My Oven Experiences

I belive you are in India only and write the following.

Let me share my experience candidly. For day to day cooking for small families, micro-wave solo model is sufficient. Because the oven cavity is small, the quantity of food to be cooked is also small, the general 800 watts microwave capacity is sufficient. This oven in India costs around Rs 2500 to Rs 4000. After three four years when a magnetron needs to be replaced it costs around Rs 1500 maximum. Micro-wave oven can only cook, it cannot bake.

For baking we need a convection oven for good results. In convection oven air needs to be circulated inside the oven during baking for which we need a fan inside. Imagine an OTG oven with a fan inside. Such type of ovens are not available in India atleast at Vizianagaram where I reside.

Higher ranges of Micro-wave - cum - convection ovens only have a fan inside the oven. Nowadays many companies are marketing their lower range products as convection models even without a fan inside. You need to spend at least Rs 12,000 and above only for getting the lowest range of the microwave-cum-convection model with a fan inside. The baking in these ovens is a real pleasure, because the temperature and timings are electronically controlled and exact.

You get a mid-range OTG for Rs 4500 to Rs 5500. If you modify it as shown in my video "Dum-Biryani - 2" to some extent you would get a Convection type of effect. You need to experiment to arrive at the baking temperatures and timings with lots of patitence. OTG has very few parts which need maintenance for which the repair costs are almost zero.

If you spend Rs 12000 and above on the microwave-cum-convection ovens, you get everything neatly packaged into one. The negative features are, the micro-wave cavity is large for which a higher power magnetron would be used thus consuming higher electricity costs for daytoday use. Even if a small part goes out of order, both convection and micro-wave modes would not work and the repair costs are relatively higher compared to the solo models of OTG and Microwave.

I started with the biggest oven available in India with all the features after paying Rs 18000. Believe I use micro-wave every day and spent almost Rs 22000 for repairs in the last 6 years on this oven itself. Every time it looks promising that with this repair it would work excellently. During these 6 years I was forced to purchase a solo micro-wave which works without problem and the magnetron was replaced after two years. I purchased an OTG and modified it for my requirements. Click here to see. Thus I want to caution my viewers not be carried away by the features of all-in-one type of ovens. These are good for occasional use by not for daily use. Segregate your needs and purchase accordingly or end up buying three ovens like me. I don't set an example here, mine is a case of caution.

I hope you are more confused after reading the post!!! Be cool and take a decision which suits you best. I just highlighted the facts. With three ovens at home it has been long since I have gone to the market to see what new models are available. I am out of touch !!!

Smt. Gayatri Sharma

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