You probably know about the box that you feature in your kitchen that you use to cook food. Some people call it to the stove, while others oven while third ones think that it is range. Still, they cannot agree on a single name, which may be problematic for people.
The main reason for this particular confusion is due to tradition and upbringing, but other factors are essential as well. Since the home cooking has evolved, the terms that we use to describe appliances that we have also changed, and the different types appeared on the market.
However, you should have in mind that there are noticeable differences between the stove and oven.
What Is Oven?
We can easily say that any enclosed space where you can cook food can be an oven, and typically, most of us have it. It is essential to consider the most straightforward definition that says that oven is a box that we use to cook or heat food.
Therefore, an oven can be anything from countertop toaster oven to hole in the ground with fire as well as an industrial oven that can easily handle a hundred thousand hamburgers in a single hour.
Therefore, not everything that features outside the cooking chamber such as induction, electric, and gas burners is an oven. Of course, people still think that it represents the oven since it is the most common term used to describe this particular cooking appliance.
Different Types of Ovens
Gas Oven
Similarly as cooktops, ovens can be electric or on gas. Gas ones are more affordable than electrical ones and feature similar quality levels. Of course, they come with specific disadvantages because you need a gas hook-up so that you can connect it. The main problem with gas-powered ovens is that they feature uneven heating and hotspots throughout the oven. Therefore, in case that you enjoy baking and have issues with browning your food, it is essential to choose a conventional electric oven instead.
Electric Oven
On the other hand, electric ovens are using heating elements that you can find on the walls of it. Everything depends on your options and model, which means that they are not the cheapest solution you can find on the market. You can find various choices, and you can get plenty of options for cooking your food with a single touch of a button. They are simplest to clean, to use, and you can quickly achieve even cooking.
What Is Stove?
Here is when things get more confusing than before because the stove is also an enclosed space that requires fuel so that you can get something heated. It sounds similar to oven definition we have mentioned above, but there are differences between stove and oven.
You can find numerous types of stoves that will provide you heat, but you will not be able to cook food as with ovens.
The most common solutions are a pellet, wood-burning and coal stoves, and the fact states that ovens are a subset of furnaces, which means that all ovens are stoves, but not all stoves are ovens.
However, there is another thing you should remember which means that some of them include a stovetop, which means that you should use the radiant heat by placing a specific fuel inside such as wood, while latest models can be both electric and gas-powered.
You will be able to separate stovetops from the stove so that they can exist with ease. They are also called cooktops, and you can find numerous varieties based on your needs.
Benefits of Stoves
In case that you have an option for open fire within your household, you should consider enclosed stove instead. That way, you will be able to save fuel and produce the same heat output as before.
An open fire has the overall efficiency of 18% because the majority of heat tends to go up the chimney. On the other hand, a high-end stove has the exceptional capability that may go up to 80%.
Therefore, the stove is a fuel-efficient solution that uses four times less fuel so that they can achieve the same heat output.
When you decide to heat the room with an open fire, it is challenging to maintain the warmth in case that you have an open chimney. With an enclosed stove, the light goes out only when it handles the fuel it features.
It is essential to purchasing a carbon monoxide detector so that you can protect yourself against gas leaks that may happen. In case your home features a heat recovery ventilation system, then the stove requires an air supply duct that will handle the outside environment.
In case your home features heat recovery ventilation system and seal, then you should implement an air supply duct from the environment that happens outside. Have in mind that some stoves do not require this particular option, so you should check before you make up your mind.
It is essential to understand that during the use of the stove and its surface will get extremely hot, which means that you should implement a protection guard that will help you along the way.
At the same time, if you decide to place it on the earth surface, you need to purchase a metal tray so that you can avoid problems with combustible facades. The distance from the combustible surface to the stove doors has to be at least 300 mm.
You should purchase a separate metal container in which you can place hot ashes before you decide to dispose of it so that you can cool it down with ease and with safety.
Of course, you need to find professionals to install the flue and stove, because if you do it yourself, you will risk in a lousy installation that may affect your household and cause devastation.
Conclusion
In case that you feature a cooking chamber that does not feature attached external burners, you should have in mind that you own an oven. In fact that you have a cooking surface without an oven, you should call it cooktop.
Finally, if you have both in one device, it is essential to call it stove, because you will be able to use it for numerous applications and requirements.
