Am I a kitchen slut?

[Steve Maskery]

Two-and-a-half years ago I bought a Biochef countertop multi-oven. It was great. But it packed up on the last day of the warranty. Amazon weren't happy. They insisted I ship it to Scotland, but nobody in France would courrier it, citing "post-brexit import difficulties". Amazon did, reluctantly, and after a fight, refund me.
So I bought a Ninja. Good brand, I thought. Bought January 2nd, packed up July 14. Error 0, irreparable, known problem.

I bought it from a local store, the French version of Curry's, I guess. No refund as I had had it for more than 2 weeks. Welcome to French Customer Services.

They would try to repair it but it was "dirty". I had cleaned it, but it was black inside, not greasy, but it had, shall we say, a patina.

The manager would not accept it. He said I should clean it after every use. EVERY use. I've used half a bottle of Savon Noir (which isn't remotely black) and he has, with obvious reluctance, agreed to swap it. I need to return the whole lot, including the manual (which fortunately I still have) What on earth is he going to do with it?

So two questions:
Am I the kitchen slut for not cleaning my oven after every single use?
Does anyone have any recommendations for a counter-top oven that will last longer than its warranty?

Both machines were fantastic while they lasted.

S

PS As things stand we cannot install a conventional built-in oven, our house won't take the current required. I hope to change that shortly but we have more pressing issues. Like preventing the chimney from catching fire and the house from flooding...

 

[AJB Temple]

Well.....I must admit I wipe out our ovens after every use. Don't have an air fryer but they are notorious for getting very grubby in no time. Lidlald sell them for about £48 now so practically disposable after a few months usage I guess.

How do you run your machines but can't run an oven?

 

[AJB Temple]

Picture inside one of the ovens from a couple of days ago. It's pretty clean. This oven I installed 2 years ago. Was experimenting at home with some brioche recipes with low salt.

 

[Steve Maskery]

Wow, impressive. On both counts.
OK, so I am a slut. Quelle surprise.

I'm not actually doing much woodwork at the mo, it's all DIY, fixing all kinds of problems we weren't expecting to have to fix (chimney breast held up by a bit of 4x2, flue installed upside down and wrong spec, leak in the kitchen because the floor was installed without any allowance for expansion, mains water leak somewhere in the garden, the list goes on and it's very depressing). But the barn does have its own electric supply and a dedicated circuit for the TS. As there is only ever one machine on at a time, so far I've not had a problem. But in the kitchen, it sometimes trips if I have the hob, oven and kettle on at the same time.

 

[Cabinetman]

Can’t say that I’m as you described, but a slattern maybe, as I definitely don’t clean the oven very frequently at all!
Electricity, an oven doesn’t use a great deal really it’s the hob that does that but I prefer a gas hob. We bought a small oven with two electric rings for use whilst the kitchen was being rebuilt and I can see us keeping using the oven bit as it really very handy ( small ).

 

[RogerS]

Sharp Combi microwave. The model has hardly changed for donkeys. We never clean it either.

 

[meccarroll]

Ninja are usually quite good although lieke all electrical items can have a poor batch every now and then.

I purchased two Ninja Foodi Max 15 in one's, one for my daughter and one for us, my daughters fan went wrong after a year (two months out of warranty) so I contacted Ninja directly and said I could see it was reported as common problem for Ninjas around the time of my purchase, despite it being out of warranty Ninja agreed to exchange the unit for a brand new one and as they now offer a two year warranty they threw that in as well!

We wanted an air fryer/multicooker for the caravan so purchased a "Ninja Speedy 10 in 1 cooker" (slightly smaller than the 15 all in one) and have to say the internal coatings are much better for cleaning down that the original 15 in One. Great bit of cookware too!

Ninja do special deals with about a third off normal prices every now and then so keep an eye open for them and considering they now offer a two year guarantee it's not bad at all.

The Speedy normally sells for around £260 ish but on a Ninja promo deal I got mine for arond £165 with a mini blender thrown in!

 

[Woodbloke]

We've had a Ninja air fryer for since before Christmas. It's so good the conventional main oven is now completely redundant. I clean the pans in the Ninja every couple of days, so no big deal and I wouldn't say they get especially messy as there's very little oil needed (we use organic avocado oil) to do the cooking - Rob

 

[AJB Temple]

Be careful about mentioning avocados. The eco peeps will be on your case in a flash with factoids about carbon, air miles, ginormous water usage and deforestation.

Aside: We had a couple in for dinner along with their 17 year old daughter who was so green she could have been shrek. One earache later I now know more about the environmental side of avocado eco zealotry than I thought was possible. Oil is even worse because of the carbon glass thing in the very heavy to transport bottles. Must admit I don't really understand this recent carbon obsession. Still like avocado though.

 

[Woodbloke]

Be careful about mentioning avocados. The eco peeps will be on your case in a flash with factoids about carbon, air miles, ginormous water usage and deforestation.

Aside: We had a couple in for dinner along with their 17 year old daughter who was so green she could have been shrek. One earache later I now know more about the environmental side of avocado eco zealotry than I thought was possible. Oil is even worse because of the carbon glass thing in the very heavy to transport bottles. Must admit I don't really understand this recent carbon obsession. Still like avocado though.

We love avos and I buy at least half a dozen every week. The reason I use avo oil (organical) from WR is that is appears to have the highest smoke temperature of all the cooking oils; 271 deg C according to Wiki Organic Olive Oil and a nice organic balsamic, also from WR on salad though at this time of the year - Rob
Edit - the Ninja does a fandabby lasagne as well!

 

[Malc2098]

We have a little man come to do our oven every couple of years.

 

[Tiresias]

What you need is





Stock picture because mine is in the attic. It was, ahem, ‘acquired’ when I was at college. Not only is it substantially older than me, I suspect it is older than my parents. Managed to do a dinner party for 8 with it. I know it still works, because I used it a few years ago, when replacing my own oven. So there’s reliable for you.

On a more practical note, why is your stuff popping the fuses/trips? In most of my places the oven is off a 13A socket. Hobs on the other hand are off a hard-wired 30A line. And before anyone says anything, the installations are all EICR compliant (obligatory for rental properties up here). So they should be on separate circuits. But maybe French stuff is different. I’ve been in some gîtes where one would be afraid to put two lights on at the same time.

And back to the original question. The oven gets cleaned when it needs it. About every 6 months. If that makes me a slovenly drub, then so be it.

And just as an aside about Adrian's reference to the testicle fruit, check out avocado hand. It’s a real thing. For idiots, I suppose.

 

[Lurker]

We have a little man come to do our oven every couple of years.

My wife has one too, except he is a little fat man and cleans the oven four times a year
Strangely, I quite enjoy doing it, but I can’t do it when she’s around as I like to do it in stages and thus it can take half a day.

 

[AJB Temple]

You need one of the Rationale jobs. Press a button and the oven cleans itself in a few minutes with super heated steam, straight to a grease trap and drain. Wish I had one but we don't have three phase

 

[RogerS]

.......

Aside: We had a couple in for dinner along with their 17 year old daughter who was so green she could have been shrek. One earache later I now know more about the environmental side of avocado eco zealotry than I thought was possible. ......

Admirable restraint in your choice of words, Adrian

I read that there is now a counter-culture developing to 'woke' called 'Brat'. And just to make sure that their position is known, a true 'Brat' will have adopted a sartorial style more reminisncent of the Swinging Sixties. A style that I am all in favour of, if you get my point.

 

[RogerS]

...... straight to a grease trap and drain. ....

That reminds me of a fabulous little restaurant in San Francisco - totally illuminated with those tiny tea lights. I asked the owner how he lit them and he told me that they were lined up on the counter and he ran a culinary blowtorch over the wicks. He then went on to tell me that they refilled them. But first they were put in the industrial dishwasher whence they came out pristine.

I happened to go back a few months later on another business trip to find them gone. Apparently the local 'council' had had complaints of a massive wax ball in one of the sewers.

 

[AJB Temple]

Hence the legal requirement (I think) for grease traps these days. There is a guy round here that collects drums of used oil and grease from restaurants and chippies, for which he pays a small sum, then recycles it into heating oil I believe. The Environmental Health officers round here when they drop in unannounced will check your "prove it" records for waste oil, and if they are feeling keen they inspect the traps and filters as well. Fun job I expect.

 

[fezman]

Steve, we have 2 airfryers. A ninja one that lives in the back of a cupboard somewhere, and this one
https://www.costco.co.uk/Appliances...pecialty/Gourmia-67L-Digital-Air-Fryer/p/6487
It is superb. Also available on amazon, but a bit more spendy.
Oh yeah we do clean it after every use, but we also use the greaseproof liners - makes clean up a breeze.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I had a Ninja 15 - 1. The temperature probe was faulty, it kept the thing cutting out half way through a cycle. Of course you can't fiddle with it when it's hot so your meal is usually ruined. It was only a few months old so I got hold of Ninja. They eventually accepted it was faulty (they said it was operator error to start with) and agreed it would have to be replaced. At that point they went incommunicado. I went back t Amazon who replaced it instantly. I have an Instant Pot which is good (much cheaper than the Ninja), although I miss the Ninja for the steam bake - it baked superb bread.

 

[Phil]

We have a Bosch thermo-fan oven installed in kitchen cupboard at eye-level.
It runs on a normal 3 pin plug into a wall socket.
Very fancy oven, wife loves it and does a lot of baking.
Power is supplied via our solar system batteries.

 

[chataigner]

Two-and-a-half years ago I bought a Biochef countertop multi-oven. It was great. But it packed up on the last day of the warranty. Amazon weren't happy. They insisted I ship it to Scotland, but nobody in France would courrier it, citing "post-brexit import difficulties". Amazon did, reluctantly, and after a fight, refund me.
So I bought a Ninja. Good brand, I thought. Bought January 2nd, packed up July 14. Error 0, irreparable, known problem.

I bought it from a local store, the French version of Curry's, I guess. No refund as I had had it for more than 2 weeks. Welcome to French Customer Services.

They would try to repair it but it was "dirty". I had cleaned it, but it was black inside, not greasy, but it had, shall we say, a patina.

The manager would not accept it. He said I should clean it after every use. EVERY use. I've used half a bottle of Savon Noir (which isn't remotely black) and he has, with obvious reluctance, agreed to swap it. I need to return the whole lot, including the manual (which fortunately I still have) What on earth is he going to do with it?

So two questions:
Am I the kitchen slut for not cleaning my oven after every single use?
Does anyone have any recommendations for a counter-top oven that will last longer than its warranty?

Both machines were fantastic while they lasted.

S

PS As things stand we cannot install a conventional built-in oven, our house won't take the current required. I hope to change that shortly but we have more pressing issues. Like preventing the chimney from catching fire and the house from flooding...

Another vote for the Sharp combi. Mine has served us well for more than 15yrs and is still going strong. It has the advantage of removable shelves so you can use heavy dishes (cast iron for example) when using it as an oven without destroying the µwave turntable.