Patent ID: 6878915

Claim:
A cooking appliance comprising: an oven cavity including top, bottom, rear and opposing side walls, as well as an open frontal opening; a door mounted for movement relative to the oven cavity, said door being adapted to selectively extend across the frontal opening or enable access to the oven cavity; a magnetron positioned to direct a microwave energy field into the oven cavity to perform a cooking operation; a control panel including a plurality of control elements for establishing the cooking operation in the oven cavity; and an airflow system for establishing an airflow for the cooking appliance including: an intake portion for introducing an ambient airflow into the cooking appliance, said ambient airflow establishing a first airstream directed into the oven cavity and a second airstream directed outside the oven cavity; an exhaust portion for enabling the first and second airstreams to exit the cooking appliance; and a diverter member guiding the second airstream to mix with the first airstream, approximately at the exhaust portion, at a predetermined region outside the oven cavity, wherein moisture carried by the first airstream is carried out through the exhaust portion and away from the cooking appliance.