Industrial Oven with or without Steam?
Steam is one of the most important differences between professional ovens.
A combi oven combines hot air and steam and can therefore be used for a wide variety of tasks such as roasting, baking, steaming, regeneration, and slow cooking. This makes the combi oven particularly suitable as the primary oven in restaurants, canteens, and catering kitchens.
For simpler baking and bake-off, an oven without active steam production may suffice. Some professional baking ovens also have the option of humidity addition without being actual combi ovens. However, if you are baking sourdough bread, for example, you will need an oven with steam.
The choice therefore depends on the production. If you work with many different dishes and cooking methods, steam typically provides much greater flexibility.
See our industrial ovens with steam if steam is a requirement for your new oven.
Which Size Industrial Oven Should I Choose?
The capacity of an industrial oven is usually indicated by the number of trays or "slots". For professional kitchens, GN 1/1 (53x32.5 cm) is one of the most widely used formats, while 60 × 40 cm is especially used for baking.
A smaller cafe or restaurant can often manage with a compact oven with 5-7 slots, while kitchens with larger production may need 10, 20, or more slots.
However, it is not only the number of trays that determines the necessary capacity. If the entire production takes place within a few hours, the need may be significantly greater than in a kitchen where the same amount of food is produced over an entire working day. For example, a catering company that prepares lunch arrangements is busy between 7 and 10 AM and needs one or more ovens with 20 slots, but an à la carte restaurant prepares a lot in the hours before serving and then regenerates during service. Here, 5 slots are often enough.
We therefore recommend dimensioning the oven according to peak production rather than solely considering the total daily production.
GN 1/1 or 60×40 cm?
If you produce both food and baked goods, there are oven solutions where both formats can be used. This may be relevant for cafes, hotels, and smaller bakeries with both food production and baking. Contact us if you have this need!
UNOX Industrial Ovens
Cosina specializes in professional ovens from UNOX, and we carry a wide selection of their oven series for both gastronomy and baking.
For restaurants, canteens, and catering, we primarily work with UNOX CHEFTOP, while BAKERTOP is developed for professional baking.
For smaller production and bake-off, there is, among others, BAKERLUX SHOP.Pro, while UNOX's speed ovens are developed for places where individual portions need to be prepared in a very short time. Here we can mention SPEED-X for larger needs and SPEED.Compact for smaller needs.
The difference between the models is not just about size. Features such as automatic washing, steam control, programs, sensors, and user interface vary between the series.
Therefore, we do not necessarily recommend the most advanced UNOX oven to all customers.
The goal is to find the model that suits the production and how employees actually use the oven.
