A standard oven is a kitchen appliance fueled either by electricity or by gas that is used to heat and bake foods. It consists of a metal box with a heating element in the bottom and, sometimes, at the top. As the element heats, it radiates throughout the oven, raising the temperature. A standard oven is different from a convection oven in the way that heat is circulated. Therefore, a standard model is also sometimes referred to as a conventional oven.
The user should be able to control the temperature of an oven via knobs or digital readouts. The front side of a typical oven is a door through which an individual can place or remove dishes from the appliance. A light inside the oven may also allow one to see through a window in the door. That way, an individual can check on the food inside without opening the door and releasing heat. Usually, two or three racks are situated inside so that one may bake more than one item at a time.
There is some debate about the standard oven versus a convection oven. While a standard model has heating elements such as coils, a convection oven has these elements as well as a fan to circulate the heat emitted from the coils. For this reason, a convection oven may cook foods faster and more evenly than a conventional oven can.
It is common for standard ovens to take several minutes to preheat to the correct temperature. Depending on the accuracy of the oven’s temperature gauge and the efficiency of a particular model, cooking times may seem slow in comparison to a convection oven. Sometimes, baking could take longer than a recipe calls for. Food cooked in a standard oven may not cook through at the same rate; when the top of a dish looks browned and ready, the middle or bottom may not yet be done.
Another drawback of the standard oven in relation to the convection oven is energy use. A conventional model often uses more energy than a convection oven, which requires less time for baking. The standard oven uses more gas or electricity to power, making it more expensive to use.
A standard oven does have its advantages. Though the convection oven has been manufactured since the 1970s, conventional ovens are more commonly found in households. Many recipes on product boxes are tested using standard ovens because they are so prevalent. Therefore, individuals who have become used to baking with a standard oven may find switching to a convection oven difficult.
