Ovens Oven cooking is as ancient as civilization, as old as the baking of bread. It is no wonder that oven cooking is still the most common form of food preparation around the world. Consequently, ovens are one of the most widely used types of kitchen equipment. The smallest establishments may have a microwave to heat appetizers or sandwiches and the largest may have a conveyorized bake oven for high volume production.
Ovens are available in a variety of sizes and designs.
Some are specifically designed for certain food preparation tasks, while others are meant to serve a diverse range of cooking applications. One of the most recent designs, called a Flash Bake oven, uses a combination of high intensity visible light and radiant heat to increase production speed and improve food preparation quality. Commercial ovens are usually the largest consumers of cooking energy in the food service kitchen. The oven design and construction quality, as well as fuel choice selection, all influence how much of that energy is discharged to the kitchen as heat. The remainder escapes into the surrounding air of the kitchen, making the environment uncomfortable for the staff and further taxing the cooling system.