Oven capacity
It is the volume of the oven provided in the stove. It s the maximum volume of products that can be placed in it without compromising work efficiency. Accordingly, a
larger oven is useful for large volumes of cooking; on the other hand, such a capacity will significantly affect the price and dimensions of the stove.
If you buy a regular household stove with 4 burners and do not plan to cook a lot in the oven, you can not pay much attention to this parameter. The capacity of the oven is usually enough for most simple tasks like cooking a pie or baking chicken. But for more serious tasks, a larger oven may be required. Detailed recommendations on volumes can be found in special sources.
If there is an additional chamber (see below), this paragraph usually indicates only the volume of the main oven.
Max. temperature
The highest temperature that the oven can reach during normal operation. The minimum value in modern models is 230 °C. However, even this low temperature is considered sufficient for most simple dishes. The average indicator can be called 240 – 250 °C. Such heating is provided by most modern ovens. And the most advanced models can heat up to 300 °C or more. Such capabilities will be useful for some specific recipes that require high temperatures.
Oven cleaning
It is the method of cleaning the inner surface provided in the design of the oven. In addition to traditional and more advanced
steam cleaning, there are
catalytic and
pyrolytic cleaning. More about them:
— Traditional. This option assumes the absence of any devices that facilitate cleaning: you have to wash the oven manually, using ordinary detergents and cleaning products. Such a procedure can be quite troublesome and time-consuming, but such ovens are much cheaper than similar models with more advanced types of cleaning.
— Pyrolytic. Cleaning with high temperature. Dirt on the interior surfaces of the oven is burned to ash, which can then be easily removed without using detergents. At the same time, pyrolytic cleaning equally effectively handles all types of dirt, both new and old. The disadvantages of such a system are the duration of cleaning (sometimes up to several hours), high cost, and significant consumption of resources (electricity or gas, depending on the type of oven). In addition, during the operation of the cleaning system, unpleasant odours often arise, generated by the combustion of contaminants in the oven.
— Catalytic. Ovens with this type of cleaning have a special coating on the inner surface that breaks down grease on the oven walls. Fat disintegration is accelerated at high temperatures; the oven is thus self-cleaning t
...o a certain extent. However, the efficiency of catalytic cleaning is lower than that of pyrolytic cleaning. It is unable to cope with the entire amount of fat on the walls. Therefore, such an oven should be washed from time to time. On the other hand, ovens with catalytic cleaning are cheaper than ones with pyrolytic cleaning. And the cleaning itself does not require additional electricity/gas costs, nor is time-consuming (except for washing/wiping).
— Steam cleaning. Cleaning the oven with heated steam. A certain volume of water is poured into a baking sheet or another container, the container is placed in the oven and the cleaning mode is turned on. Due to heating, the water evaporates, and the heated steam softens the dirt on the walls and partially disintegrates the fat. After the end of the programme, it is enough to wipe the oven with a damp cloth. Such a cleaning requires less time and resources than pyrolysis and often turns out to be more effective than catalytic — steam can soften even old dried-up contaminants. At the same time, these ovens are relatively inexpensive. At the same time, this mode does not guarantee to cope with any contamination. It is possible that after the end of the steam cleaning, the oven will have to be washed traditionally.Door closer
Such a device is responsible for pulling the door when closing and, in some models when opening. The idea is that the user does not need to close/open the door completely — pull it to the right place, and then the door will be "picked up" by the
door closer and smoothly brought to a fully open or closed state. Such a system eliminates the risk of leaving the oven not completely closed and prolongs the life span of the device.
Dual-circuit burner
Dual-circuit burners are burners with the possibility of increasing the diameter.
Dual-circuit burners are only electric burners of the Hi-Light type or induction. Such a burner looks like several circles of different diameters with a common centre; each circle corresponds to one of the options for the working diameter that can be selected for the burner. The number of these options is usually 2 or 3. And if there is more than one dual-circuit burner, they may differ in the number of diameters available.
This feature allows you to optimally select the working size of the burner for the diameter of the dishes. This feature should not be confused with the oval dual zone (see below): the oval dual zone gives the burner an elongated shape, and the dual circuit burner remains round regardless of the selected size.
Burner power
Rated burner power. This parameter allows you to estimate how much electricity the burner will spend when operating at maximum heating intensity. At the same time, the heat transfer power of different burners can be different, and the actual heating efficiency will also greatly depend on the specs of the dishes. As a result, it hardly makes sense to evaluate the operating capabilities of the stove by the power of the burners. It is quite possible to proceed from the fact that the burner will be enough for a dish of the same diameter.
Burner diameter
The heating power, the performance of the device and the speed of cooking depend on the diameter of the burners. The larger the burner, the more heat dissipation it has. Also, the diameter of the burner allows you to determine what sizes of dishes are suitable for use on the hob. Indeed, for induction models, this value is critical for high-quality heating. Burners can have the following diameter:
- small — about 145 mm, power within 1200 W;
- medium — about 180 mm, power within 1700 W;
- large — about 220 mm and more, power within 2000 W.
Some hobs use dual-circuit burners that allow you to adjust the diameter of the heating zone. If it is indicated that the diameter of the burner is 180, 200, 220 mm, then the heating zone on a particular burner can be narrowed and/or expanded, depending on the size of the dishes used.
Country of origin
The country in which, according to the manufacturer, the model is manufactured. Despite the fact that most of the capacities are concentrated in
China, European factories (
in Poland,
Slovenia,
Romania,
Turkey,
Czech Republic, etc.) for the production of household appliances have not gone away. And some models can be produced there. In general, such a division into a Chinese or European factory should not particularly affect the quality of products, but the stereotype of a reliable European assembly is present in us. However, it is possible that the model may have a country of manufacture, for example, Poland, and in the store under the same article, you will meet China.
