Panasonic - HomeCHEF .7 Cu. Ft. 7-in-1 Compact Oven with Steam and Convection - Black

INTRODUCTION: The Panasonic HomeCHEF SC180B is a 7-in-1 Compact Oven that can Convection Bake to 445 degrees F, Steam, Slow Cook, Ferment, Stay Warm at 85 degrees F, & is an extraordinary Air Fryer. With a 0.7 cubic feet capacity, it measures 15 29/32"W x 15 29/32"L x 14 51/64"H & weighs 27.1#. REVIEW & RESULTS: The large viewing glass on the front door strikes a sleek appearance with a beautiful view. A versatile LED simplifies the cooking process. A water chamber, located below the oven, makes meats even juicer with steam. We Air-Fried the most tender chicken & baked the tastiest brownies (see photo)! YUM! DISAPPOINTMENTS: - When you select Air-Fry, the oven Pre-heats, which takes more time than expected. No timer lets you know remaining Pre-heat time. You must wait for 3 beeps & a check mark on the front panel before you can enter the desired Air-Fry time. - A Stainless Steel exterior option should be offered, as many kitchens today feature all Stainless Steel appliances. We plan to hide this black appliance in a ventilated Appliance Garage because it is not Stainless Steel, as are all of our other appliances. - Operation is not intuitive, even when you are familiar with Air Fryers & Convection Ovens. Auto Cook Setting & Menus require careful review of the online instruction manual. CONCLUSION: - Energy efficient; our kitchen did not heat up using it. - It is super easy to clean. - The steam tray also collects food drips in a separate section of the tray, simplifying cleaning even further. - The wire rack & metal trays are dishwasher safe.

There are so many new countertop ovens available today and so many of them do more than just toast bread. To get more for the money, we expect a product to have multiple uses. The Panasonic Home Chef compact oven is exactly what it says it is. It's not a toaster oven, in fact, there's no toast setting at all. It's a convection oven that can use steam, either by itself or in conjunction with convection. Panasonic is known for making innovative microwave ovens in this country as far as kitchen appliances go. It sounds like they tried to make a countertop oven using the same playbook. It doesn't work for what you conditionally think it should do. There are no heating elements on top or on the bottom, so no cooking in the traditional sense. The heating comes from the back wall and is circulated using the convection fan, so no baking in the traditional sense either. The simple 4 button layout is probably too simple, I would've liked a knob. I put the oven through its paces and here's how things came out. I steamed Japanese purple potatoes using one of the 18 autocook presets. They steamed on both racks for 16 minutes (fill water reservoir on bottom tray) and, to my surprise, were cooked perfectly well. I mashed them up and used them in batter for mochi pancakes. I used convection bake at 350 for a loaf of sandwich bread and placed it directly on the bottom of the oven. After 40 minutes, it appeared well browned on top, but was still quite raw inside. I compared this with a loaf I put in my normal oven at the same temp, and it was fully cooked in 35 minutes. I had to put the second loaf in the normal oven to finish. I used autocook setting 16 to bake some cookies on both racks, it preheated (like it usually does) then was preset to cook for 43 minutes which was obviously too much and we took it out in 20. In the manual, it actually says the airfry mode is really just convection bake, to explain the fact that it has a fixed temp of 445F. Therefore, if you want to "airfry" at a lower temp, you need to use convection bake. I've looked everywhere for the temp for the slow cook function and it's nowhere to be found. I slow cooked (with steam) a rack of BBQ baby back ribs (cut in half to fit) set to the max 3hrs, but didn't get a temp setting, let alone choice. The ribs actually came out really well so I can't complain there. I noticed all the recipes and most of the autocook settings were for Chinese favorites. In a far east market, this oven would be the ideal product, where steaming is a necessity. In the American market, where crisping is more of a requirement, this oven fails to deliver. I would recommend this as an oven to those with a small kitchen in an apartment or a boat. It's no replacement for a toaster, which you will need in addition to this if you want to broil or toast. But if you're looking for a do-it-all toaster, this won't work.

So I originally bought this thinking that it would be a good fit in my workshop for a quick lunch without having to go back home. Unfortunately, my wife tried it out and now I can’t get it away from her! I might need a second one if I can’t teach her to share. She likes the fast preheat time for convection baking, it takes about seven minutes to get to 400 degrees where our full sized convection oven is more like 20 minutes. I made lunch for our boys using the air fry feature, I was able to cook a dozen chicken nuggets on one of the two included trays in about 20 min. The nuggets came out crispy and scored “at least a 9, maybe a 10” from my pickiest eater. I think I could have fit 15 nuggets on one tray so with both trays it could do 30 nuggets at a time. I will note that my time to cook was a bit less than what the manual shows, I used an instant read thermometer to check the nuggets at 15 min and they were already at 120-125 degrees internal, they were up to 165 degrees at 20 min while the manual was estimating 40 min to cook from frozen. Must be a thicker nugget than what we have? The wife made Panko breaded shrimp using the convection bake mode, 30 butterflied shrimp fit using both pans and they came out with a nice texture as well. I haven’t had a chance to try the steam cooking for vegetables but I did use the convection bake to make several melting chocolate cakes. Those came out great and didn’t last long. I like that it has the ability to sanitize and self clean with the steam. Once I get the chocolate cake recipe down I’m going to try the steam convection mode to see how it improves the texture, I understand it makes cakes fluffier. I like that it only consumes around 1300 watts of power, similar to a large microwave oven, this oven is my backup source of cooking should the power go out since it’s small enough to run off my backup generator so we can still bake cookies!

--- SETUP --- The setup for the Panasonic oven was easy, but it may require two people to remove from the box because of its size. After removing the stickers and foam, put water in the water tray, plug, and start cooking. --- FEATURES --- This oven has 7-1 features. The most standout features are self-cleaning mode, sterilization of baby bottles and other containers, food steaming, and a built-in air fryer. It also works as a convection oven. --- PERFORMANCE AND EXPECTATIONS --- When it comes to ovens, I discovered that I prefer turning knobs vs. pushing buttons. I was not a big fan of having to work a digital interface with the push of a button. I took my time and read the manual to understand how to best use the oven. I was able to figure out how to set the oven to when I wanted to cook a steak with convection plus steam. However, I didn’t find the process user friendly. My wife, for example, tried to read the documents included as well. It was confusing for her and got frustrated to where she just decided to plug a different appliance. The thing is, you have to press the pre-heat option to begin the process. While it’s preheating, you have to wait for a beep to know that the preheat is finished. Then, you insert your food and you have to click on a button to set the timer, but there is no indication that that is what should be done next. After that, you have to click twice to confirm that you have set the timer correctly. Then, you have to press start with a different button, the timer won’t just automatically start. For you to know that the timer has started, you’ll see a small dial spinning on the lower left corner. The steak that I prepared came out juicier than when I prepared it in my former oven. However, for some reason, even though I seasoned it the way I usually do, I couldn’t taste the seasoning when it was cooked. It was almost as if I had only mildly seasoned it. When I steamed vegetables, they came out well prepared and delicious. Perhaps the best thing I enjoyed preparing was the salmon. The salmon tasted excellent and juicy with a toasty outside but a soft inside, the way I like it. --- APPROVAL --- Overall, I would say that this oven might be for the chef that are more tech-savvy. If that’s you or a person you plan on giving it to, then go for it.

The Panasonic HomeCHEF 7-in-1 oven is another of the many options you have out there for multipurpose kitchen appliances now a days. This oven has a small footprint but is tall and is pretty heavy which helps it feel that it is well made and is built to last. To me it looks like a cube. Inside the capacity is 20 liters and it comes with two non-stick metal trays and two wire racks that can keep your food off the metal trays. You do have to use the metal trays at all times though. There is also a steam tray that you fill up with water that is inserted below the unit and helps provide some of the magic that this appliance and do. You can have both metal trays in the oven at the same time, however, the small LED light is located in the upper right of the oven and only illuminates the top tray if that is in there. I do wish they would have added a second LED light on the bottom as well. The rails for the trays will not hold the metal trays in place if you pull them out too far so you have to watch for that if you pull something out to inspect it. The heat is generated from a heating element in the back with a fan and perforated holes in the back of the oven. The outside of the oven will get hot, and I measured it at about 146 degrees. Also, the steam will vent out the rear of the top and Panasonic recommends that you pull this out of below cupboards to avoid damaging the underside of them from the steam. This isn’t ideal for me, if I pull it out to give the steam vents a clear path, it leaves the unit hanging off my counter. I may modify the under neath of my cupboards with waterproof covering to help avoid damage. As you can imagine, there are many things this oven can do, I haven’t had a chance to try all of the modes such as Ferment or the Seam Conv setting. Convection Baking is what I used to cook up a small frozen pizza and I found that I had to cook it a few minutes longer than the packaging said in order to cook the middle of the dough thoroughly. Air fry had the same results for me and with my stand-alone air fryer, it will cook frozen fries in 6-8 minutes, but with the Panasonic HomeCHEF, I did have to cook them 15 minutes. In my opinion, it will cook food, but it doesn’t seem to do so as efficiently as other appliances that I have. For those that may be short on counter space, this could be a good solution as it does many things, but if you are looking for the best way to cook something, it just seems that you need the appliance that is dedicated to that one thing. I really like the steam cooking though and this is where I think this unit shines the best. I was able to steam some veggies and they came out delicious. Also, the sanitizing feature using the steam for baby bottles and utensils works great and it just gives you that feeling that those items are extra clean. Panasonic does give you a 54+ paged book with instructions and recipes and that is a good addition. The inside of the oven is stainless steel and is mostly flat and easy to clean. So far, the non-stick trays are holding up, but I don’t think they will stay clean after about a months’ worth of uses. One major complaint I do have about the unit is when you set a mode and start cooking something, if you open the lid to check, it will pause the time and you have to remember to hit the start/stop button to resume. This feature drives my wife crazy, but hopefully after some time she will get used to it.

The Home Chef 7-in-1 Compact Oven is a home chef’s dream, complete with 18 auto-cook programs, 2 kinds of convection baking, steam, air fry, slow cook, ferment, and even sterilize both the oven itself and baby bottles. I love the bottle sterilization feature because the bottle sterilizer we received as a baby shower gift takes up a huge chunk of countertop space. This feature allowed for combination of a previous counter-top oven with the sterilizer, and with a baby at home that is a major plus. This oven has a 0.7 cu. foot interior and can fit a 10” pizza, whole fish, or small chicken. Perfect amount of food for a family of 2-4. The large display featuring the operation panel is very straight forward and easy to navigate. One is not overwhelmed by fancy features. The system has a convenient and effective timer so that your food always comes out perfectly... when you remember to get it out at least. It’s been a delight to use this countertop appliance when I need to make something instead of making the entire house hot by turning on the regular oven, and the Home Chef heats up much quicker than my regular oven as well. The oven has a 27 fl ounce water tank that can steam cook food for up to 60 minutes. With the baby at home, steaming has become an every day venture as we discover new foods, and this function has been a godsend. Although this oven does not feature a “microwave,” it can certainly replace it. Leftovers and food in general taste much better and fried foods are crispier when heated in this appliance. I'd choose this over a counter-top microwave anyday. The oven comes with oven racks and metal trays, which based on the size is perfect to have accessories to facilitate cooking. I am impressed with how easy it is to clean. Once the oven cools down you simply wipe down the inside and with little effort ready for the next venture. In her free time, my wife loves to bake and was excited to use this oven for baking breads, buns, and so many yummy treats. The ferment option is such a convenient feature to help speed up the dough rising which usually takes anywhere from 1-2 hours. By following up with convection bake, the bread comes out fluffy and perfect in a shorter amount of time as well. We also like to make dumplings and steamed buns which can be tedious but this appliance cuts the time down significantly. Cooking steak is also a breeze and the fat drains directly into the rack provided. If there was something I wish the oven had, that it doesn't, is a meat probe built in. Even if you are not an expert in the kitchen, this compact oven is so easy to use and can help someone make consistently tasty dishes.

Out of the box this unit is quite hefty and feels of good quality. Minimal but effective packaging assured it arrived undamaged. This is not a toaster oven per say but is really a small version of a full sized oven with extra features. Toast is possible using the air fry or convection bake settings but there are many other things that you can prepare. Lets start with the cons. The tray size is quite limited in terms of large flat items like pizza. You will need to "choose wisely" at the store or you will be using your full sized oven. The air fry function works but is a little slower than other units I have used. For me, the controls are a bit too condensed. I would prefer specific buttons for temp, function, start and stop instead of sharing the functions. Also, in most modes, you need to preheat before you can program in the time. Yes there are instances when your masterpiece will appreciate waiting until the device is at temp. But with this, you need to wait for some quiet beeps before you can set the time. I have ADHD and really would like to just tell it to convection bake for 4 minutes and have the timer start when temp is reached. Now for the good. The inside of the oven is very smooth with no exposed heating elements. This makes for ease of cleaning. Also the racks fit into trays which are great for collecting the various drips and spatters that happen with especially in air fry mode. Speaking of racks and trays this has duel level which makes up for the lack of horizontal space. Heating is very even even with a full load on both levels. One thing that really stands out is the steam function. From sterilizing baby bottles to steaming veggies and other dishes, this function sets the unit apart from others. I love to steam various dishes but it is such a pain to set up a separate device on the stove or counter top. Here you can just push a few buttons and off you go. The unit comes with a few recipes but has tons of information on how to cook just about any of your favorites. The online cooking guide gives the settings for everything from chicken breast to veggies to fries to dumplings and rice.

The Panasonic HomeChef Compact Oven has been a great addition to my kitchen and has made my cooking needs much easier to handle. With its 7 in 1 design I have been able to use this oven along side my regular Air Fryer, and it provides much more capacity so I am able to air fry more than one food at a time with out having to have it all mixed together. Out of the box, this oven is on the big side as far as countertop ovens go. It is tall and deep. Adequate countertop space is going to be needed. It also sits very close to the bottom of the cupboards, so trying to have it out more in the open for heat dissipation would be better. Set up is easy and requires very little effort. There is a small guide that simply explains the different settings. It comes with 2 racks and 2 cooking trays. It has a water tray on the bottom that needs to be filled for steam cooking. It is easy to remove and fill or clean. On the initial bake there is a bit of an odor that comes from the oven but went away quick. The baking requires the oven to preheat, oddly even for the air fry setting. It would be nice to see instant heating but it's not that big of a deal for me. It does preheat quicker than my main kitchen oven and has more accurate cooking temps. I do a lot of cooking for a family of 5 and this oven serves great as a backup oven to help get things done, or to handle a lot of smaller things to bake when making large complex meals. I am excited for it to be a great use to help handle Thanksgiving dinner so I can cook sides while the turkey cooks in the main oven. Its steam convection leaves roasts and meatloaf juicy and delectable. The air fry setting can be tricky to use and again I really only use it in addition to my regular air fryer. Overall I would recommend for larger families that need extra cooking power in the kitchen or those who do not have a range. The black is sleek and it is nice with such a large viewing window. It is a little tough to accommodate counter space for it, but fits my needs perfectly.

Panasonic - .7 Cu. Ft. HomeCHEF 7-in-1 Compact Oven – Black This equipment is advertised as COMPACT, and compact it is. To me, it’s ideal for a dorm room, single people, or a couple without kids, or in our own situation (grandparents, kids long gone). This machine fit ideally onto a shelf, under kitchen cabinets, replacing both a portable convection oven and microwave. My wife loves the additional space this afforded her. We duly note the warning, if using the STEAM function, that steam emits upwards from the machine and that could have a very bad effect on one’s cabinets above. We have not tried, nor I suspect will not use, the STEAM function anytime soon. We just did a complete kitchen renovation and the cabinets are "works of art." Having said the above, this same “compactness” limits the equipment to working with certain food items. One cannot whip up full sized pizza, for instance … as you would in your full sized stove convection oven, better call Dominoe’s. Works great on pizza slices, however. I will sheepishly admit to not being well versed in the culinary arts. I can boil water and make a mean tuna sandwich, but my wife (a.k.a. THE CHEF) is a magnificent cook and she handles all the cooking (for our 57 years together). She really likes the HomeCHEF, and remarks often the amalgamation of -