Gaggenau Lift Oven

Every time you open the oven door, some heat escapes. This is one of the many reasons that baking times can vary from person-to-person for the same recipe, as there is no telling from a writer’s standpoint how long a person will leave his or her oven door open while trying to fit in cake pans and baking sheets. Kitchen manufacturer Gaggenau has come up with an absolutely gorgeous oven that tries to solve this problem. The Lift Oven is built to utilize the fact that heat rises and, instead of having a door that opens on the front of the oven, it has a base that lowers to open and raises to close – leaving the hot air in the preheated oven above. Better yet, the manufacturer suggests mounting this oven above the counter, so the platform comes down to your level for loading and unloading and completely eliminating the need to bend down or to reach into a hot oven.

The oven opens and closes at the touch of a button, and Gaggenau says that it has 11 different heating methods, including a convection setting. It also has a glass-ceramic base, which you can put cookies, breads, pizzas and other baked goods on – no baking sheet required. The only real drawbacks are the the oven is only 24 inches (many out there are larger, so it might not be idea for very large roasts, etc.) and it costs over $4,000. That said, there are plenty of ovens that are even more expensive, and this is still a great looking oven, not to mention an addition I certainly wouldn’t mind having in my kitchen.