my first smooth-top range. I was surprised how easily it gets scratches that can’t be removed just from ordinary pans. Even a smooth-top polishing compound does’t do much.
My oven starts at 350F, too, but it goes up or down in 5F increments, not 25. To get to 170, where I often warm stuff, is 36 button presses! And why don’t they allow setting a temp of, say, 80-100F? If they did, it would make a terrific warm spot to let bread dough rise.
I’ve tried quite a few different models of the ovens with digital controls, and I agree - I haven’t seen even one where the controls were easy to use, nor one where the meaning of the display was clear. Ovens don’t have many functions - you don’t even desire many functions - you just want the few functions there are to be clear and simple to use. And the most complicated thing I’d ever want - for it to turn on at a certain time at a certain temperature, then change the temperature after a given amount of time, cook at that temperature for a different amount of time, and then shut off - is still dead simple from a technology point of view. (If I was to desire anything fancier than that from an oven, it would be "Open the fridge, get out the chicken, split it down the middle… :D. Maybe in a few years. :)) There are clearly several good ways to punch in and to display the kind of timed cooking I described - but it seems none of them has been tried on a real oven. We’re still at “Wait - am I setting the clock, or setting a countdown timer? How am I supposed to tell? Honey, which button sets the timer?” “Press the orange octagon three times and then gargle with salt water! How many times do I have to tell you?”
Sure, that’s good. I’m happy to acknowledge that they got something right. Just in 2018 there are lots of people who know how to get the whole thing right all at once.
I have one that could be easier and a turndial would be great, but it has a favorite setting, actually 3 of them, so instead of ‘bake’ with the default of 350, it starts at 450 (or whatever I program it for). Also it has direct entry of numbers instead of up and down temp.
I would prefer manual, but this all and all seems a workable compromise.
As for advantages of the digital system, I really can’t think of a damn one. Perhaps there is 2 stage cooking, but I have never had the need to use it so I having look up if it can.
I have a digital range in my apartment. It’s not what I’d call fancy. At least it’s gas, so no glass cooktop to worry about.
The buttons are Bake, Broil, Timer, Clock, +, -, and Cancel. It’s fine if I just do simple things. The biggest problem is that there’s just one display. What if I’m using the timer while boiling pasta, and I want to change the oven temp from 400 to 350; will the timer keep working while I’m using the display to adjust the oven? What if I’m setting the timer when the oven finishes preheating and the display shows that it’s reached the desired temperature?
The only thing I can think of is that it’s cheap. Displays are cheap, buttons are cheap, electronics are cheap. They’re reasonably reliable, too. But the usability is shit. If I ever build my own home, I’ll get an oven with controls that make sense.
If I’m correct in assuming that this is a convection oven, consider yourself lucky. Convection ovens are superior to non-convection ovens and are the norm in many other first-world nations. Too many of my fellow Americans are of the opinion that if it was fine for dear ol’ grandma, then it’s still fine for me. I’m surprised people don’t bitch and moan about not having hand cranks for cars anymore.
You could experiment with it when it’s not critical to your pasta cooking and find out. Might take as long as it took you to type that up. My GE convection range/oven with digital oven controls retains the timer if I change temperature, or switch to the broiler, or even shut the oven off.
Not to make things too personal, but this is a typical OP from this guy, we’ve all seen it before. Dude. You come from the generation that put men on the moon and flew supersonic fighter-interceptors and created SAC and all the technology that resulted from the Cold War…don’t tell me ya can’t learn to use a digital oven! How hard can it be?!
I love my Samsung stainless gas oven/range, it’s the most badass cooking appliance I’ve ever owned…the old-school midcentury modern era cooking appliances look cool as shit, but when it comes to actually cooking, I’d rather have the modern gear.
Me too. Why don’t they make a display and a set of controls that work reasonably well and are not hard to figure out? If you’re flying a brand new fighter jet with prototype controls, sure, it’s going to be hard to use. But a fucking oven? You’re trying to tell me it’s sooooo hard to make On, Off, Timed Cook, Set Temperature, Clock, and Timer in such a way that Granny can see how it works? The poor designers have such a hard job? BS.
I feel the same about microwaves. My best ever microwave was one built into my old home, probably dating from 1978, with dials. That thing could cook. Most digital inputs for microwave ovens are just as bad as those that used to exist for VCRs.
Guess I’m in the minority. My gf did a full kitchen remodel recently, including a beautiful new Bosch gas oven. There was a bit of a steep learning curve, but it’s a great tool in the kitchen. It has roast, bake, broil, along with convection forms of each. It has a warming drawer that I love. The control panel is intuitively obvious. There are still functions I haven’t explored, but I’m getting pretty good with it.
I’m not sure if it’s convection or not. It’s just a standard builder grade range that came with this new house. I think the fan is part of the vent hood. Usually that is turned on manually. There’s no option to turn the fan on or off.
No manuals for any of the appliances.
I need to find a tag with model # and look online.
I didn’t have any trouble understanding the controls. I had the oven on and baking taters within a couple minutes.
I find the controls badly designed and clunky. Perhaps because it is a cheap builder grade appliance.
