Combi steam ovens, an abbreviation for combination ovens, utilise either dry heat or steam heat to cook food. They often come with additional technology that helps to improve and streamline the cooking process. These features include things like touch screens with pre-set cooking options that can span dehydrating, roasting, baking, steaming and broiling. 

They work by using heat in different ways, with different degrees of humidity, to deliver optimal results depending on the meal you’re preparing. You’ll typically choose from convection mode, steam mode or combination mode, with each offering different benefits and effects. 

As with standard convection ovens, combi ovens can circulate hot, dry air, and this function can be used for a variety of foods. These range from roasting meats to get that perfectly crispy outside to baking delicate pastries for that flaky crust. 

Steam helps to retain moisture in food, preventing shrinkage when preparing meat and maintaining the quality of dishes like fish or vegetables. Steaming functionality is perfect for those dishes that require more control and less dry heat. 

Finally, combination mode cooking uses variable degrees of heat and moisture and sometimes utilises fan-forced cooking. This option is ideal for larger pieces of meat, slow cooking and ensuring your results are tender on the inside without getting soft or lacking crispness on the outside. 

Along with the versatility they offer, combi ovens carry a number of benefits. First, they’re excellent for creating moist and soft food, maintaining the texture and moisture of whatever you’re cooking, especially when you use the pre-set functionality. This can help replace a number of other appliances in your kitchen, freeing up space while still delivering you plenty of cooking capacity. 

Combi ovens also come in a wide range of sizes, suitable for many kitchens. You can get something the same size as a conventional baking oven, for example, with a few trays for different menu items. They range up to high-volume cooking capacity, with models that can accommodate 10 to 20 trays. Each tray can be used to cook a different dish, with the steam helping to capture flavour without transferring it to other dishes that you’re cooking at the same time. Brands like Fagor are especially good for this, with some of the high-spec combi ovens offering different cooking settings for each individual tray. 

Along with their broad range of pre-set cooking settings and memory slots for custom cooking settings, many combi ovens also come with self-cleaning settings. This can save your kitchen hours of labour time, reducing the need for manual intervention and cleaning at the end of each shift.

Yes, absolutely. If you’re just setting a kitchen up or want to reduce the overall number of kitchen appliances you need to maintain, combi ovens are a great choice. Due to the cooking capabilities they feature, they can replace grills, dehydrators, oven ranges and baking ovens.

Combi steam ovens can be used to cook a huge variety of dishes, giving you greater opportunities for expanding your menu. Due to the steam, convection cooking and combination modes, you can use them for almost for anything. 

You can roast, steam, bake, broil and grill, making them suitable for everything from vegetables and bread to fish and meat. Some popular choices include roasting, steaming or baking meats like chicken, beef, fish and pork to baking cakes and even delicate creations like pastries. 

Overall, combi ovens are energy efficient, especially if you’re using them to replace a number of other appliances like grills, convection ovens and baking ovens. 

How you use them will have an impact on how energy efficient they are, with the size of the model you’ve chosen and how many trays you’re cooking with at any given time also impacting power usage.

As with any oven, your combi oven will need some ongoing maintenance to ensure it’s working optimally and to get the most out of it. If it’s within your budget, it’s worth investing in one of the self-cleaning models. While they cost more upfront, they’ll save you hours of labour and money in the long term. This is an especially beneficial feature if you’re cooking meat, chicken in particular, as meat generates a lot more oil and grease, which requires more intensive cleaning. 

If you don’t have a self-cleaning function, stainless steel cleaner and degreaser are essential to have in your cleaning kit. Scrub your combi oven down regularly to remove burnt-on food remnants and oil. This is especially important to maintain the quality of your food when you’re cooking. You’ll also want to periodically remove the grills off the fans and clean them properly to remove any hidden oil that’s built up. Typically once a month for a deep clean is a good rule to follow. 

Yes, combi ovens need a water connection in order to generate steam while cooking. They also need it if they have self-cleaning functionality, along with a drain to remove water after it’s finished its clean cycle. 

This is an important factor to consider when you’re looking at space and placement in your kitchen. When installing a combi oven, you’ll need to account for the additional plumbing and electrics. 

Yes, along with roasting, grilling, steaming and broiling, you can absolutely use a combi oven for baking as well. Their versatile settings can be adjusted to ensure you get the perfect texture for a lot of different baked goods, from cakes with just the right amount of moisture to bread with a perfect crust. You can control the amount of steam very precisely, ensuring you get the right results each and every time you bake.