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I'm just wondering how practical this would be. Most of the remodeling shows make it seem like everyone is a master chef that needs a huge commercial oven. My girlfriend and I are far from it. Heck, in my family, I only know of one aunt that likes to bake a lot. Most of us are on the go too much to spend hours in the kitchen. When we do use the oven, it's never for anything bigger than a medium/large pizza. Once in a blue moon we'll make a small batch of brownies or cookies. We use our cooktop/microwave a lot and we eat out 3-4x/week. The only meals we could possibly have time to prepare in the oven are on the weekends, but who wants to spend any part of the weekend in the kitchen? Now for those with 5-6+ people in the house, sure - a large oven is probably needed.
One can buy a very large toaster oven for $100 that's big enough to cook two large pizzas or even a whole chicken. Therefore, it seems like for many people a huge oven is a waste of space. Aesthetically, it seems like all the nice looking ovens are over $1000. That's a lot to pay for something that's rarely used, prone to breaking and expensive to fix. IMO, eliminating the oven also gives the kitchen a cleaner more streamlined appearance.
What say you?
I remodeled a kitchen in a house I owned back in the mid-80's, replacing a very large electric range with a smaller, apartment-size gas range (the house and the kitchen are small). I visited the current owners a few years ago (was passing that way for other business, stopped by the old place and introduced myself) - the small range (and most of the kitchen remodel) was still there and in use.
I agree with Kathryn Aragon - don't go out of your way to limit your (and subsequent buyer's) options!
Baked a whole chicken, 1.5 hours, baked bread, 30 min, baked muffins, 20 min, baked fish, 30 min, reheated leftover pizza, 20 min. On the stove top I've fixed: rice, green beans, homemade pasta sauce, pasta, breakfast eggs more than once, and boiled water for tea.
There are just three of us.
People still cook. Your ideas on how people live are so far out there I have to wonder if you're basing your assumptions on tv shows like Friends.
For people like me (in my 20s) this just seems weird. Nothing wrong with it, but I've never had a friend offer to cook for a bunch of people. Go out to eat - yes, but certainly not cook.
But I have five kids between the ages of 21 and 32 and they all cook on a regular basis. Including using their ovens. So..."people like you" doesn't necessarily mean "people in their twenties."
But I have five kids between the ages of 21 and 32 and they all cook on a regular basis. Including using their ovens. So..."people like you" doesn't necessarily mean "people in their twenties."
Agreed, 100%.
Most people do not live like that, not even most people OP's age, just his sect.
That's great but with average cooking times being nearly half of what they were 30 years ago - one can reason that most folks aren't cooking as much.
30 years ago was 1985. I was an kid at that time and ah, there have been an lot of changes in how people cook and eat in those 30 years. The microwave is just catching on and not everyone had one. Without a microwave reheating food generally takes longer and generates more pots and pans to wash. Frozen dinners in the early 80ies still come on aluminum trays and can not be put in the microwave. People can not take frozen meals or left overs to work because there is no way to reheat them and so you have to do things like heat an can of soup in the morning to put in an thermos or make an sandwich(or other item that does not need to be heated) for lunch at work.
There are fewer prepared items on the market like shredded lettuce for salads or cabbage that is already shredded as well as less variety in frozen meals. Food processor are more expensive than today(as well as the tiny food choppers) and so much more is done by hand.
Don't assume that people have stopped cooking, they simply don't spend as much time doing so.
This thread would have been much more honest if it was posed thusly: with Americans spending less time in the kitchen, what should tomorrow's kitchens look like as far as appliances?
That exactly what I said if you take time to read the thread.
I said:
1. I do not, never have and don't plan to use the capacity of a conventional oven
2. For various reasons, in 20+ years it may be more acceptable to kitchens without larger ovens.
I don't understand the snarkyness of some posters. It's just an oven. Stay calm and settle.
So? Americans are cooking less, therefore we should stop putting ovens in kitchens? There is a very weak, if any connection of these 2 thoughts. Maybe they can go without a food processor or a blender or a hand mixer or a full set of pots and pans, but an oven? No.
You have misrepresented my argument. You cannot have a discussion when this is continually done. Where did I say people should stop putting ovens in kitchens?
Who said you have to have a huge oven? Get a small one.
Just about any oven is going to be 3-4x larger than a tabletop version while not being storable/moveable.
[quote]How is a "very large" toaster oven going to save space?[quote]See above.
[quote]How is an oven prone to breaking? I've never had an oven quit working. [quote]So modern appliances are the pinnacle of reliability?
Quote:
How is a "very large" toaster oven more aesthetically pleasing than an oven?
For one, it can never look dated because it can always be hidden in a cabinet - or for those that don't cook much, completely taken out of the room.
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