Ambiano (ALDI) Countertop Convection Oven Review
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- čas přidán 27. 08. 2024
- Originally recorded January 21, 2018.
This is a review of the Ambiano (ALDI) Countertop Convection Oven. This will replace your existing toaster oven, and it does so much more. It's huge, so you need to make sure you have enough counter space for it. Other than that, it's got simple, all-mechanical controls, 4 heating elements, a convection fan, 2 wire racks, a baking tray, rotisserie spit rod assembly and remover, as well as a handle for the wire racks.
For anyone who wants to use one of these for baking, this is what I noticed and how I dealt with it. The "Bake" setting only turns on the bottom heating element and the units fan doesn't seem to do a whole lot to circulate the air so you get even temperatures all around. If you end up doing cookies in the unit, you will have the bottoms burnt (even at lower temperatures) before the tops of the cookies are done. That means in "Bake" mode it is more like trying to bake on a stove.
My way to fix the issue is to always use "Toast" mode instead. I've baked cookies and cornbread on the "Toast" setting with perfect results.
I haven't done cookies in mine, but I did have some stuffed peppers I needed to reheat and decided to use it. I tried the Bake setting, but it took almost 45 minutes to reheat these peppers, which was completely unacceptable. What they did in this oven, since you can only pull about 13 amps continuously, was made each heating element about 400 watts, 3 and change amps. So with only 800 watts of cooking power, it's just not enough. Turning it to toast turns the top 2 elements on along with it, 1600 watts, close enough for rough math, and gives you a lot faster heating and cooking. I agree, it should for the most part, be left on the Toast function pretty much all the time. I actually used mine this morning, had 2 bagels to toast and 3 corn muffins to toast. Put the corn muffins on the bottom rack and the bagels on top. It worked quite well, and everything was completely done, start to finish, from completely cold (not preheated at all) to done in under 10 minutes.
I bought them yesterday,but I was not familiar with this type of oven.suddenly I saw ur video.thank u very much
You're welcome.
Just brought one home today and found your video. (easier than reading the booklet : )) It was in the clearance bin, I paid $34 for it. Not sure if that was the original price or not but I'm sure that I'll be very happy with it. There are only two of us and I hate heating the whole house with the oven in the summer. Thank you for your great review : )
Thanks very much for watching. I tried to cover all the details. $35 is what I paid, but seriously, look at what you got for that price! It can't change the world for that price, but it can make the world better one piece of toast at a time!
I saw this at my local Aldi but decided to pass on it until I could find a review. I happen to find yours and watched it. I bought this today.🤔🌞👍
I am currently standing outside, and letting whatever chemicals are inside of it burn off, before I bring it inside to use it. Thank you for the suggestion, because when I first turned it on and then I opened it , a puff of smoke came out! I was waiting for Cheech and Chong to pop out too, but they didn't. 😜
😄 🚬
Excellent review very helpful! Thank you!👍☺
Thanks very much! Yeah, I let mine burn off for a while also, once you do that, everything's good. GREAT idea to do that outside. Enjoy!
For $37 bucks you cant go wrong, I really like it. I did a baked potato at 450 for 50 mins, came out perfect, nice and crispy on the outside and soft inside. I used turn my oven to 500 degrees and that would heat the whole house and being single I dont need a big oven, this great with the rotessie also, i cant wait until i pick up some whole chickens, great buy and 50 to 75% cheaper then anything out there and bigger then most anything also! Its a great buy!
I fully agree, I enjoy using mine every time!
I par bake potatoes in the microwave then finish off in the oven ..same come out ..in 20 mins because I like my potatoes like you
Just bought one to tide us over while our kitchen is being done but it has a hob on the top with 2 places for frying ,boiling etc . Its called Ambiano Mini Oven with Hob 260 - 3000w . Trays & shelf included ,Well worth the money paid In Aldi Right now 2/20/18.
Hi JayKay18 I have a couple questions but first, I gave a hearty Thumbs Up!! Over all a really good product demo, would have added more value to the video to have shown how well it handles average frozen pizzas with ease to show it really has a good depth inside as advertised, with a follow up to how well and evenly it cooks. We purchased this one to replace a smaller Black & Decker that barely held more than toast and similar small items but have not yet used it until I get an answer to these two questions. 1. The fan it has while super quite does not seem to promote much if any air flow, when holding my hand near the fan area with no noticeable air flow detected at all (This was done on the first 30 seconds to avoid hot elements and possibly being burned of course) while the same test on our older smaller one had a very brisk and noticeable air flow, fan noise was a bit noisey but it produced 100% noticeable air flow compared to this new one. I first tried taping a small strip of toilet paper over the vent area and it did not move at all! That said the fan visibly does come on and spin however, Have you been able to detect any air flow with yours? 2. Have you done much if any cooking with yours yet and noticed if it cooks evenly or has any bad hot spots due to poor air flow if the fan is truly like this on all units and possibly insufficient? Any comments and replies from you or other readers to these two questions would be greatly appreciated. Thank You.
Thanks Paul! I'll be happy to cook some frozen pizzas if you send some my way ;-)
Actually, I can answer your questions. Yes, the fan doesn't seem to move much air, yet it spins. First and foremost it may be temperature dependent; there may be some sensor that can tell when the oven gets hotter and raises the fan speed, but I cannot verify that and am only speculating.
Regardless, I can tell you that there are 4 heating elements as you know, they are all symmetrically placed so that in and of itself will afford even cooking. The convection fan doesn't need to be strong, and in fact you don't really want very strong airflow. Remember the oven is not airtight so heat will leak outside by cracks around the glass door, cabinet sides, etc. Stronger airflow would actually cool the elements and make it take longer to cook.
Case in point: I have a powerful blower from Harbor Freight. They sell a heating attachment for it. I purchased that as well. Their website has hundred upon hundreds of people bashing the product stating the heat output is lukewarm at best. Now let's think for a second--really hot element, then blow a VERY strong current of air over it. What happens? The element cools off. You're still using the 1000 watts of power, but there is only lukewarm air coming out, and that's a function of the design. You're getting your 1000 watts of heat coming out as electric heating is 100% efficient, but you're cooling it off with a strong stream of air. Doubly so if it's in a cold garage, now you're blowing a strong stream of COLD air over it. That's why it's lukewarm. It will heat up an area, but will take longer because the output temperature isn't very high.
So a stronger fan will make your food take longer to cook, and that would be a deal breaker since everyone's always in such a rush these days. A small current of air is really enough to circulate the hot air around.
With that said, I have toasted 4 English muffins at the same time, 2 on the top rack and 2 on the bottom rack at the same time. On the toast setting the convection fan runs. I'd recommend putting the ones on the bottom rack facing inside-down, that is, the inside of the muffin should face down, while the ones on the top rack face up. I did that, and it was really evenly done all around. Quite impressed. That's all I've tossed in there so far. Mainly going to be used for toast for me, it's not often I cook other stuff in a toaster oven because we usually cook larger portions.
I purchased this over a year ago. We were in the middle of a remodel so it stayed in the garage in the box. When I finally opened to use it it was over the return date. I have to say I have not been impressed at all. Did not come with the rotisserie fork. Burns everything I cook in it. Only use it for making toast now to avoid burnt food. A disappointment especially considering how much space it occupies without being an air fryer too.
Air fryers are nonsense. They're nothing more than this with a heftier price tag. The year I recorded this, they included the rotisserie fork, in later years they stopped including it. As for burning food, that can easily be adjusted by paying better mind to it while cooking, and/or adjusting your time and temperature settings. Any, and I mean ANY new appliance has a bit of a learning curve.
Caution: This oven gets very hot on the top! It has zero insulation there, so don't box it in or leave things on top of it. For break-in, I ran mine on Toast for 20 minutes as recommended to engage all heating elements and burn off residues. Smoke did indeed billow out of the vents, mostly at the top back vents, but that's only for a short duration, not 20 minutes. It doesn't stink much and you can do it inside, unless you live with one of those "candies" who simply can't stand any odors whatsoever. The odor dissipated fast. This oven seems like a decent buy for only $35. Has a 3 year warranty, too, so save your receipt. Thanks for the review. I had grabbed this the first day the local Aldi set them out and had it riding around in my truck until today. lol I think a 12" pizza will fit, but you'd have to place the pizza(s) directly onto the rack(s) or use something like a cookie sheet that is small enough to fit. There are comments on WalMart for Hamilton Beach model # 31101 that two pizzas bake in a bout 15 minutes and need to be swapped around because the top one has top baked first, and bottom one has the crust baked better. That review said one pizza by itself bakes in 12 minutes. I'm mentioning that since it's very likely to be true with this one, maybe truer if the convection isn't as strong as the HB's. I bought this Ambiana oven to use as-needed as a 2nd oven, or to cook smaller dishes in summer to avoid heating up the kitchen as much as the range does. I'd been looking at the Walmart HB # 31101 and also some Oster and Black and Decker refurbs at Ollie's when this $35 deal cropped up. Figured if this one doesn't last, it has a 3 year warranty and probably money back on the failed unit.
Thanks. Yes, it gets hot on top, as just as any other toaster oven I've ever owned. I've heard that about the pizzas as well. You do want to swap them around if you're doing 2. The reason is that top elements act as a broiler, bottom ones act as an oven. And on the toast setting, both sets of elements are on. When I do English muffins, I place the ones on the top rack face up, and the ones on the bottom rack face down. Even browning all across the board.
When I first started going to Aldi, I passed up a number of their appliances. Once day I decided to try one (I forget which one it is). It was excellent. Now when there's a new gadget, I don't hesitate, it goes right in the cart. I often will go there ahead of time since my store has a habit of putting next week's items out early, and if they don't have it I'll go back every day until they do. It's close enough, gets me out of the house, and the price is always right. With a warranty that is unsurpassed by any other brand, it's a slam dunk. I have had one or two items not work out of the box, and they returned them immediately without question or complaint.
Seems it's a yearly offering, my Aldi previews ad has this oven for $50. Thanks for the review it was very help. How has your oven held up?
Yes, that's correct, most of their offerings like this show up once a year for about a week. Grab it while you can. My oven works like day one, still perfect in every way.
ours worked great for about a year, then the performance dropped off. It would never get above 300 degrees. Got rid of it about 6 months ago. That was the 3rd or 4th Ambiano appliance we got and they were all eventually disappointing. I would only get another appliance from Aldi if it was something I would only use occasionally, sort of like a tool from Harbor Freight.
@@stevewanke7761 I ended up taking mine back after discovering there's little to no "air" happening in this AirFryer, it's more of toaster oven. It was very disappointing, but Aldi's finders are hit or miss like that. We ended up spending the $$ on the Ninja Foodi AirFryer that flips up to save counter space when you're not using it and it is hands down the most used appliance in our kitchen! I highly recommend it.
We just bought the 2020 version on closeout for $34.99. I hope it equals the Ambiano Induction Cooker we bought from Aldi's two years ago and gets used 3 to 5 times a week.
An induction cooker works on different principles. This is an oven, just like the traditional one in your kitchen.
@@jaykay18 What I meant was I hope it is durable and actually continues to operate for the same number of uses as the induction cooker. We have had to return multiple items to Aldi's in the past when they lasted less than a month.
Mine has been in service since I got it, January 2018. Never had a problem with it, or any other Aldi product actually. You may have had some bad luck, all of the ones I've ever purchased have been great.
@@jaykay18 Thanks. I really want this baby to last a long time, because I waited 6 weeks for it to drop 30% on closeout when I estimated that neither of the two Aldi's near our house would sell their allotments. We have a real need to use it at our lake cabin.
Sure, no problem. This is a fairly simple item, there are 4 heating elements and a fan. Not much to go wrong.
Welp, as I always comment while I watch, I was typing out "hey we have the same thing branded as Farberware." Then I heard you at the end..LOL. Fun fact: Ours has the rotissiere *function,* but not the *setting.* No tools or rack came with ours, either. The little motor and everything is in place just like on yours with the rack removed, but no setting to turn it to.
So the rotisserie motor runs all the time when it's on?
Nope, doesn't turn at all.
Derp? Is there actually a motor in there or just the thingamajobber to put the spit rod into?
I think the whole mechanism is in there. I'll dig it out tomorrow and check.
Ha! Might as well wire it up just because then!
I have a more basic oven of the same size, with duel racks, very nice and very handy to have around.
I missed out on this when it first came out 2 years ago. Then I missed out last year. This year I started going to Aldi every day to ensure I wouldn't miss out. I've yet to make anything in it, but look forward to that.
Hmmm - I just bought this yesterday - no big fork for removing the rotisserie nor any mention of it in the manual
(although I doubt I'll use that feature, it would have been good to have it).
That's why it's always a great idea to read the video description, which clearly states on the first line that this video was recorded a year ago. This unit came on sale again now, a year later, so it seems they have omitted that item.
Hi Valerie, have you baked anything in it yet? I just got mine too a few days ago and tried it out yesterday. My cookies were all burned on the bottom despite trying lowering the temperature, same result. Will be returning mine. Had high hopes in it, most Ambiano products are actually great, especially considering the prices. Maybe I just got a bad egg...
I just picked one of these up at ALDI and I can only say so far that canned biscuits and this oven are not friends. It burns the bottom and the top still looks raw. I followed the instructions and even used parchment paper on the baking pan. Hopefully other things bake better.
If you had the pan at the bottom of the oven, that will clearly explain it. Also, if it were not thoroughly preheated (15-20 minutes), that will also cause that.
@@jaykay18 I'm going to experiment with the preheat but I put the tray in the middle of the oven.
I just purchased one last week ..states up to 12 in Pizza but that's not so, 12 inches of anything in there and the door doesn't close...I will be calling support tomorrow
It does fit pizzas of 12 inches, for very small values of 12. I'm sure they're not going to have a solution for you, I'd either chalk it up to "not possible" and live with it, or just bring it back.
center back
Like I said, it fits for extremely small values of 12. You got me curious so I measured mine, which I bought a year ago (thinking there may have been a change in the year that has passed, and you're right, it's 11.5 inches.
I also have one of those Ronco "Set It And Forget It" Rotisseries. They claim it fits up to a 15 pound turkey. It sure does, as long as your turkey doesn't exceed 12 pounds.
@@jaykay18 ok thanks I didn't understand "small value" ...for I make my own pizza's
No problem. "Small values of 12" is a take on "2+2=5 for extremely large values of 2", introduced by rounding up.
This is great 10/10 I love it
Great, you found a friend!
That's a nice one. QVC had the Oster Digital French Door model as a TSV yesterday for $129.
Amazon sells it for $245. ( I think QVC sold about 10,000 of them in 24 hours =))
Wow. That whole French Door thing is just a gimmick. It does nothing. And that thing doesn't even have the rotisserie function for what it's worth. This thing was 35 bucks. Have a nice day!
I want to buy it, but my concern is about the beep, my dog is very sensitive to this type of noise, do you know if I can turn it off? Thank
Beep? That's more like a "ding" from a bell, because that's what it is, a mechanical timer. Can it be disabled? Sure, but you're going to have a lot to take apart and need a great knowledge of mechanical things.
Aldi has these in the preview flyer for $49.99...any thoughts on if they may reduce the price the week after? Or more likely they would sell out and I'd be out of luck. We have an old Toastmaster conv oven that has seen its better days. I see vent holes for a fan in it but not sure anything is blowing out of it. Do all models have this and operate that way? How does this fan compare to today's air fryers? I bake Aldi pizzas all the time and I measure 12.5 inches front to back so I would hope they work well in this model.
Chances are very good they'll sell out, or if convenient, drop in each day and see how many are left. People grab these things up quick.
There is indeed a fan in it but it's not the whipping wind you'd hear in an air fryer. Air fryers are nothing more than high speed convection ovens, essentially a broiler with a fan; "air fryer" is a marketing term as it never actually fries anything, oil or no oil. It broils.
This is a toaster oven. Airflow is weak, but enough for what it is to ensure the air is moving to avoid hot and cold spots. Also you must bear in mind that it works more like a conventional oven in that there's a large area inside that must be heated first (preheated), and that will take some time, just like a conventional oven. The same goes for air fryers and their counterpart more expensive countertop ovens, they should all be preheated. Also, there's only so much heat you'll be able to produce from an electrical outlet, the wires can't carry enough current, that's why electric conventional ovens are hard-wired, or use 240 volts with much higher current-capacity carrying wires.
Don't know if it will fit an Aldi pizza, never bought one of them, though I do buy their frozen ones and I put those in my regular oven.
Can you add wood chips in the bottom of ambiano toaster oven when using the rotisserie part
If you want to smoke-damage your house, yes. THINK ABOUT IT.
Hi there I have the same oven that you have but the only problem that I have I bake and the bottom of my pan gets burm do you know I put it on 350 for bananas bread tell me what iam doing wrong thaks
Perhaps the pan is on too low of a rack? You can also try baking on the "toast" setting, that turns all 4 elements on. May have to bake for less time that way.
What's biggest chicken you can fit with rotisserie attachment?
Not very. If you remember a number of years ago when they had that other rotisserie on TV, that "set it and forget it" one, they also lied about the capacity. That rotisserie claimed it would fit up to a 15lb turkey, but that was on a good day with the wind just right. You were better off putting in a 10, as that would fit comfortably. Don't overload it, keep your chickens as small as possible.
Great video! Thanks! Please tell me, does the interior of oven have non-stick surfaces?
It's steel just as you see. No non-stick coating. Honestly, I've never seen a toaster that even has that, nor would I want that. As long as you're not cooking on the side walls of it, it shouldn't be a problem. For rotisserie spatter, yes, there will be some. All you have to do is clean it after use, and it will last. If stuff really gets baked/burnt on, you can use good old steel wool and take it out.
Thanks! Exactly the answer I wanted. I definitely do NOT want non-stick coatings, due to health concerns. All the higher end models (Oster, KitchenAid, etc.) have non-stick coatings. I love Aldi!
Great, thanks! Enjoy!
Hi! Thank you for this review. I just purchased one today. The fan is EXTREMELY quiet. As in, too quiet. I can see it turning. Can you hear yours as it runs?
Thanks Paulette! Same here, the fan is super-quiet and can't really be heard running; I can just see it turning.
Thanks!
Happy to help!
i have this and i love it but i used oven cleaner on it and made a mess so i throw away the trays thinking a pain the butt to clean but then i started to clean the over and it came out nice and now i have no trays , where can i order new ones or anyone have an idea
Measure the inside, then look on Amazon or ebay, search for "toaster oven trays" or possibly "air fryer oven trays". Make sure to check the dimensions carefully against yours. Must be an exact fit, it can't be off 1/4 of an inch and you'll hope to squeeze it in.
What’s the best way to keep it clean ?
Not use it? Apart from that, if you're cooking things that splatter, consider covering them with foil. Or you could try covering the bottom with foil if things boil over. Other than that, it's like a regular oven, you just have to clean it regularly.
Is this too Airfryer?
It's a countertop convection oven, like the title says. "Air fryer" is a technology buzzword.
Can you tell me the dimensions of the inside of the oven and the baking pan. I am thinking about getting this as a cheap way to cook small whole chickens rather then having part get soggy from sitting in the pan. I also wouldn't mind if I could find a couple pans to fit it hints why I am asking about the size. Thanks in advance!
The baking pan is 13 1/4" x 10 1/4". That will fit in any of the 3 tiers, just like the racks. So, with the baking pan installed, which is approximately 3/4" deep, from the bottom "floor" of the baking pan to the bottom of the top elements is just about 6". Length and width inside the oven is that of the baking pan plus or minus maybe a 16th of an inch.
I believe the booklet for this states something like a 3 1/2 lb chicken is about what's going to fit on the rotisserie spit. That's not very big. However, you can fit a larger chicken in if you place it on the lower rack. I have one of those "halogen cooker" ovens with the big glass bowl and I do chickens in there all the time. It has a bottom rack just like this does, and the heat is only at the top. The trick is to start breast side down for half the time, then flip halfway through. Aldi does have those halogen ovens, once a year, for a week. I have a different brand called Fagor, you can search my channel using that term and see me cook a chicken in it. That may be a better "fit" for what you're doing. Or, one of those Ronco rotisseries, have one of those as well, does an excellent job.
How many watts does the unit use?
1500 watts.
How about the watts.
1500 watts, as you can see on the box at the start of this video.
How many litres is it?
The formula is 1 cu. ft. = 28.3168 L
The unit is 0.8 cu. ft., so that's 22.6535 L
Is it still working.😁
Of course it is, just used it today as a matter of fact.
My convection fan never worked.
Your loss, you should have brought it back right away for exchange or refund.
They lied in the advertising on the box, will not fit an average frozen pizza. Very disappointed.
Oh, it will. The difference is, their average is different from your average. Besides, this thing is big enough, I honestly don't know how much bigger people want these things. There's only 120 volts going to it, and it can only pull so much current because of that limitation.
@@jaykay18 i'm reading all these Q&As to decide if I wanna get 1, but all these folks cryin' about the pizza crack me up, just cut the frozen pizza in half...duh
Thanks Kim!!!
What kind of design moron decided I'm going to make this thing a half an inch too small to fit a pizza?
"Pizzas" are not units of measurement. They vary in size. Even if you got an 8" one, it's not 8". It could be 7 3/4, could be 8 1/4, and there's your half inch right there.
Can you make lasagna in this?
Absolutely.