A single oven is usually either a standalone oven or a wall oven and features a single space for cooking or baking. This oven may have a cooktop range of stoves on it, typically when found as a freestanding unit. There are a number of alternative types of ovens available, including double and even triple ovens, that are typically more expensive and often found in professional kitchens. A single oven can be powered by a number of different means, though electricity and gas are most common.
While other types of ovens are available, a single oven tends to be the most common type found in home kitchens. This is because single ovens are typically the most affordable and are ideal for just about any size kitchen. Smaller kitchens will often utilize a single oven with a built-in cooking range on top, using the space to provide both an oven and a range of stoves. Other kitchens can incorporate a single wall oven into a wall, providing a number of benefits in terms of space and ease of access, though a separate standalone cooking range is then often necessary in addition to this.
A single oven can be used for most home cooking endeavors, though complex meals may require some planning and forethought. Any meal consisting of multiple baked dishes will usually need some coordination of cooking times and temperatures to ensure each dish is hot and ready on time for the meal. This is one of the major drawbacks of a single oven, and other types of ovens, such as double ovens, can certainly make cooking this type of meal easier.
Double ovens are usually wall ovens that provide two cooking or baking areas and tend to look like two single wall ovens placed one on top of the other. These can have separate controls for each, allowing each oven to have a different temperature and making larger or complicated meals easier to prepare than in a single oven. Such ovens are significantly more expensive than a single oven, however, and so most home cooks may not have the space or inclination to purchase such appliances. There are even more elaborate cooking setups such as triple ovens, and these will often feature two ovens, one of which may be a microwave, as well as a warming or broiling drawer.
