The Wonder Oven Pro is the original Wonder Pro's cooler, more sophisticated older sister. Our Place/Zooey Liao/CNET One drawback of living in an apartment or a home with a smaller kitchen is how unbelievably hot it can get inside when you turn the oven on. And when I think about sweating while cooking, well, to be frank, it makes me want to order takeout. But I've found a solution: use a multipurpose toaster oven instead.You may wonder whether a small convection oven can handle the workload of a full-size oven, and after testing the brand-new Wonder Oven Pro for several weeks, I'm here to tell you it can. Here's everything to know about my new favorite cooking companion, including what it does well and where the new model still has room for improvement. The Wonder Oven Pro's multiple modes Before the Wonder Oven Pro graced my countertops, my go-to cooking appliance was my beloved air fryer. Throughout the years, it has perfectly crisped up chickpeas, made mouthwatering chicken wings and even made me love Brussels sprouts. Now, though, I've tried all of my go-to air fryer recipes in the Wonder Oven Pro, and… It nailed them. It can also hold more than my current air fryer, which means I can make a pound of chicken wings in one round rather than in batches, and they turn out just as delicious. I made these buffalo chicken wings the exact same way as I do in my air fryer Corin Cesaric/CNETNow, I'm not saying I've chucked my air fryer out the window (nor will I ever…) but the Wonder Oven Pro's air fryer mode impressed me, along with a handful of others. In addition to air fryer mode, the Wonder Oven Pro has seven additional modes: bake, roast, toast, broil, dehydrate, proof and reheat, which makes it especially useful in the kitchen. The bake and roast modes are the main reasons I have rarely turned my oven on in the past month. It also has a steam infusion element, similar to the one in this smaller toaster oven we tested this fall, which is less commonly found in toaster ovens and even perfectly toasted toast on the front and back of the bread. Building on the success of the original Wonder Oven The Wonder Oven Pro is essentially a larger and more advanced version of the original Wonder Oven. It features two additional modes (proof and dehydrate) and allows more accurate temperature control with its digital display. Despite the changes, it still kept the aesthetic design that Our Place has become known for. The original Wonder Oven was previously chosen by CNET as the best air-frying toaster oven. The Wonder Oven Pro is 13.25" D x 16.75" W x 13" H, while the original Wonder Oven is 10.06" D x 11.5" W x 11.6" H. Corin Cesaric/CNETThe Wonder Oven Pro costs $325 while the original Wonder Oven is $185. However, both ovens are currently on sale for Black Friday. Cooking steak, fruit roll-ups, pizza and more in the Wonder Oven ProI wanted to test the oven out in its various modes, so I started with a couple of recipes from Our Place's website. My favorite meal I've made so far is a reverse-seared steak. It was incredibly easy to make but is one of those main courses that looks like you put an exponential amount of effort into it. After roasting the steak in the air fryer basket for 30 minutes, I seared it in a pan on the stovetop for about two minutes, and it was done. Corin Cesaric/CNETI also roasted Brussels sprouts, dehydrated a fruit mixture to make fruit roll-ups and baked pizza, potatoes, empanadas and more. The Wonder Oven Pro comes with a bake pan, air fryer basket, two wire racks and a crumb tray. And speaking of the bake pan, it is my favorite non-stick pan to date. It is incredibly easy to clean, a great size and no oil is necessary to ensure your food doesn't stick. From pizza to sweet potatoes, everything slid off this pan with ease. When it comes to the oven's various uses, I think the dehydration mode, in particular, makes it stand out from its competitors. I made the fruit rollups twice (once when I overcooked them and made something that tasted more like hard candy) and was delighted by the sweet results. I'm looking forward to making dehydrated fruit next to add to granola. While this oven does work fast, the air fry, bake, broil and reheat modes all do require preheating before the timer begins, so keep that in mind when calculating how long a meal may take to cook. I recommend waiting until the preheat is completely finished before placing your dish in the oven to avoid overcooking. Toast, proof and dehydrate do not preheat. The Wonder Oven Pro can heat up to 450 degrees Fahrenheit, which is great for most recipes, but if you need to broil that Thanksgiving mac and cheese at 500 degrees Fahrenheit, you will still need to turn to your wall oven for that one. Are there any downsides to the Wonder Oven Pro?Alas, nothing is perfect, and the Wonder Oven Pro still has a couple of quirks worth mentioning. The biggest and most noteworthy is that it is slightly more intensive to clean than a traditional air fryer.The air fryer basket that comes with the Wonder Oven Pro is designed with small holes, so if you accidentally forget to use the bake pan underneath it, food will drip onto the bottom of the oven. Now this isn't a huge deal since the large crumb tray is removable and easy to clean too, but the drippings could hit the heating elements, resulting in a larger and more difficult mess to clean (or at the very least, a stronger smell when the air fryer is in use while those bits burn off.) As long as you always remember to use your bake pan in tandem with your air fryer basket, you'll be golden. The same applies when you need to remove the air fryer basket to flip food. You will also want to pull out the bake pan to avoid a mess on the door of the oven. All of the pans included with the Wonder Oven Pro are quite easy to clean, but the air fryer basket is a bit more challenging due to the small holes. If you want to make clean up as easy as possible, you can lay foil down when you are cooking something especially messy like anything with a sticky sauce or thick coating. Roast mode made tasty Brussels sprouts. Corin Cesaric/CNETThe Wonder Oven Pro comes in five different colors: blue salt, pistachio, char, cream and stainless steel. I tested out char, and the matte finish is sharp and matches almost anything, but it does show greasy fingerprints a bit, but those too were extremely easy to wipe off. Is the Wonder Oven Pro right for everyone? The Wonder Oven Pro even did the heavy lifting when it came to making pizza. Corin Cesaric/CNETIf you're a frequent home cook or someone who wants to cut down on using your large oven, I think this is a worthy addition to your kitchen counter. It's not bulky per se, but it does have a decent footprint, though, so if you don't have any countertop space to spare, you may be better off going with the smaller, original Wonder Oven. But if you want maximum cooking modes and an appliance that can help you declutter your single-use appliances, this is a great and stylish option that cooks appetizers, sides and full meals just as good, if not better – and faster – than my wall oven. See at Our PlaceSee at Crate & Barrel
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