# Why are oven doors hinged at the bottom? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Tags:** food-cooking\ **Created:** [June 5, 2021, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-oven-doors-hinged-at-the-bottom/943682 "2021-06-05T18:07:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2021, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-oven-doors-hinged-at-the-bottom/943682/61 "2021-06-08T02:55:07Z")
> [@Riemann](#): > > > [@hibernicus](#): > > > > fried cheese sandwich > > Is that how they are cooked? They are not part of my diet - I thought the cheese was melted by toasting the bread, i.e. _under_ what the British would call a grill. > [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > Grilled cheese sandwiches are done on a pan or griddle in my part of the world. So, I eat two different things, both of which I call a “grilled cheese sandwich”. One is what I can buy at a diner. It has two pieces of bread, with cheese (or sometimes, cheese and something else, like ham or tomato) in between. The bread is smeared in something greasy, like butter or sometimes mayonnaise, and cooked on a grill (griddle). Both sides are grilled, and the whole thing is also pressed together with a spatula as it cooks. In this one, all the heat comes from the bottom, and the sandwich is flipped so both sides get grilled. The other is what I make at home in my toaster oven, and is what my mother used to make for me. It’s a piece of lightly toasted bread, with slices of cheese on top (sometimes with tomato) that’s put back into the toaster oven until the cheese melts. I watch it carefully and pull it from the oven before the molten cheese drips off the toast and makes a mess. No butter (nor any other non-cheese source of fat) is used. It’s an open-faced sandwich, and is not squished. The toaster oven actually has heating elements on both the bottom and the top. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2021, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-oven-doors-hinged-at-the-bottom/943682/62 "2021-06-09T13:44:14Z")
To be fair that price is in Canadian dollars. So just a tick over $11k US. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2021, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-oven-doors-hinged-at-the-bottom/943682/63 "2021-06-09T14:06:02Z")
Dishwashers also need to have a waterproof seal. That seems like it would be harder to do with horizontal swinging doors. If your oven isn’t perfectly sealed, it’s a bit less efficient. If your dishwasher isn’t perfectly sealed, you have a mess. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2021, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-oven-doors-hinged-at-the-bottom/943682/64 "2021-06-09T14:18:33Z")
> [@Pleonast](#): > > A grilled sandwich has been buttered; a toasted sandwich has not. > > Bottom line: listen to your wife. 😉 But what if, rather than buttering the bread, you put butter in the pan in which you are to be placing your bread? > [@Ike\_Witt](#): > > The way this thread has meandered is amazing. Interestingly, right under your post is an ad for a toaster oven. It looks to be the bottom hinge variety. ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2021, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-oven-doors-hinged-at-the-bottom/943682/65 "2021-06-09T14:28:44Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > But what if, rather than buttering the bread, you put butter in the pan in which you are to be placing your bread? That’d be a fried cheese sandwich. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2021, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-oven-doors-hinged-at-the-bottom/943682/66 "2021-06-09T15:20:12Z")
You can also make a grilled cheese sandwich using a clothes iron. Usually top heat, but it can be done either way. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2021, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-oven-doors-hinged-at-the-bottom/943682/67 "2021-06-09T15:38:24Z")
put melted butter into the reservoir and use the perm press option. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2021, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-oven-doors-hinged-at-the-bottom/943682/68 "2021-06-09T15:42:24Z")
Based on the condition of the clothes iron, I think I’ve been in rooms where prior hotel guests used the iron for that purpose. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2021, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-oven-doors-hinged-at-the-bottom/943682/69 "2021-06-09T15:45:46Z")
For those who actually attempt this, use something like brown paper from a heavy bag or parchment paper as an interface between the bread and the iron if you can. If you can’t, use someone else’s iron. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2021, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-oven-doors-hinged-at-the-bottom/943682/70 "2021-06-09T16:37:46Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > If you can’t, use someone else’s iron. Reminds me of the stand-up routine about what’s the best kind of car to take off-roading. The answer of course being a _rental_ car. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-oven-doors-hinged-at-the-bottom/943682.md?page=3)