How useful is fan-assistance in an oven?

Every kitchen needs to be practical and functional and the best way to create a great workable kitchen is to install quality appliances and your oven is one appliance that you should not skimp on.
Whether you choose to cook with gas or electricity you need to consider your cooking needs and choose an oven that will meet them all.

The advantages of a fan-assisted oven

An oven that cooks evenly is a must and a fan assisted oven, whether gas or electric, circulates the hot air from the top of the oven to the bottom, distributing the heat evenly during cooking. The features of a fan-assisted oven include

• No more cold spots in the oven
• It allows you to bake on more than one shelf at the same time
• Pre-heating is faster
• Food cooks very evenly

Unlike a fan-forced oven, that uses a fan at the rear of the oven that is surrounded by a heat coil, fan-assisted ovens have an element both at the top as well as at the bottom of the oven which can operate in conjunction with the fan and are great for cooking foods that require heat concentration on top or underneath, or even both.

Why opt for a fan-assisted oven?

Fan-assisted ovens need less time to pre-heat to the desired temperature and the element on the top and bottom concentrates the heat to the centre area of the oven where it is then moved evenly around the oven via the fan, cooking the food from above as well as from underneath which is great for foods like pizzas and roast meats. You have the option of using either element or both of them together.
The advantage of cooking with fan-assisted ovens is that the placement of foods is not restricted to the center of the oven which means you can stack your oven to cook a variety of foods at the one time.
This is very efficient as it saves on cooking time and energy costs. Fan-assisted ovens may lack some of the heat efficiency of fan-forced ovens but they are still a great option and a definitely cheaper to run. Also, you can turn off the fan for more conventional or slow cooking.
If you can't decide on whether to go with fan-assisted or fan-forced, why not look at a multifunction oven that has both functions as well as a number of other clever features? Talk to your retailer.