2nd thoughts on oven purchase - no non-fan option!

[anxietyaunt]

Boring post I know, but it occurs to me I’ve never actually bought an oven before! After a fair bit of deliberation I found one in our price range that seems to have good reviews. So we bought it yesterday. Only thing is for some reason it doesn’t have a non-fan option. Isn’t this weird? It’s an electric single oven and functions it has are: Grill, Fan Grill, Defrost, Light, Fan Forced Cooking.

I’ve been cooking on a very old, very basic upright gas oven up until this point. Can’t think of many occasions I’ve used it without the fan, even while baking.

The next option up was $200 more with these options: Fan grill, Defrost, Traditional bake, Pizza, Rapid heat, Grill, Fan forced cooking, AirFry and a digital display rather than knobs. Seemed a waste of money given the basic stove I have been using up until now has no options (besides fan), yet I make a wide variety of food in it, including pizzas and baking. I suspected it might be one of those things that ends up being largely unnecessary.

What’s the deal, foodies? Do I need a non-fan option?

[anxietyaunt]

Anyone?!

[Bubblesgun]

Fans are best are the heat spread evenly.
Most important options to have are: grill, fan oven all, fan oven bottom and / or top, SELF CLEANING 😉

[Ariela]

Fans are great to spread the heat evenly. However they do cook quicker and there is less room for error. You really have to keep an eye on what you are cooking and retrieve at the exact moment. I personally prefer non-fan for cakes, I think they cook better and more evenly, but you can place a flat baking sheet on the shelf above to reduce the burnt top .

[anxietyaunt]

@Bubblesgun

Fans are best are the heat spread evenly.
Most important options to have are: grill, fan oven all, fan oven bottom and / or top, SELF CLEANING 😉

Oh I WISH we could afford a self-cleaning oven. Unfortunately it's out of our price range.

It's such a silly thing to wonder about - non-fan! Why on earth would they make an oven without the option to have the fan off?!

[Inforthelonghaul]

Our basic oven has a fan oven and a grill which is non fan. I have never ever thought about this in nearly 20 years and cook everything in the fan oven with, on the whole, good results. I wouldn’t overthink it OP, you will get used to how your oven cooks pretty quickly.

[anxietyaunt]

@Inforthelonghaul

Our basic oven has a fan oven and a grill which is non fan. I have never ever thought about this in nearly 20 years and cook everything in the fan oven with, on the whole, good results. I wouldn’t overthink it OP, you will get used to how your oven cooks pretty quickly.

I know, right! I'm totally overthinking it. I never would have thought about it before either. It's just that money's tight and I've never bought an oven before. My husband recently bought a dishwasher on a whim and managed to pick a spectacularly bad one so I'm trying to avoid making another mistake.

[NoIDontWatchLoveIsland]

I've never used a non-fan oven, I didnt think they existed any more! But then I've also never seen a gas oven except in my student flat where there was an absolute antique from the 80s or something, it never worked but I just cooked things on the hob.

I thought there was a government led push on gas appliances in the 70s because we had cheap gas from the north sea which they wanted to create demand for, but I think these days most people have electric fan ovens.

[PhoneLock]

My cooker has both fan and non-fan ovens. I only use the non-fan ovens when the fan oven is being used for something else.

[BendingSpoons]

I reading cooking instructions the other day that only had instructions for fan. I was wondering why you would cook without fan. I don't think I ever have! I don't bake fancy cakes but do bake normal ones fan. An expert might think differently but wouldn't bother me.

[tunnocksreturns2019]

I bake a lot and use non-fan every time.

[anxietyaunt]

Yes, the shop man said baking requires non-fan heating but I’m pretty sure I’ve always baked with the fan on.

Must be nice to be rich and not have to worry about these things!

[DelurkingAJ]

Ours does both and I was wondering recently why anyone would use non fan. I’m intrigued you might need it for baking as my cakes come out fine

[NoIDontWatchLoveIsland]

I bake a LOT and always use a fan.