How To Know If A Steam Oven Is Worth It For Your Kitchen

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The air fryer may have became America's favorite kitchen appliance over the past few years, but there's a new hot oven in town — and this one is extra steamy. Domestic steam ovens have been around since the 1980s, and they are growing in popularity thanks to the unique cooking methods they offer. As you may have guessed, these appliances work by circulating steam throughout the oven, cooking food with wet heat as opposed to the dry heat of a conventional oven. But, there are pros and cons to this cooking style. 

The advantages of using a steam oven rather than a conventional include decreased cooking times, fresher flavors, and slightly increased nutrient retention in foods. All of this comes down to the different style of heat. But, even with all of these advantages, it is important to note that this cooking style is wholly different from a conventional oven — meaning that you cannot simply swap over a treasured baking recipe and expect the same results. Though the combination oven is a simple solution to this issue, they aren't cheap. 

The steam oven is an excellent fit for the kitchens of certain home chefs. But, before making the investment, you'll want to determine whether the investment is worth it for your kitchen. 

The big difference between a steam oven and a conventional oven is obviously the moisture. As air is heated in a conventional oven, its relative humidity drops precipitously, making it very, very dry. This dry air is not an efficient conductor of heat — unlike steam, which transfers heat very effectively — which is why baking is much less efficient than steaming. The trade-off, of course, is that steaming foods provides very different results than baking or roasting.

There are some foods that you should be steaming, but it's not a universal cooking technique. Cooked in a steam oven, a tray of vegetables will cook quickly and stay fresh, while a steamed salmon fillet will be juicy and delicious. You can even cook everything from rice and pasta to eggs in one of these unique ovens. But, you cannot steam a whole chicken — at least not if you want that delicious crispy skin. To achieve the classic, browned effects of grilling or roasting, a dry environment will be necessary.

In this way, the conventional oven provides a unique cooking environment capable of achieving particular textures — ones you may prefer. Still, this doesn't mean that fans of golden-roast turkey on Thanksgiving or homemade baguettes with a crisp crust need to stick with conventional ovens. In fact, with the wide array of modern combination ovens on the market, it's quite the opposite. 

The combination oven is the jack-of-all-trades appliance. It can function as a conventional oven, a convection oven, and a steam oven all in one. It is tough to beat versatility like that, especially when you look tiny countertop models like the 13-quart air fryer steam oven from Ciarra. Toss a hot plate next to that, and you have a complete kitchen setup in just a few feet of counter space. But the greatest magic of the combination oven might be the ability to apply multiple different styles of heating in a single cook.

With all of the oven functions of a traditional oven, plus the added benefit of steam, you can achieve a perfect roast chicken in a combination oven by cooking it through with steam, ensuring it stays nice and juicy, and then finishing it with dry heat to crisp and brown the skin. It is the best of both worlds, and this unique versatility is useful with a wide variety of foods. But, with all of the extra bells and whistles, it is no surprise that combination steam ovens tend to be a lot more expensive than their steam and conventional counterparts. 

With price tags that range between $2,000 to $6,000, a full-size domestic combination oven won't fit into everyone's budget — but they do seem to be the appliance of the future. If you aren't sure about investing in a full-size model, you can always try out a countertop model before you commit.