Hobs Brands

[lookingout 0]

You might wanna take a look at the Mayer Warehouse Sale.

[LGG 0]

hi,

since you are new to cooking & baking, i suggest you go and look at many different type of ovens that are within your budget, hse design constraints, etc. before deciding on whether you are going to be a long time user of the oven, if not, even if you buy the best oven in the whole world, its going to sit in your kitchen, taking up space and become a white elephant and most importantly wasting your resources and earth resources. and not to mention that electrical applicances require regular usage or turning on the power & the heat to prevent it from breaking down after long time of not using them.

to start, many salesmen or sales aunties will persuade you on their ovens pros, new technology etc. but it has been proven for so many decades that the most basic normal type of ovens is the safest, fool proof type of cooking/baking (provided you follow strictly what the recipe instructions are and also dependent on your type of oven), and many recipes that you can find from the books, internet, blogs, cooking forums, cooking / baking schools, etc. actually based their recipes on normal ovens. you can easily understand the type of food that you are going to cook require what temperature, heating element, with fan or no fan, etc.

and also if possible, put your oven on a table top if possible or if space allow. reason: use simple logic thinking.

1) firstly, how are you going to bring out your cables & plug into wall socket? if there are cabinets, etc. you will need to drill holes right? and if you need to bring out the whole oven for repair, maintenance, etc. wouldn't it be a hassle?

2) experience tells me that such kitchen applicances has high heat when they are operated. and if you put them in a build in cabinet or inside a cabinet, heat from the applicances are not able to circulate into the air and are build in the cabinet. think in long term, are you going to change your cabinets often? cabinets' quality will deteriorate fast.

if you have an oven, show it, don't hide it. trust me, alot of guests, relatives & friends who come to your hse will go gaga over it, and complimenting "wah! you can cook well leh, that's why you got an oven!"

do shop around or go attend cooking/baking demo classes at CC which are cheaper and see what applicances and utensils (pots & pans) they use in order to bake a cake or cook a fish/chicken/turkey, then decide are you going to do that for a long time, then do your research and go shopping at many different areas to find out the mkt prices & functions of ovens before deciding to buy an oven. because the accompanying lot of 'necessary' utensils will be a tidy investment as well. eg. you need a mixer, mixing bowl, spatula, cake knife, baking tins, for baking cakes, etc.

hope the above helps

Thanx Leen for your detailed explanations..

i have shortlisted this oven to be my preferred oven cos it can steam, grill, bake and microwave. The necessary functions which i foresee myself to be using every now and then and it's within my budget. Costing abt $700 bucks.. But i just don't know how is it's performance..

My kitchen is uber small, so putting it on table top is really a headache.. however have decided to heed your advice to put it on tabletop as the issues you brought up is very valid..

Pls share with me if you have any info abt my shortlisted Panasonic model 596 steam oven.

Thanx!

[leen 2]

Thanx Leen for your detailed explanations..

i have shortlisted this oven to be my preferred oven cos it can steam, grill, bake and microwave. The necessary functions which i foresee myself to be using every now and then and it's within my budget. Costing abt $700 bucks.. But i just don't know how is it's performance..

My kitchen is uber small, so putting it on table top is really a headache.. however have decided to heed your advice to put it on tabletop as the issues you brought up is very valid..

Pls share with me if you have any info abt my shortlisted Panasonic model 596 steam oven.

Thanx!

i didn't try out the modern steam oven before. from my experience, a microwave oven which claim can bake, can't really do a good job. the end result of the bake is that its dry, especially in the middle. eg. a very dry cake or very brittle type, ie when you touch it, it like crumble down. or it can get very stiff coz the microwave oven dry out the water content in the bakes. and it definitely don't taste nice coz its too dry.

maybe when im free this weekend, i go shopping and take a look at this new steam oven and kaypoh abit. will let you know once i find out more of this steam oven.

but if you, eg. cook 65%, grille 10%, bakes 5% of the time only, you take a oven that best suits your needs, ie, oven that can cooks for you.

its no use if you buy the best function oven and you only do baking like 1 month once only where you cook almost everyday. hope you get what im saying.

[LGG 0]

i didn't try out the modern steam oven before. from my experience, a microwave oven which claim can bake, can't really do a good job. the end result of the bake is that its dry, especially in the middle. eg. a very dry cake or very brittle type, ie when you touch it, it like crumble down. or it can get very stiff coz the microwave oven dry out the water content in the bakes. and it definitely don't taste nice coz its too dry.

maybe when im free this weekend, i go shopping and take a look at this new steam oven and kaypoh abit. will let you know once i find out more of this steam oven.

but if you, eg. cook 65%, grille 10%, bakes 5% of the time only, you take a oven that best suits your needs, ie, oven that can cooks for you.

its no use if you buy the best function oven and you only do baking like 1 month once only where you cook almost everyday. hope you get what im saying.

Hi Leen

I hope you haven't go look out for my preferred oven and source for info cos have changed my mind and buy a built-in oven instead due to table-top space constraint..

Can you advise me on a suitable brand to use for a novice cook and baker who's likely to use the oven for grilling and/or baking purposes at least twice a week? My budget hovers around $500-$700..

Read many commented about Rinnai oven is good, is it's performance good? How about Cuizino and Fujioh oven?

Many thanx!

[wreckit 1]

For Singaporean style cooking, I suggest Rinnai or Turbo hobs.

[leen 2]

Hi Leen

I hope you haven't go look out for my preferred oven and source for info cos have changed my mind and buy a built-in oven instead due to table-top space constraint..

Can you advise me on a suitable brand to use for a novice cook and baker who's likely to use the oven for grilling and/or baking purposes at least twice a week? My budget hovers around $500-$700..

Read many commented about Rinnai oven is good, is it's performance good? How about Cuizino and Fujioh oven?

Many thanx!

sorry for long time no reply coz din check the forum as been busy. LGG, i think you re-read my post above about oven and you go shop around to source for the type that can fit into your budget and requirement. i din really go around to look at the prices nowadays.

[leen 2]

i didn't try out the modern steam oven before. from my experience, a microwave oven which claim can bake, can't really do a good job. the end result of the bake is that its dry, especially in the middle. eg. a very dry cake or very brittle type, ie when you touch it, it like crumble down. or it can get very stiff coz the microwave oven dry out the water content in the bakes. and it definitely don't taste nice coz its too dry.

maybe when im free this weekend, i go shopping and take a look at this new steam oven and kaypoh abit. will let you know once i find out more of this steam oven.

but if you, eg. cook 65%, grille 10%, bakes 5% of the time only, you take a oven that best suits your needs, ie, oven that can cooks for you.

its no use if you buy the best function oven and you only do baking like 1 month once only where you cook almost everyday. hope you get what im saying.

i go pray master learn arts and got my answer from the chief Chef from a 6star hotel. he says that steam oven is gd for cooking meat as the meat will not feel as dry as a conventional/convectional oven. but gd steam oven is vy big & expensive and ususally only hotel restuarant uses it. as for baking, normal oven will do.

you can simulate a steam oven if u r cooking meat, especially nearing Xmas where some may want to roast chicken, turkey, etc., by placing a tray or big enough bowl of water at the most bottom of the oven while you grille the meat. in this way, the meat will be even more tender.

[yapyap 0]

Me just bought ariston hob and hood.. hope its good. not cheap

[leen 2]

Me just bought ariston hob and hood.. hope its good. not cheap

shouldn't be a problm. my hob in my previous home was ariston inherited from previous owner who seldom cook. but i have used it for 6 years (+ 3 years from previous owner) and its still vy gd.

and so was my mum's. my mum only change her ariston 1 time after 25 year!!!

the old one was too old a model and it can't burn properly so change to the current one which is still up and running. and she's a heavy cooker.

[p3nguins 0]

glad that the above helps. and happy using your oven. there r many possiblities that you can try with a conventional oven. some are convection oven. you can google search to see their difference.

just remember that the oven must hv a:

1) top element

2) bottom element

3) fan function

4) combine use of top & bottom element

5) combine use of top element with fan

6) combine use of bottom element with fan

7) glass door big enough for you to peep at your food / temperature gauge that you hv put inside the oven to measure the temp.

8) glass door is best to be double layer so that the outer layer will be cool to touch even when you r cooking. you don't want to scald yourself, or older folks or kids accidentally touch it when its cooking coz the heat is really high and hot.

9) hv a rack and a baking tray.

10) hv at least 3 layer for you to choose the appropriate layer to place your food to cook. eg. top layer for baking cookies, where its small in size & qty and cooks easily with a light browning on top. mid layer for baking of most cakes and cooking of most food that require longer time to cook. seldom we use bottom layer as it will burn the bottom of the food with the top uncook and the middle of the food (eg. cake, or chicken, turkey) half cooked.

11) light inside the oven (can be on for you to see the inside of the oven clearly without turning on the cooking function. once cooking function is selected and used, it will be on till you turn it off).

12) timer on the oven

(the rest are optional coz you may not be using many functions most of the time)

and some ppl may persuade you to spend $4k & above for ovens, do seriously consider if your usage of the oven is high and you are into full time cooking or professional cooking coz:

1) 1stly, technology changes vy fast, so if the oven last you for 10 years, there may hv spare parts if it broke down.

2) the more expensive an electronic item is, the more intricate and complicate component it has and thus any maintenance or repairs will be costly. eg. if you buy a jap car, there are plenty of cheap parts readily available, if you buy a beemer, the repair / maintenance cost is vy high.

3) self cleaning function

i find this unnecessary. coz after every use of the oven, the heat will melt away all food / sauces that are splatter on it which is ususally not so if you protect your oven by putting the food in casserole pot to cook or wrap up the food in aluminium foil to cook.

and if you are grilling a chicken (eg.), you poke a bbq stick through the chicken and you can place in a casserole pot without the lid to grille so that it catches the dripping sauce or have the bbq stick hang across the internal oven for a more rounded grille but do place a tray below to catch the dripping sauce.

after the you hv finish the cooking, you will also wash your dishes right? so its the same thing, once the oven is cooled down (really cooled down), use a damp cloth to just wipe it will do.

4) turnspit

this is a function where it have or allow a bbq stick in the oven where it will rotate the roast automatically while cooking. this will not require you to turn your roast to get it cook.

but do be mindful. are you doing alot of heavy roasting? eg. every week there's roast ribs, roast turkey, roast chicken, etc.

coz if not you will not need this additional function.

5) electronic selection vs knob turning selection ovens

electronic selection press button oven:

pros: more precise as you can choose the exact time and degree to cook the food.

cons: some are hard to choose as its not well labelled on the oven itself, so you hv to keep refering to the manual for the settings.

LCD display is small.

once spoil, that's it. you hv to send for repair and its costly.

knob turning selection oven:

pros: you can see what you choose

cons: the knobs can drop out due to wear & tear and you may plug it out to clean it, and forgot you hv turn to which function or accidentally turn to which function after that. never take out the knob for cleaning.

selection of cooking temp is estimation, coz the temp selection comes in: 20deg, 50deg, 80 deg, 100deg, 120 deg, 150, deg, 180deg, 200deg, etc. so when you need something that is in between, you hv to estimate.

if you go to baking / cooking schools to learn baking / cooking, do look at what type of ovens they use. most of these ovens are choosen by the schools coz they hv the basic functions that they want and can perform the job well.

just like buying handphone. one can buy a handphone with plentiful of functions but honestly, most of these functions are not fully utilised. eg. your handphone hv gps logging system but do you ever use it? your handphone hv wireless function, how many times you use it or use it to send your infor to printer thru wireless printing or faxing from your handphone?

hope you put your usage pattern, lifestyle, logic, experience, budget ($ no enough even if its for the richest ppl) etc. & combine them into your choice of buying an oven.

Hi Leen,

Hope ya still around; was hoping to get your advice on which brand to get for ovens.

Read your earlier posts and agree with you that the basic functions are all that's required; don't quite need the other fancy functions.

1) top element

2) bottom element

3) fan function

4) combine use of top & bottom element

5) combine use of top element with fan

6) combine use of bottom element with fan

Was wondering if you had any opinions about Franke, reason being we're considering getting Franke for our Hob and Hood and figured it'll probably be good to get it as a package for all 3 items.

Otherwise would you have any other recommendation for Convection Ovens; looking to bake, grill, roast etc but mostly on weekends hence I would say usage isn't very high, durable, parts easy to come by and user friendly.

[discoburg 0]

Just visited the Mayer outlet @ IMM. The old aunty sales woman is **** stuck up. Ask a few questions and she think i cannot afford their hobs.

[gkbt 8]

hi hi,

hope someone is around to answer my query. I am looking for a glass hob. Cos it looks nice and easy to clean. Went to Harvey Norman and the SA said the only glass hob which has life time warranty for the glass is Tecno. Seems like she misrepresent cos there were a lot of comments here abt glass hobs with life time warranty.

Anyway, anyone has feedback re Tecno hobs or any glass hobs? My MIL used one before. glass hob one and it cracked after a few yrs of heavy cooking. How does Tecno fare in terms of Rinnai or Ellane. Which one is more ex? thanks

[prissypris 0]

hi there.

was surfing around the forums looking for cooking hobs feedback and saw this thread.

personally my new house is getting an optic white cooking hob from turbo. and yes, i got it because it's easy to clean and looks nice.

i think the issue with glass hobs is that it cannot handle weight to an extend. when i purchased my glass hob, the sales person told me that the weight that glass hobs can handle is very limited. for example, your cooking hobs cant be too big as it'll be too heavy for the glass to handle and thus break eventually.

i think they have a guide on what can be put on the glass hob or not.

[Andrew New 3]

HOBZ brand hob & hoob isit good?

I'm looking Hob & hood for my new house...please advice !

Thanks.

Edited September 25, 2010 by Flatster

[Carino Box 1]

Always check the service company before you buy any home products. Akaz International Pte Ltd service Hobz and their service is terrible. They are never on time. They made me wait at home and did not appear. Not one time but a few time. They are disorganized and very rude to customer. They do not care if you have waited at home for them. They says to be considerate, just wait at home. The best part was the staff did not appear, they do not even bother to call to say that they are not coming. Very extremely poor service and rude company. Please, i advise that we check the service company before we buy anything. It is the worst experience. Do not get anything that is connected to Akaz Interntional. Thank you.