Sharp countertop steam oven

[cdh]

Just noticed a (targeted facebook) ad for Sharp's countertop superheated steam oven.  Given how much love the Cuisinart gets around here, has anybody looked into this as potential competition?  Here's a link to the thing that the ad pointed to... though my ad link had it priced differently than what I found just searching for it just now. Must be some algorithmic shenanigans going on about figuring out how much people will pay for one.  Anyway, it looks like the sort of thing that we'd talk about around here... 

 

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/sharp-supersteam-steam-oven-stainless-steel/6288006.p?skuId=6288006

[ElsieD]

This does not appear to be available at Best Buy in Canada.  It seems the head space is rather small - only 4".  You cannot bake bread in it.  I have asked if it takes a 1/4 sheet pan.  When I get an answer, I'll update this post.  I have the CSO and love it, and it did not cost me $400 US.  For that price, I can buy 2 CSO's.  What is interesting is that a second portable steam oven is coming on the market.  Other manufacturers can't be far behind which will be s good thing.

 

Edited to add:  they did not answer my very simple question "will it fit a 1/4 sheet tray". Their response was to recommend using the trays that come with it.  I wrote a second note asking them to address the actual question.  I'll update the update when I get one.

Edited April 30, 2019 by ElsieD (log)

[Anna N]

I looked at the video for the Sharp and it tends to give you the impression that you can cook a chicken in there so you need to watch the video very carefully to realize that the chicken never goes into the oven and never comes out of the oven.  It just magically appears on the table.   At first glance this doesn’t hold a candle to the CSO.   But thanks for pointing it out even so.

 

[paulraphael]

46 minutes ago, Anna N said:

... the chicken never goes into the oven and never comes out of the oven.  It just magically appears on the table.  

 

Sounds like a feature, not a bug ... 😀

[blue_dolphin]

Last year, Jaden from Steamy Kitchen wrote up a review of this Sharp steam oven, including comparisons to the CSO with which she is familiar.   The Sharp has no steam-only setting and while the headspace is limited it appears to take up more counter space than then CSO.

 

1 hour ago, Anna N said:

I looked at the video for the Sharp and it tends to give you the impression that you can cook a chicken in there

 

1 hour ago, ElsieD said:

It seems the head space is rather small - only 4".  You cannot bake bread in it. 

 

Jaden agrees:

Quote

A drawback of the oven is height. There’s only 4″ of height available for your food. So back to my early convo about baking bread using steam….I could make dinner rolls, but wouldn’t be able to bake a loaf of bread in the oven. That also means a whole chicken would need to be spatchcocked or cut into pieces.

 

[thurbers]

If I've got the right video, I think that 'chicken' is supposed to be a turkey and there is a brief shot of the turkey in the big regular oven as they are taking the mushrooms or stuffing out of the Sharp.  The stuffing appears to be the maximum height that the oven would allow. Six cup muffin tin being the width. 

 

 

I do like the corporate sales speak "pizzeria style oven". 😲

[kayb]

It would have to go some to beat the CSO, in my book. I love that thing. If it were just a smidge bigger, it'd be perfect.

 

[ElsieD]

32 minutes ago, kayb said:

It would have to go some to beat the CSO, in my book. I love that thing. If it were just a smidge bigger, it'd be perfect.

 

 

If the Sharp people had done their due diligence i.e. read eGullet, they would have known what to improve on.

[btbyrd]

I started a thread on ChefSteps' forum telling them that they need to make a proper consumer countertop combi oven and sell it around this price point. I even did some due diligence for them and told them what to improve (mostly JUST MAKE IT BIGGER THAN THE CSO!). Cuisinart aren't going to do it, apparently. I bet that there's some stupid reason lurking behind Cuisinart's refusal, like the fact that making it take a quarter sheet pan would interfere with the ability to stack maximal units on pallets in shipping containers. At any rate, consumers want it. This Sharp thing isn't it. Too small. ChefSteps should make it. If they could look at the circulator and imagine Joule, I'm sure they should shrink a Rational combi down to size.

 

Give it a temperature probe, even. Optional wood smoke mode? I dunno... just dreaming.

[hongda]

Another video review.  Walks you through the setup, cooking Taro, chicken breast, and reheating pizza. 

 

 

[gfweb]

1 hour ago, btbyrd said:

I started a thread on ChefSteps' forum telling them that they need to make a proper consumer countertop combi oven and sell it around this price point. I even did some due diligence for them and told them what to improve (mostly JUST MAKE IT BIGGER THAN THE CSO!). Cuisinart aren't going to do it, apparently. I bet that there's some stupid reason lurking behind Cuisinart's refusal, like the fact that making it take a quarter sheet pan would interfere with the ability to stack maximal units on pallets in shipping containers. At any rate, consumers want it. This Sharp thing isn't it. Too small. ChefSteps should make it. If they could look at the circulator and imagine Joule, I'm sure they should shrink a Rational combi down to size.

 

Give it a temperature probe, even. Optional wood smoke mode? I dunno... just dreaming.

 

This whole steam oven development history mystifies me. How can a series of companies make the same mistakes, or in this case magnify the mistake made by Cuisinart?  Especially when you have a great example of what's needed in a Rational Combi. CSO is great, but it could be even better.

[ElsieD]

They still did not answer the very specific question  "will it fit a 1/4 sheet tray".  Instead, they once again recommended using the trays that come with the unit.  They did, however, give me the inside dimensions which are:

13.8" wide, 4.6" high and 14.1" diameter.

Edited May 1, 2019 by ElsieD (log)