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[JoeGrilling]

My new double oven in our kitchen is behaving badly.  Kitchen oven design is really very old technology.  Our old Kitchenaid double oven was first installed in 1997 and was fairly reliable.  I repaired it several times for things related to our kids abusing it.  The main control board in the oven finally died a few weeks ago and parts are no longer available.  We replaced it with a new Kitchenaid oven.

The first thing we noted with the new oven is it takes a long time to preheat like 15 to 20 minutes.  Others on the internet also complained about this.  Frozen casseroles come out cold after the stated cook time and temperature.  I hung a Fireboard environmental temperature probe in the center and watched it for ten minutes.  The set temperature is 400 F and the probe was reading around 375 F. 

The oven has a calibrate function that allows a 10, 20, or 30 degree shift up or down.  I shifted up 10 degrees and monitored the temperature for 1 hour at 400 F and got the following:
   

[JoeGrilling]

The problem with the temperature data is others on the internet are seeing the same thing. Groan!

[Canadian John]

 
 Not exactly what one would expect from a new appliance..With energy savings in mind companies are squeezing every last drop out of new  energy consuming products; automobile to light bulbs..It's not going

 to get better. Just something else we'll have adapt to..

 That is an interesting post.. Most people don't have the wherewithal to properly monitor their oven temps and would be dependant on the manufacturer to sort things out. Of course they would never truly know

what's going on only that their new appliance is an underperformer.  Heaven help us end users!

[pmillen]

Is this–

• Gas or electric?
• A convection oven?

I have some observations that will vary, based on the above.

[bregent]

>I shifted up 10 degrees and monitored the temperature for 1 hour at 400 F and got the following:

Is that not ok?  Unless I'm not understanding something, that seems good to me as you are getting roughly 25F swings. Most ovens I've tested have more than that. Of course, the slow preheating is not fun. 

When we remodeled our kitchen about 15 years ago, we kept the vintage GE double wall oven. Not sure of the year, 70's or 80's I suppose, with all manual controls. I've had to replace a few elements, but it's still going strong. 

[scdaf]

For the slow preheating, if your new oven has a "convection" setting, use that to preheat, as it will use the oven AND broiler elements.  Can switch to normal oven setting once heated.

[JoeGrilling]

Is this–

• Gas or electric?
• A convection oven?

I have some observations that will vary, based on the above.

It is electric and does support upper and lower oven convection.

[JoeGrilling]

For the slow preheating, if your new oven has a "convection" setting, use that to preheat, as it will use the oven AND broiler elements.  Can switch to normal oven setting once heated.

I tried that once and the oven temperature reached the setup point faster.  It was a bit confusing because after a convection cancel and conventional bake restart it dove 50 degrees.

[JoeGrilling]

 Not exactly what one would expect from a new appliance..With energy savings in mind companies are squeezing every last drop out of new  energy consuming products; automobile to light bulbs..It's not going

 to get better. Just something else we'll have adapt to..

 That is an interesting post.. Most people don't have the wherewithal to properly monitor their oven temps and would be dependant on the manufacturer to sort things out. Of course they would never truly know

what's going on only that their new appliance is an underperformer.  Heaven help us end users!

This kind of reminds me of the VW emissions scandal.  The oven may have set low at the factory to get a particular energy rating. 

[JoeGrilling]

I cooked a Kirkland lasagna last night for 55 minutes as 375F and an additional 10 minutes with the wrapper off.  It came out ok.  Not as much browning of the cheese as I would like.  Later in the week, I will tackle the lower oven.

Kitchenaid does have several tech guides posted on the slow preheat and cooking that does not match the oven that was replaced.  They blame the slow preheat on the enlarged oven cavity.  The temperature problem is covered with the calibration procedure that includes the good old biscuit test.

[Bentley]

We have a 2015 JennAir electric and it seems like it takes a long time to pre heat!

[02ebz06]

We have a Jen-Air as well. Probably 10 years old, since the house is.
Since I don't really have a reference, I'm not sure how long a long heat up is.
I don't have any complaints about heating up.
If I didn't run out of money, I'd have replaced it with a Wolf when I did the kitchen remodel last year.

[BigDave83]

I never pay attention to my oven temps. i have a Garland 6 burner propane in my kitchen. I do know that from hanging one of those oven thermometers in it shortly after getting it, i seemed 25° low so I just set it 2 higher. Most of my cooking is done in the breville smart oven sitting on the counter. The convection motor is making noise when I first turn it on. Waiting for it to go so I can justify one of he Anova Combi ovens.

It is great that Kitchen aid has the ability for some user adjustments.

For the garland I have learned to keep and extra thermocouple taped to the back of it, because it will go bad at the most inopportune time. 

[02ebz06]

Waiting for it to go so I can justify one of he Anova Combi ovens.

I'm thinking about one of the Anova ovens as well. The steam would make it ideal for breads.

[JoeGrilling]

I ran the lower oven last night and got nearly identical results so I increased the calibration 10 degrees.

The thing I find quite humorous is that we try to control the temperature in our pits so carefully.  My Traeger Texas 34 is rigged with an aftermarket PID controller.  It actually works quite well once it settles down.  An electric oven seems far simpler to control.