Find the Right Microwave Oven for Your Kitchen

We hope that this buying guide will give you all of the information you need to be comfortable in your shopping and, ultimately, your purchase. Worry gone are the days when Oven came in two options: a gas stove with a gas oven attached or an electric stove with an electric oven attached. Ranges combine a cooktop and oven into a single kitchen appliance. Other primary differences will include the types of burners, manual versus self-clean oven, convection baking, and any number of additional features.

A comprehensive buying guide to make selecting that oven a more pleasant and worry-free experience.

In the classic range setup, the cooktop and oven are combined as one appliance, most often a 30-inch appliance with four burners above an oven. Choosing a stove was pretty simple in your parents' day. A freestanding upright cooker in white enamel of course. If you had the gas on, you'd buy a gas cooker, otherwise it was electric.

Choosing between a freestanding cooker or cooktop/wall oven is still the most basic decision, but now you can also consider an array of features and options: wok burners, fish burners, BBQ grills, teppanyaki plates, multiple ovens, self-cleaning, dual-fuel systems, and even deep-fryers and spit roasting.

The key to selecting the right sized oven is to look at its interior dimensions. If you choose a 24-inch-wide unit, be prepared for problems. A 27-inch-wide oven will handle just about any size roasting pan, even a large turkey roaster, and a 30-inch oven can even handle two cookie sheets side-by-side.

Determine oven size. Microwave ovens range between compact (.8 cubic feet) or full size (1.2 cubic feet). The larger microwave ovens usually offer a higher wattage (power) than a compact oven. Microwave ovens range between 600 to 1,000 watts. Current full size microwave ovens may have even higher wattages.

Consider features. Microwave ovens offer a variety of features such as a defrost setting. They may also offer specialized cooking such as a popcorn setting or TV dinner setting. Consider purchasing a microwave oven that has variable settings. Variable setting ovens allow the cook to choose the power setting needed to prepare food. Settings run from 100% (high) to 10% (low) on most ovens. 50% power is typically used to cook casserole meals or stews.

• Conventional ovens: Conventional ovens cook food by using radiant energy from their fuel source and natural convection from the heated air inside the oven. They can be either gas-fired or electric. Gas ovens bake moister; however electric ovens bake more evenly.
• Convection ovens: Originally developed in the 1950’s to help commercial bakers save time and bake things more evenly, the convection oven is not particularly popular, especially as the only oven in a kitchen. They cook with an electric heat source and use a fan to circulate hot air within the oven.
• Combination units: A combination convection/conventional oven uses a heating element inside the oven (conventional) and a fan to circulate the heated air (convection). The drawback to this design is that this oven doesn’t heat as evenly as a true convection oven, so you really need to watch the food you’re cooking to avoid burning it.

Consider purchasing a programmable microwave oven. This feature allows the cook to program multiple cook settings. For example: A cook could choose to start cooking food at 100% power and then program a second step to finish cooking food at 50% power.

Rules for buying a stove and/or oven

• Know your needs. Do you bake a lot? Do you need double wall ovens, dual range ovens, or a single oven?
• Consider variety. Many manufacturers offer multiple stovetop and oven combinations to fit your specific, practical needs.
• Know your budget. Shopping for a stove and/or oven is a lot like shopping for a wedding dress - don't try on the $7,000 dress if you're not willing or able to spend that much.