Do you really need an oven?
We have been caravanning since 1980 and are now switching to a motorhome. Our early vans did not have an oven fitted. Since having the luxury of an oven I find that I can remember only a few occasions that we have used it. Now that a microwave comes as standard in most motorhomes do we we really need an oven?
Most of our travels are in Southern France and - usually - in warm sunshine so that we either eat cold food or cook something on an outdoor hot plate to avoid cooking smells indoors.
We are planning to buy an Auto-sleeper Stanton which comes with a full size oven. I am wondering if I can persuade Auto-sleeper to build us one with usable storage in place of the oven. Has anyone else done this I wonder?
Comments
-
Never used an oven in a motorvan yet !! Well at least not to cook in -- my previous Citroen & my present Fiat, both s/h of course, came with ovens which I immediately decided were ideal places for my "Lock 'n Lock" cereal boxes & the loaf !! Fully insulated as they are it does help to keep the goodies fresh !!
The only time I had dealings with A/Sleepers they were very good -- solved my problems with a Smile but that was at the turn of the century !!
0 -
I have just asked the chief chef and she has said to me that she reckons she could do without the hob before the oven!!! I am sure she doesn't mean that but we do find the oven very useful. Not everything can be cooked successfully in a microwave. Perhaps another thing to think of is that when it becomes time to swap or sell up a prospective buyer might want the oven and its often small things like that which put people off?
David
0 -
It's one of those things that is a personal choice. We have had vans with and without and adapted our cooking accordingly. Now I am 'solo' I tend to cook salads or one pot meals so do not need an oven. They are good for storing bread and fruit.
1 -
OH uses an oven nearly every day, both at home and in the caravan.
We had a single oven +combi microwave at home, but have recently changed to a double oven. We use the microwave even less in the van than we do at home, would not really miss it, but would miss a proper oven.
1 -
Good luck with that one, Q, but why not ask them?
0 -
Yes you can manage without one, we did with our first caravan and it didn't have a microwave. We have never had a microwave in a van and still don't so wouldn't be without our oven which can also be used for storage. Not every site supplies enough electric to run a microwave, having a gas oven increase choice of what to cook and where to stay.
peedee
0 -
Oven to us Hardly get used and wish we could replace with a matching cupboard. The oven is the source of many a rattle, buzz and vibration. The most annoying thing when driving. We have a 4 burner hob and most meals can be cooked on there.
0 -
Never use ours. If it was a bit bigger we could store the BBQ in it!
1 -
My parents have a Swift Bolero and they often use the oven for ready meals - life's too short to be peeling spuds etc. in a van.
The most invaluable oven use was when Dad closed the seat on the thermocouple for the heating and broke it. Even if you don't use an oven it is good to know you have some other form of heat just in case.
That was the same weekend I was camping with friends in Northumberland and we had ice on our tents. That stopped them complaining how cold they were.
One of the little reasons for my change in accommodation choice
0 -
Depends on where you spend most of your time holidaying. The OP states warmer weather.
We also spend most of our time touring in the south of France and Spain so having an oven isn't high on my list but the MH came with one.I use it to store my Multi cooker, it fits a treat. It also acts as another storage for chocolate biscuits
pop them inside the multi cooker, then put that in the oven (not switched on of course) it keeps the chocolate firm but not hard like when its in the fridge.The microwave again I use it because its there but could cope quite well without it if needed.
I do most of the cooking outside under the canopy if using the electric multicooker or hob, the gas BBQ sits out a bit further away from the MH.
Even in the UK its the grill rather than the oven that gets used.
0 -
In Southern France last June it was around 35 deg. C. Imagine trying to use an oven in that heat.
0 -
No oven, no microwave, no grill, no Remoska, no barbecue - and yet we manage very well.
0 -
As we like to go without EHU a few times in the year the oven is needed. The microwave is something I can also manage without and other small electrical cooking equipment, we don't have an electric kettle either. It all depends on your vanning lifestyle. (I've got a small slow cooker my only "extra.")
0 -
The oven in my caravan gets used probably daily (when away in it) as does the microwave. I was thinking that a microwave that is combined with an oven element - as in my house - might be a good idea until I realised that the two ovens get used at the same time!
0 -
I didn't buy a s/h Carthago because it had neither an oven or microwave. The sales people said that retro-fitting them wasn't a viable option!! I suppose if I win the lottery I could specify it at factory build at a suitably exorbitant extra cost.
0 -
The trouble with having the option to have this or that or not have that or this, is you'd end up with every caravan of the same model different. If for example, you look at second hand Mercedes you'll see what you'd end up with, they have a huge options list which results in no 2 cars being the same.
0 -
In the winter we use our oven regularly, in just the same way as we do at home, a full roast dinner has been know at times, and sometimes a pizza. In the summer we are more likely to be outside doing BBQ cooking. Could not manage without it, or the microwave.
0 -
The advantage of an oven to us (microwave as well) is that we don't have cart around separate cookers, hobs and BBQ's. OK we might suffer when the weather has been extremely hot but I can't say we have experienced that very often recently, even in the South of France. The only exception to that rule is that we have a single cartridge gas ring which is quite small should we ever want to cook fish outside. Haven't used it yet!
David
0 -
Looking at the Stanway the oven is a complete unit which drops into place in the kitchen area utilising the hob part of the oven as the "worktop" The Oven part may be a module in its own right or it may be part of a bigger assembly. Consequently assuming you want a hob (and possibly a grill) I think a good bit of re-enginering will be needed unless there is an off the shelf module that can be adapted from another Autosleeper product. So I expect that this will be a costly modification or one which for regulatory reasons Autosleeper won't be willing to do.
We are on our second East Neuk Fifer "M" On our last one we opted for an a modified galley with no oven (actually just a substitution of the "S" galley) which only has a hop and grill . This was a no cost change and gave use a super deep drawer. East Neuk now offer this change informally as an "option"
We used a Remoska pan/oven to heat food and do some oven cooking which met our needs but was dependent on hookup. When we sold that van this time last year the absence of an oven was an issue for some purchasers and we have one in our new Fifer M. We do use it. It is a standard product but not without its limitations. We wont be cooking a three course dinner anytime soon so we are 50/50 about having an oven or not.
However with respect to the many Autosleeper fans it is a product which probably has a traditional client base who would look for a full cooker. Consequently you may take a double hit here financially firstly to convert the van then on account of its reduced desirability at trade-in. Yes I know we always plan to keep our lovely new vans "forever" but it doesn't always work out that way. I can just hear
"I sorry you are disappointment with our trade in sir but you see the van will be very hard to re-sell without an oven"
0
