5 Ways Double Ovens Make Life Easier

Double ovens allow you to get your cooking chores over quicker and spend more time with your family.
Steve Cole/Photographer's Choice RF/Getty Images

June Cleaver could prepare a home-cooked meal every night and still have time for her family. But not only did the TV world change -- by the 1970s, Carol Brady had Alice the housekeeper to help feed her brood -- the real world changed. Today's cook may be a stay-at-home parent, a working professional, someone who entertains frequently or very little. Regardless, anything that makes life easier is worth checking out -- and herein lies the magic of the double oven.

The double oven is just what it claims to be, two cooking spaces instead of one. In our modern world, anything can be customized, but most double ovens have three set-ups -- two full-sized ovens, a full-sized one topped with a smaller oven, or a combination which is a full oven with either a convection or microwave oven on top.

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When choosing a double oven, there are a variety of factors to consider:

  • Space -- the room available affects whether you choose wall-mounted, full-sized or another model.
  • Price -- Double ovens can range from as low as $500 or $600 to several thousand dollars, depending on features, configuration, brand name and size.
  • Options -- Double ovens have features like heat sensors and various cooking modes.

While the options on double ovens are numerous, the consensus from owners is that they make life easier. So, read on to find out why, starting with the most obvious reason.

5: Bigger is Better

Whether you have a family, love to entertain or want to be able to produce gourmet meals, a double oven gives you the extra space you need to produce the quantity and quality of food you want.

For example, consider a family dinner where you can cook a roast, in its huge pan, in the lower oven while a green bean casserole and potatoes cook in the top oven -- and it doesn't take you all day or require you to reheat the veggies in the microwave before serving. Or take Uncle Vinnie's 65th birthday dinner when you're entertaining 25 members with homemade lasagna; two trays in the bottom oven and two in the top, and you'll have everyone sitting down at the same time rather than eating in shifts. The sheer quantity of dishes and food you can cook at one time makes the double oven worth its weight in gold.

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4: Culinary Customization

Burger King may have coined the phrase "Have It Your Way" but that's exactly what the double oven does for your cooking. When you have two ovens, you can prepare meals exactly how you want them in whatever mode you want -- broil, roast, steam or bake. The world is your oyster, and you can cook that oyster any way you want!

Here's another bonus: If you've ever tried to cook a meatloaf at 400 degrees and a broccoli casserole at 325, it's a mathematical headache, determining the correct time and temperature to accommodate two recipes in the same space. A double oven solves this problem. Cook each dish in a separate oven, and when they're finished, you can switch one oven to warming mode and keep on cooking in the other.

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With a double oven, you have the ability to create and customize meals.

3: Do More with Less

They say you can never be too rich or too thin, but in this fast-paced world, time is another rare commodity of which we can't have too much. A double oven makes your life easier because it saves you time.

Large, multi-course meals require scheduling and time to rotate all the dishes through the oven. Imagine a Thanksgiving holiday when you don't wake at the crack of dawn to cook the turkey and then have to cook potatoes, veggies and pies -- all while the turkey's drying out. Cooking dishes simultaneously, plus the option to use an oven in warming mode, saves you precious minutes as well as the hassle of reheating before serving.

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There is also potential energy savings that come from your double oven. It's true that using both ovens all the time uses more energy, but hopefully, you're not cooking multi-course meals for large groups every day. In the case of a regular meal or just a few people for dinner, use the smaller, top oven that requires less energy to heat. And, in doing so, give yourself an environmentally conscious pat on the back.

2: No Fish-flavored Flan

No worries about an apple pie smelling like meat with a double oven. Each can cook seperately but at the same time.
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Have you ever tasted or served a dessert that smelled like the garlic you used in the main course? Say you're roasting a whole fish at the same time you're making a pound cake. Certain spices and foods are so strong that their odors permeate everything else. So you have another time logjam, waiting for your oven to "air out" so you can put in the next dish.

With a double oven, you avoid this dilemma altogether. Your garlic chicken can cook comfortably in one oven while you bake mouth-watering brownies in the other.

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It may seem like a small benefit, but whether you're a cooking aficionado, a detailed-oriented person, or if you just don't want your peanut butter cookies to taste like pesto, you'll appreciate this benefit of the double oven.

1: More Than Just Good Food

A double oven makes life easier because it gives you more than just food. In a deflated housing market, kitchen renovations still yield the highest return on your investment. There's also a great deal of "value in use," the benefits that you, the owner and cook, glean from using a double oven.

A double oven is not just an addition to your kitchen; it's an upgrade because it is a more modern appliance with better features. Some options available include heat-distributing sensors, one-touch controls, removable doors and porcelain-coated racks for easier cleaning, automatic turn-off function, multiple cooking modes and LED displays. So not only will you have more time and more space, you'll have all the latest bells and whistles.

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A double oven also gives you more quality time with your family and friends, whether entertaining or simply preparing a family meal. You can spend more time outside the kitchen, chatting with guests or hanging out with your family, rather than sweating it in front of the oven.

So, a modern, more functional kitchen; smart dollars invested in your home and more time to spend with family are -- as Mastercard would say, priceless.

Lots More Information

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  • Builders Square. Com. "Ovens Buying Guide." (September 21, 2011). http://www.builderssquare.com/xbg_Ovens_Buying_Guide_58.aspx
  • Built Under Double Oven.org. "A Review of the 7 Best Doubl Ovens." (September 21, 2011). http://builtunderdoubleoven.org/a-review-of-the-7-best-double-ovens/
  • Built Under Double Oven.org "Tips for Buying Built Under Double Ovens." (September 29,2011). http://builtunderdoubleoven.org/tips-for-buying-built-under-double-ovens/
  • Consumer Reports. "Cooktop & Wall Ovens." (September 23, 2011). http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/appliances/kitchen-appliances/cooktops-wall-ovens/cooktop-wall-oven-buying-advice/cooktop-wall-oven-getting-started/cooktop-wall-oven-getting-started.htm
  • Consumer Search. "How to Buy a Wall Oven." August 2011. (September 29, 2011). http://www.consumersearch.com/wall-oven-reviews/how-to-buy-a-wall-oven
  • DoubleGasOven. Com."Types of Oven." (September 20, 2011). http://www.doublegasoven.com/Types-of-Double-Ovens.html
  • DoubleGasOven.net. "Take Your Kitchen to the Next Level." (September 21, 2011). http://doublegasoven.net/Double_Wall_Ovens.htm
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  • Libraryindex.com. "Electric Double Ovens." (September 21, 2011). http://www.libraryindex.com/pages/cnasr7uwyq/The-Top-Electric-Double-Ovens.html
  • Doubleovenstove.com. "Double Oven Stove: A One Stop Resource Site to Find the Best Double Oven Stoves." (September 21, 2011). http://doubleovenstove.com/
  • DoubleGasOvens.org "Double Gas Ovens For That Great Cooking Experience." (September 21, 2011). http://www.doublegasovens.org/
  • Greco, Antonio. "Cooking with a Double Oven." Home and Garden Ideas. March 26, 2011. (September 29, 2011). http://www.homeandgardenideas.com/home-improvement/appliances/oven-stovetops/cooking-double-oven
  • Kitchens.com. "Set the Budget." (September 25, 2011). http://www.kitchens.com/Planning/Budget/Return-On-Investment.aspx
  • Middleton, Susie. "Better Cooking Through Convection." Fine Cooking. (September 24, 2011). http://www.finecooking.com/articles/convection-ovens.aspx
  • Premier Kitchen Design.com. "The Built-in Double Oven: Get an Oven with Features that Make Life Easier." )September 22, 2011). http://www.premier-kitchen-design.com/built-in-double-oven.html

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