Review of June Oven
1. June Oven
What We Like
- Identifies a large number of food types
- App features video recipe tutorials
- It allows users to build their own applications
What We Don’t Like
- Take care not to damage heating components.
- It costs a lot to upgrade.
- Android’s functionalities are behind those of iOS.
In short, the June Oven is a cutting-edge appliance that will change the way you look at the oven forever.
The second generation June Oven arrived at my house with a satisfying thump more than a year ago. I tested it extensively and wrote a review. It has been a fixture on my kitchen counter for the last 12 months, and I use it almost daily. Toasting tortillas and creating grilled cheese sandwiches are two of the most common daily activities it completes. When it’s not lunch, it’s supper. It’s held up, kept up to date, and is deserving of its place.
In 2021, June introduced their third-generation oven, which included improvements to existing features and addressed some of my complaints with the previous model. I, of course, put it to the test, putting the fresh June aside.
On the surface, both ovens seem to be exactly the same. Even after craning one’s neck, one must examine the inside to perceive the difference. The lack of a cover for the second-generation oven’s top heating components was its most serious issue. A number of users have broken pieces when cleaning them because of how easily they break. Those pesky components are now safely encased in metal bars, making it very difficult to mistakenly knock down.
I was excited to put the June Oven, in any of its two incarnations, through its paces because of the clever features it was said to have. This oven claims to be able to do it everything, from browning bread perfectly to providing comprehensive recipes with video instructions. To find out whether it was really brilliant or just clever, I made sure to have enough of staples on hand, such as English muffins, bread, veggies, proteins, and frozen goods. Here are the delectable conclusions:
Easy Setup was standard fare; I washed the accompanying attachments before my first usage. After I plugged it in, it guided me through the setup process and helped me link it to my Wi-Fi and other smart devices. Even though I seldom do so, having the option to have Alexa pre-heat the oven is a pleasant perk.
Structure: roomy without becoming cumbersome
The rounded curves and light gray surfaces of this very big countertop oven make it seem more diminutive than it really is. Maybe it’s because the controls weren’t placed on a panel across the width, freeing up internal room. I was relieved to find that my normal 9×13-inch pans (even those with handles) fit snuggly inside the oven after I ran some tests with them. When I was slow cooking some soup stock, I was able to fit my 3-quart Dutch oven with its lid, and if I had covered it with foil, I could have accommodated a bigger Dutch oven.
I baked both fresh and frozen pizzas to see how well they turned out on the new pizza setting on my third-generation oven. For making pizza, the new gourmet kit has a cast-iron grill/griddle and pizza peel. The pizzas’ crusts turned out perfectly crisp on the griddle, and the peel made it easy to remove them from the oven.
There is a control panel integrated in the door between two layers of glass, and the whole front of the oven is made of glass with a black border and a black handle running the length of the door. The interface is comparable in size and functionality to a modern mobile phone. The oven displays the time and date while it’s not being used, but when food is put inside, it tries to identify what’s being cooked and presents the corresponding menu.
Those with less skill in the oven will appreciate the decreased risk of disaster, while those with more expertise will appreciate the opportunity to delegate routine jobs to the appliance. I’ve had a lot of experience with that function, and I’m always impressed by how accurately it identifies items and how wisely it adjusts settings.
Among its features are a single rack that can be adjusted to one of three heights, a detachable crumb tray, two convection fans for even heating, and a port for the supplied probe thermometer. A baking/roasting sheet with rack is also included in the basic set. The tray’s exceptional nonstick qualities make it ideal for a wide range of baking applications, including but not limited to roasting vegetables, reheating, and baking bread and cookies. Two lights, one on each side of the camera, shine down from the oven’s ceiling, illuminating the inside and allowing you to view what’s baking.
Smart, efficient, and user-friendly performance
Insanely intelligent, this oven. This oven has a camera installed on the top of the cooking chamber and uses pattern recognition software to determine whether it is cooking a chicken or a steak. The fact that it can also count is even more astounding; it noticed that I had toasted two tortillas instead of one. Although warming a tortilla isn’t exactly rocket science, it is one of the many reasons why I like using my oven. When utilized, tortillas emerge out the appliance warm, malleable, and ready to be put to use.
The oven’s ability to identify what I was cooking amazed me more and more each day as I experimented with various recipes during the testing phase. It identified a full frozen pizza that required cooking, as well as pieces of pizza that required reheating, regardless of whether they were sliced into squares or wedges. Bagels, English muffins, and hamburger buns were all distinguished. It could toast anything from perfectly round bread to an oddly shaped sourdough piece.
It provides you two alternatives when it detects food, but in my experience the first one is typically the best. There were tater tots or cookies when I cooked cookies. I could put either white or wheat English muffins into the oven. Although it didn’t know what beets were, the oven suggested potatoes as a near substitute.
The rotisserie function, another addition to the third-generation oven, is strangely tucked away. Although the app has multiple recipes for rotisserie chicken, there is no option to choose rotisserie. This functionality may also be accessed in other ways. The oven detected a complete chicken when I inserted it and immediately began rotating the bird. Just so there’s no confusion, the food doesn’t rotate. However, the heating components cycle on and off to simulate the heating and cooling processes of a rotating bird. In the end, I had one of the finest roast chickens ever.
This oven’s cooking programs are often more involved than what most home chefs would attempt on their own, with many temperature and function adjustments occurring automatically during the cook. For optimal results when roasting, the asparagus cooking process begins with drying the surface. The pizza setting bakes the pie and then broils it so that the cheese becomes all melty and bubbling.
In the steak program, there are six predetermined processes that occur automatically depending on the desired doneness of the steak. While the steak was grilled to the perfect degree, it did set off the smoke alarm during the final broil. A little more crust would have been nice for me, too. However, it worked well for cooking on its own without supervision. Keep it close to the burner so the smoke may be expelled through the vent if you often use it for broiling foods.
The simplest dishes, which are sometimes the most spectacular, are the ones most vulnerable to being spoiled by a careless chef. Whether I was reheating pizza, ribs, or wings, the reheat feature quickly became a go-to. All of them reheat without being overcooked or dry. And the settings were simple enough that I could bake a cake at a custom time and temperature.
New cooks will like how it cuts down on mistakes in the kitchen, while seasoned chefs will enjoy turning over simple jobs to the oven, trying out new, entertaining video recipes, and programming their own unique meals.
App Performance
Currently, the iOS app has certain advantages over the Android app, but the firm is striving to close the gap between the two platforms and add new features to both the oven and the applications. The oven is compatible with Alexa devices in addition to Android and Apple. While I prefer utilizing the applications, I have found that Alexa control has its uses. For example, I have used it to preheat the oven before entering the kitchen and to inquire as to how much time was left on the cook.
When I turned off the oven remotely, I saw that June “tattled” by recording which device had done so on the control panel. That’s helpful if you have a crowded kitchen.
The software does more than simply regulate the oven; it provides three distinct visual representations of the cooking process’s development. Like an oven’s display, it indicates the current temperature and the remaining cooking time. An animated diagram of the heating components and the convection fans is shown on the dashboard. As a final touch, it broadcasts a real-time feed of the cooking process. Once the meal has been prepared, a time-lapse movie and the recipe may be seen in the history area.
There is no need to manually change the oven’s time or temperature since the video recipes in the app do all the work for you. I used the app to guide me through the steps of making air-fried chicken parmesan, from preheating the oven as I prepared the chicken to knowing when to flip the chicken and add the zucchini and when to top the dish with sauce and cheese. Every time I put food back in the oven, it brought the oven up to the ideal temperature. This method yielded a dish that was both delicious and well prepared.
Available a lot of the features
Programs, Bake, Roast, Slow Cook, Proof, Broil, Toast, Air Fry, Dehydrate, Reheat, and Keep Warm are the options for cooking on the control panel. Complete Foods (which may be relocated to the Programs menu), Devices, Cleaning, and Settings make up the last screen. It’s excellent that the oven has dehydrating and slow cooking options even if the chef doesn’t believe they’ll ever use them; there’s always a possibility that they’ll be called for in a program or an app recipe.
If you want to learn more, the Programs menu offers alternatives for preparing various things, such as vegetables, fish, frozen cuisine, and those spectacular leftovers. There is no need for a program if you only want to run it based on the current task, the current time, and the current temperature.
The “nearly ready” notification was a nice touch. My bagel was ready to be removed from the oven a few minutes before the timer went off, so I didn’t have to wait for the beep. If you don’t want the function, you can disable it.
The cooking recommendations, which tell you things like where on the rack to put the dish and when to insert the temperature sensor, may be disabled if you want. Steak temperature is only one example of a personal preference that may be set in certain cooking systems. To save your changes, there is a dedicated save button.
Support questions may be asked and answered on the official Facebook group. I had some trouble saving a time-lapse video of a dish I had prepared, but the firm got back to me immediately, and now I have it ready to upload.
The capability to construct one’s own programs is a helpful addition. It’s perfect for those who wish to standardize an old family recipe, and it’s also flexible enough to allow for new takes on old favorites like shortbread biscuits and oatmeal cookies.
Oven cleaner is effective at cleaning
However, even though the heating components are now safe from knocks, they should be avoided at all costs while cleaning. Cheese that dropped off a pizza and onto one of the bottom parts was burnt away during the subsequent pizza cooking. It is prudent to clean the oven after preparing a dish that may cause splatters. Foaming oven cleaners are great for a thorough cleaning. To clean the components after using a cleaning solution, just spritz them with water.
Consists with a variety of choices
In addition to the three-year premium recipe membership, the Generation 2 oven I tested also came with the Gourmet Package, which is now named the June Oven Plus for the Generation 3 oven. Air may circulate freely around food in the air fryer baskets, making air frying and dehydrating possible. Since all three baskets can be used at once, more food can be cooked than on a single oven rack, but the bottom rack may need to be lined with foil to collect drips in certain recipes. It was helpful to have the additional tray, and the recipe subscription was a nice touch as well. In addition to the original June Oven, there is also a “Premium” model that includes an enameled cast-iron grill/griddle, pizza peel, and high-end thermometer. If that isn’t enough, there is a new egg-cooking plate with tidy wells for frying eggs that may be purchased separately. Obviously, it has a variety of further applications. I put it to use in an attempt to control the spread of some cookies. Because of the wells, they were contained in a tidy fashion.
The popcorn may be air-popped in the air fryer baskets, which is an unusual usage. The kernels are stored in a basket and another basket is inverted on top of the first to create a sealed container. The added bonus is that it is hilariously entertaining to watch.
Value for money, given the state of the art
Pricey, especially after adding on extras to the base model, but technological advancements make it difficult to compare to a regular countertop oven. In the event that a person is on a tighter budget, they may skip the extras and buy the trays and recipe subscription alone.
Which Is Better: Amazon’s Smart Oven or June’s Oven?
We also tried the Amazon Smart Oven, and although it has many of the same features as the June Oven, it also includes a microwave. The Amazon Oven, however, does neither broil or toast. It also lacks racks, a standard oven feature. Instead, it utilizes a revolving glass dish, much like a standard microwave, and metal supports to elevate food for conventional cooking methods like as baking and air frying. The Amazon Smart Oven is an excellent option if you require a microwave and want a device that can be controlled by voice. Nevertheless, the June wins out in the end because to its adaptability and handy recipe software.
Final Verdict
There’s no question that you need this.
Everything the June Oven made, from the minute it identified a bagel until the time we finished filming a recipe, was fantastic in my book.
