How is everybody? Hope you guys (& gals) are doing fine. It's been very hot during this few days in Singapore. I am doing my business meetup in with potential customers in the Marina Bay Sands. It feels like as though I am in Las Vegas (since Marina Bay Sands or known as MBS, is owned by Las Vegas Sands, Vegas). But the hotel is fantastic, with all its facilities especially the Infinity Pool.
Then at night, I had a nice chocolate lava cake, accompanied by iced mocha. It was a nice treat after a long day of work. While I was eating the cake, I saw the pastry chef was doing his masterpiece and after the final touch, he puts it in a microwave. As the cake was taking its form, I wondered how much energy is being consumed to bake a cake? Could there be a smarter way to do it in the world out there?
There is smart microwave oven that basically does everything and it's packed with smart features and functionality that could truly make cooking easier.Smart Waves- Microwaves
While most big-name appliance manufacturers are busy making fridges that can send texts, washing machines that can wirelessly power your gadgets, and other appliances of questionable value; there are a handful of startups on the rise that are hard at work building smart appliances that actually look useful.
Cooking with a microwave oven instead of the stove can save you money. Fast and efficient microwaves use from 30 percent to as much as 80 percent less energy than conventional ovens. They also have the added benefit of not heating up your kitchen, so they can save you money on air conditioning in the hot times of the year.
Functions
For starters, it functions as both a microwave and convection oven, so it can handle a bag of popcorn just as easily as it can cook a batch of cupcakes. On top of that, a smart microwave is also hooked into the Web and comes loaded with a slew of different sensors, so you don’t even need to enter in temperature or duration — just tell it what you’re cooking and it’ll automatically choose the optimal settings.
You can literally just tell the oven what’s for dinner — it’s got built-in voice recognition, so if your
hands are covered in dough or some other kind of goo, you can skip the manual inputs and just speak your commands out loud. If that’s not your speed, it can also understand gesture controls, and comes equipped with a 6-inch touchscreen display for when your hands aren’t occupied. This touchscreen is basically like a tablet built into the oven — it can be used to browse through its massive recipe database, display video tutorials, and even speak cooking instructions back to you so you don’t have to look at the screen while you prepare everything.
The features don’t end there either. As you’d expect from any card-carrying smart appliance, the smart microwave oven also comes with an accompanying smartphone app. This means you can get push alerts when your food is done cooking, adjust cook time and temperature settings from afar, or remotely activate/deactivate the oven while you’re away from home.
Brands Available
The Miele H 4024 BM Micro/Convection oven.
23" and 7/16" microwave/convection oven is sleek in stainless-steel, and has absolutely no problems melding visually with the most likely choices for induction cooktops.
Pros:Sports a 1,000-watt microwave, true 'European' convection, and good looks. Will accommodate a 13" by 9" by 2" cake pan and regular-sized roasting pans. Because of the top handle, has the most oven-like feel of all the options.
Cons: Cadillac pricing.
Price: Around RM8180.
The Bosch HMB 8050
At 23 7/8" which also comes in black, but in either stainless-steel or black it doesn't have quite the pizazz of the Miele. Visually, it seems more like a microwave than an oven.
Pros: Comparable strength (1000-watt microwave) for less than half the price of the Miele. Bosch promises fully popped bag popcorn by entering bag size. Takes a 13" cake pan or roasting pan.
Cons: With the 'trim kit' shown here, the oven will be either 27" or 30" wide.
Price: $700.
The Viking DMOC/VMOC 205 Micro Convection Hood.
Convection Microwave Oven says that cooking times may be faster in its DMOC/VMOC small ovens using ConvecBake and ConvecBroil features than it would be with the company's regular ovens.
Pros: There are a rainbow of candy colors to choose from with the VMOC 205. Also, the design says a bit more 'oven' than 'microwave.
Cons: Viking recently discontinued this model, though plenty of stock remains available from a variety of vendors.
Price: About RM4,400.
The Sharp R-930CS
The least expensive option. Generally sold as a countertop unit, the R-930CS can also be built in.
Pros:Affordable. According to Sharp it "browns, bakes, broils and crisps," provides perfect popcorn, and accommodates a 13" birthday cake pan and regular roasting pan. The microwave is 900 watts. Extra racks allow two-level baking.
Cons: While it can be a built-in, its style says 'microwave' only.
Price: Around RM2,000.
The Dacor DCM24
This is in the middle of the pack. It has a 900-watt microwave, and also a rack insert to allow two separate food items to be baked at once.
Pros: It's middle-of-the-road pricing.
Cons: It has that same 'microwave' feeling as the Sharp.
Price: Approximately RM2,920.
The Wolf MWC24
It is an all black, 24" convection oven and 900-watt microwave.
Pros: Might be nice to purchase the induction cooktop and the microwave/convection oven from the same vendor.
Cons: These last three choices are all so similar visually it is hard to tell them apart.
Price: Approximately RM2,920.
