How To Tell If Your Oven Is Working Improperly...

Some of us often have to be slapped upside the head before we see what is before our eyes. For the longest time I thought I was cooking everything at the wrong temperature because things kept burning on top. I mean, really. How stupid is that? Don't answer. I realize now how naive it was. I must have made at least 20 meals like this before I finally realized my wonderful, vintage Thermidor double ovens had finally bitten the dust. It was a death I mourned almost as if it had been a relative, as we'd had them for 23 years. I knew when I had to bid them adieu that I wouldn't be getting new Thermidor ovens. Too expensive these days and we have too many repairs and updates going on at the moment as it is. Besides, Mr. Snoots can't do anything to help with a renovation of any kind. Frankly, he's not ALLOWED to attempt to do anything with power  tools or remodeling, for his own safety as well as the safety of our home.

Our next annoyance was finding a double oven that would be the right size to fit in the former space, which so didn't happen. Times have changed and so have appliances. Ovens have gotten smaller and washers/dryers have gotten bigger. God forbid that we might have to remodel something around here. We were able to locate a double oven that fit the width dimensions, but not the length dimensions, which means we still  have  an entire shelf under the oven that has no cabinet cover. It actually looks ridiculous at this point.






However, I've strayed far from the point of this post, so I'll get back to it now.When I kept burning everything I made on the top side, I finally realized that I needed new ovens. Apparently, I'd been cooking with improperly working ovens,  I'd forgotten how to cook like a normal person. The only working coils were the ones on the top, thus the reason everything was getting so dark on top.


I was used to things turning out like this:







 


And this:













And this:

So, when you start burning everything in your ovens, you might want to have a pro check it out instead of second guessing your own cooking expertise. It might not be you. 


We ended up purchasing the GE double ovens because they were the only ones that we wouldn't have to totally rebuild the cabinets around them, not because they were the best. I would certainly have preferred stainless steel to go with our other appliances. I like these but the bottom oven is not self-cleaning, which I consider to be a pain in the neck, even though we try to be careful about what we cook in the bottom oven. But hey, I'm not burning everything anymore, so I guess I shouldn't care.....