Help Me Figure Out My Tiny Apartment-Sized Oven

Faith Durand
Faith DurandSVP of Content
Faith is the SVP of Content at Apartment Therapy Media and Editor-in-Chief of Kitchn, and the author of three cookbooks, including the James Beard Award-winning The Kitchn Cookbook. She lives in Columbus, Ohio, with her husband and two daughters.
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published Oct 11, 2010
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Q: I recently took a small studio apartment in order to save some money. It works pretty nicely, but I’m having issues with the apartment-sized oven: the heating elements are so large relative to the rest of the oven that everything I baked is sizzling to a crisp on the bottom way before it’s cooked through! In fact, my baking sheet is starting to get discolored on the bottom.

Sent by Jon

Editor: Jon, we would definitely recommend that you get an oven thermometer; it sounds like your oven may also be overheating quickly (a common problem in small ovens — we have a small oven too and the temperature is always way over where it should be).

• Best Product: Sunbeam Oven Thermometer

If you can see what your oven is heating up at then you can adjust accordingly — lowering the temperature is a good place to start. We would also suggest investing in some good heavy-duty baking sheets, like the ones you find at a restaurant supply store — they will distribute the heat more evenly.

Any more tips for Jon and his over-active oven?

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Related: Stay Cool! Make Your Oven Work Double Time

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