The June Intelligent Oven

[Shalmanese]

The June Intelligent Oven is a new countertop device from a Bay Area startup (disclaimer: I know people who worked on it) that is like an oven on steroids. It just launched today so the details are a little bit unclear but it seems like they really tried to re-engineer the oven from the ground up with modern technology.

Most exciting to me is, instead of the standard on-off controllers that can give an oven temperature swings of 50F or more, June appears to use variable heating to keep the oven temperature rock solid. Right now, cooking in an oven is essentially guess work since the variables swing so widely. If you can precisely control all the variables, then you can consistently and reliably, for example, brown the top of a casserole at the exact moment the inside becomes cooked and not have to fiddle with aluminum foil.

Also, I'd be interested in it's stability at low temperatures. Sous vide is great but you're inherently cooking foods at 100% humidity. Devices like combi ovens let you both cook and dehydrate the surface (for better browning on the post-sear) but they're expensive. If this can bring combi-oven like performance to an affordable price, it may be a way more accessible low temp cooking device with no plastic bag waste.

One thing that's disappointing about the June announcement is there's no mention of humidity control. Myhrvold showed that humidity was a huge factor because dry bulb and wet bulb temperatures vary based on humidity. I guess for the average consumer, humidity control still means nothing but being able to programmatically control humidity would push this even closer to combi-oven territory.

Along with Nomiku, Anova, Cinder & Meld, we're starting to see a serious interest from the technology industry in smarter cooking devices. It seems like an exciting, albeit expensive time to be a cooking geek.

edit: Jesus christ, this thing is $3000. I love ovens but I don't think I $3000 love any oven. They need to cut the price by a factor of 10 before this thing is viable. No restaurant is going to buy this, the volume of food produced is way too low for it to be justified. What's the target market for this? People who have combi-ovens in their home and want to upgrade?

Edited June 9, 2015 by Shalmanese (log)

[ElsieD]

I just had a look at this. While the MSRP is $2,995, it can be pre-ordered for 2016 shipping for $1,495. Way out of my league but it sure looks like a mighty fine machine.

[rotuts]

this is Tech w/o an understanding of Cooking.

 

No Steam ?  no app or live CookCam can make up for this glaring error.

 

professional ovens have steam.  period.  that's what you need more than anything else.  

 

and a 1/2 sheet pan size.

 

big bucks to watch your cookies bake. 

 

Rx's on a Pad or Pod are simply digital food p0rn gone wrong.

 

I easily pay 2 K for a 1/2 sheet pan quality made and guaranteed Steam oven.

 

two CSB's  ( on sale ) put this out of business.  that's about 400 $$  USD.  you would need the Amps/Watts/Joules  etc for them

 

done

Edited June 9, 2015 by rotuts (log)

[rotuts]

BTW  does anyone know the 'sheet-pan' size of this App-that-Cooks-ish ?

Edited June 9, 2015 by rotuts (log)

[Deryn]

Lately I have realized, despite my avid use of the computer (and the fact that I was around, working in the tech industry, at the time it was 'invented') that I am really getting to be an old fogey. I have a LOT of gadgets, most with technology I don't even understand any more, most with computer chips in them - and most with high price tags and limited warranties. They are guaranteed - to fail ... faster than ever and at the most inopportune time. And they are guaranteed to make me dumber, poorer and less capable of thinking and doing things the old fashioned, tried and true way - that maybe wasn't perfect but with practice it was pretty darned close most of the time.

 

Actually I feel lucky to BE an old fogey - since I learned the old ways of doing things before I got tangled up with the fancy new gadgets and I can still go back there. The younger generations perhaps not so much.

 

So .. the June Oven .. could, if I had a fortune to put out for it, and if I was young and hip and lived in a major city where no one ever cooked for themselves .. make for a fast and perfect way to heat up my store-bought pizza? Or perfectly reheat my Chinese takeout? I am sure I could do more with it but if I were the type that I think may purchase one of these, I probably would not know how to do more.

 

I don't want to be cynical - but, I am not sure I see the market for this oven, especially at this exhorbitant price .. unless it is those very well off hipsters in small city apartments - who don't really know how to cook. And as others have mentioned, I have my doubts restaurants will buy them when their Rationales have done the job reliably for so many years. I also agree that it seems these days that many of these new kitchen gadgets (and I am NOT talking about the EZTemper or even the HR freeze-drier) seem to designed by those who don't have many cooking skills at all - and whose language is often backwards to the way their target audience still thinks.

 

Believe me, I would love to look at this new oven and say 'Oh cool'! But somehow I just can't - though I wish them luck and hope I am wrong.

[dcarch]

It is troublesome to me that I need the oven to tell me that what I just put in the oven is chicken.

 

Also, I would be worried that some cuts of meat you can't ell if it is beef, pork or lamb.

 

When it comes to cooking, the oven can only be as "intelligent" as the computer programmer.

 

 

dcarch

[Shel_B]

I tend to agree with you, Deryn ...

 

When I saw the price of the oven, and how it uses the internal temperature probe, I had to chuckle.  For me, a $100.00 Thermapen would do the trick just fine in my conventional and Breville ovens.  I like the idea of being hands on when cooking, and using apps and smart phones, and cooking long distance with a camera to watch the progress, just seem very strange to me.  I guess I'm headed towards Fogeyville with you ...

[scott123]

I'm seeing a lot of brains, but not a lot of brawn.

 

Pizza is, as I'm sure many of you are aware, my religion, so it's pretty much impossible for me to not look at it from that perspective.

 

First, I'm not seeing any published specs related to maximum temperature setting.  Seriously? They're telling me the GPU model, the CPU model and the speed and quantity of RAM, but nowhere do they say how hot this friggin thing gets?

 

Based on the quantity of electronics involved, especially the electronics that have to be exposed to the baking chamber, such as the camera, I get a very strong feeling that this doesn't go any where 550, which, is imo, where you need to be for the best pizza.

 

Even if it does have a thermostat that goes up to 550, great pizza is a wattage game.  You need to be able to use the broiler, and the amount of IR the broiler can pump out is directly proportional to the watts.  I don't see a cord anywhere, but, just that fact that it's a countertop points strongly towards 110 v, and 110 v, by it's nature is going to have wattage limitations.

 

And speaking of ridiculous specs, they tell me the wattage of the speakers, but not the oven itself?  The speakers! *shaking my head*

 

If they made no mention of pizza, I could sort of get my head around someone buying an oven for other purposes (not me). But they're clearly making references to pizza in their ads, which, to me, without publishing the actual specs that bakers care about, is a little cheesy- pardon the pun

[Shel_B]

 

First, I'm not seeing any published specs related to maximum temperature setting.  Seriously? They're telling me the GPU model, the CPU model and the speed and quantity of RAM, but nowhere do they say how hot this friggin thing gets?

 

 

I read in the FAQ that the max temp is 500-deg F.

[scott123]

I read in the FAQ that the max temp is 500-deg F.

 

Thanks I missed that.  Here's the exact quote

 

 

http://support.juneoven.com/article/51-what-s-the-highest-temperature-the-june-oven-cooks-at

 

While baking, the oven can reach 450 Fahrenheit and at broil it can reach 500 Fahrenheit

 

 

It looks like my suspicions are confirmed.  I'm sorry, but a 450 deg bake temp for pizza is a joke.

Edited June 9, 2015 by scott123 (log)

[dcarch]

Interesting for sure, but I have questions:

 

1. LED light inside is nice, but LED is heat sensitive. So they will need perhaps fiber optics to conduct light from the LED. Why not just a cheap incandescent bulb?

 

2. Camera inside is too gimicky. A CMOS digital image sensor is also heat sensitive. Anything can go wrong with the millions of connections on the sensor. How much will it cost you to have it replaced? Why do I need to see the image when I can just look into the glass door. It would be much more useful instead of a picture image of the food, have a thermal camera give me the heat distribution on the food.

 

3. Why carbon fiber heater? It probably will cost you $1,000 to replace the heater. Does it make a big difference for a PID controller if the heater heats in 5 seconds instead of 15 seconds (nichrome wire)? when thermal conductivity of food cannot be changed regardless of heat source?

 

4. I don't want any appliance to force me to cook my food according to some computer programmer's way.

 

dcarch

 

 

[Shel_B]

 

4. I don't want any appliance to force me to cook my food according to some computer programmer's way.

 

 

 

Seems like you have an option ....

 

Smart Recipes

 

Follow rich, step-by-step video recipes authored by master chefs. You can even modify existing recipes, or write your own.

[rotuts]

nope

 

get the CSB  and enjoy it

 

find it at 180 or so

 

best item you can work with.

 

just saying

[dcarch]

Seems like you have an option ....

 

Smart Recipes

 

Follow rich, step-by-step video recipes authored by master chefs. You can even modify existing recipes, or write your own.

 

Exactly.

 

That's why I don't want to have to pay for all the other  "smarty" features they invested in making this product. 

 

I need a dumb oven with a good thermometer. Nothing more. No built-in recipes please.

 

dcarch

[Deryn]

Apparently the people who started this company have friends in high places. There is an article about them on Forbes: http://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelwolf/2015/06/09/former-path-execs-launch-smart-kitchen-startup-to-try-and-reinvent-the-oven/ Link was found courtesy of Drudge - so they are creating a lot of buzz this week.

 

Lots of folksy stuff - like answers to questions like why did they add a knob? ... asked when someone commented that the oven looked like the 'love child of a toaster oven and a 3D printer'.

Edited June 10, 2015 by Deryn (log)

[gfweb]

Just read the Forbes article. What a crazy toaster oven! They going to sell it to the AirForce? At 3k that's the only customer.

And as said above there are lots of pointless features.

And it's small. Looks like 1/4 sheet pan at best.

And no steam.

The Breville Smart Oven would kick its ass for <1/10 the price

[scott123]

They going to sell it to the AirForce? At 3k that's the only customer.

 

Oh, no, $3K is way too cheap for the Air Force. They're probably buying ovens at $20K a pop.  And most likely buying hundreds more than they'll ever need, because the company that builds them has a Senator in their pocket who sits on the armed services appropriations committee.

[dcarch]

"---heating elements in the June are made up of carbon fiber and, according to Bhogal, go from room to target temperature in 2-3 seconds. The end result is a user of the June oven can put something in the oven and skip preheating.---"

 

Skip preheating? The interior temperature of an oven is mostly a function of the thermal mass of the construction, not that much the mass of the heating element, unless you are using the broiler feature which is heating by IR.

 

What am I missing here? 

 

I am steamed! They are not being truthful.

 

dcarch

 

Actually, why not let your oven do everything? So many cars can park themselves. Everyone is racing to make cars which can drive themselves on highways.

Edited June 10, 2015 by dcarch (log)

[gfweb]

They aren't being untruthful. They are revealing how little they understand.

[Deryn]

Another article - this time from Fox News - announcing the pre-orders that start today - $1500 ... $95 deposit - to be delivered (maybe) in time for next Easter - with programming for only 15 different food types (whatever that means). If marketing hype can sell a product that is still partially vapour-ware (in my estimation) .. these guys will prove it. Will be interesting to watch - from afar.

 

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2015/06/12/this-super-smart-oven-wont-screw-up-dinner/

[gfweb]

Publicist at work here. They are spending some money launching this thing

[Shalmanese]

The roast chicken in the demo video is laughably fake. She takes a perfectly browned chicken out of the oven, nestled among completely raw rosemary and obviously skillet charred lemons and garlic. Also, it's carefully staged to not show you the underside of the chicken, which would be pale and flabby nestled among the vegetables. You also don't see the signature ridge of undercooked skin between the thighs and the body which is characteristic of roast chicken. I'd wager the chicken was actually cooked with a heat gun and had never spent time in an actual oven.

[Tjex]

This is some serious money for a seriously inadequate oven! Do I really need a oven to tell me that I'm putting steak into it? So glad it did though, I thought it was chicken breast I was going to eat tonight.

The internal probe is a nice feature, so are the two fans (though one needs to wonder in such a small oven, if two are really needed). The max 450F baking temp is not hot enough btw.

Edited June 14, 2015 by Tjex (log)

[dcarch]

From their WEB site:

 

" Six Carbon Fiber Heating Elements Achieve superior roast, toast, and broil results with Instant-On elements that are 30% more energy-efficient than traditional designs."

 

But their diagram shows 4 heating elements. 

 

30% more efficient? Isn't that against the law of conservation of energy in physics? By definition, as I understand, all electric resistive heating are 100% efficient. The one way to go beyond 100% efficiency is thru the use of heat pump cycle in refrigeration systems.

 

dcarch

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Perhaps if one includes preheating times?  Though I admit it sounds like a disaster, myself.