Ovens/Grills/Cooker

[CAH]

Hi, I'm new here. I have been lurking for a little while. This may have been asked before but I can't find anything specific. I have been looking at PVC's as a beginner. I have had a caravan in the dim and distant past so got a vague idea, but I'm out of date and they are different animals.

I'm curious, many PVC's do not have a cooker. How many people actually use their cooker or is it not a vital piece of equipment? Due to space their seem compromises have to be made an the oven seems to be one of the compromises on many models, particularly continental ones.

I realise its a personal decision at the end of the day but just wondered if anyone regretted not having one or find they never use the one they do have.

Feedback much appreciated

 

[Richard n Ann]

We use ours a lot. In Britain it warms the van up too which is handy. Don't use it so much in Spain because of the ridiculous temperatures the van gets up to, especially now the extractor fan is bust

Overall wouldn't be without it

 

[Stealaway]

We use ours all the time - every day

 

[CAH]

Hah. Thanks. I hadn't even thought of the heating bonus

 

[poppycamper]

How would I make our tradition FULL Sunday roast without an oven????
Nope in our van full oven with grill and three burner hob absolute must..!!!!
PS.. We have a PVC

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[Spriddler]

I was pleased that mine had an oven but I've only used it for cooking maybe half a dozen times in seven years so I just use it as a cupboard for bread, rolls, crisps, snacks and root veg.
TBH If it's cold enough to need the oven heat I go somewhere warmer or come home.

How would I make our tradition FULL Sunday roast without an oven????
Nope in our van full oven with grill and three burner hob absolute must..!!!!

OMG! The mere thought of all that washing up makes me feel ill.

 

[Griffithii]

We have a smaller MoHo, two gas rings and grill. I love to cook but manage without an oven. I have an electric covered frying pan and a BBQ

 

[Richard n Ann]

Someone asked about ovens the other week and I found this one that takes up less space. Electric only though...

 

[Mark and Mindy]

We have 2 gas rings on the hob, but when on hook up often take a small portable oven with us, cooked our 2 bird roast on Christmas Day last year in it, we had to be inventive and so had mashed potatoes plus all the usual trimmings, but it worked just fine. Sometimes we have a ready meal which I decant into a china dish before cooking.

I find it takes longer than the instructions say it will to cook anything, but we're in the van and so have all the time in the world.

I would like a built in oven, but having the portable oven is a good compromise in a 5.4m van.

 

[Lenny HB]

We do have an oven in the van it gets mainly used for par baked bread. Don't think it would bother us not having one. Don't use the oven at home much. Can't see the fascination for roasts I don't think we have cooked one this year so far.

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[Riverbankannie]

We do have an oven in the van it gets mainly used for par baked bread. Don't think it would bother us not having one. Don't use the oven at home much. Can't see the fascination for roasts I don't think we have cooked one this year so far.

We have an oven and went away for a weekend recently with a few packs of part baked rolls. First lot cooked in oven took ages, next lot, I split in half lengthways and fried in butter on hob, delicious!

 

[Lenny HB]

We have an oven and went away for a weekend recently with a few packs of part baked rolls. First lot cooked in oven took ages, next lot, I split in half lengthways and fried in butter on hob, delicious!

10 mins for us and its a dreaded TecTower.
Yes they are useful for fried bread or toast don't need to bake them.

 

[MyrtleGuru]

It seems that the continental vans often just have a hob and no oven, whereas the UK-built or UK-specced ones tend to include an oven/grill.

Our UK PVC has a three-burner hob and oven/grill. At the time we bought it the oven/grill seemed important, especially as we tend to tour in winter, but in reality we've rarely used it.

If the weather's good, a barbecue is always an option: we carry a small charcoal one, other people have external gas points to fire theirs up.

People who use EHU (not generally us), sometimes favour a microwave and/or an induction hob.

And, at the end of the day, you can cook pretty much anything on a hob with the right equipment.

 

[Terry]

Are we talking self builds ? I don't know any manufacturers who don't put a cooker in a van, be it only a 2 ring job or are we saying full cooker IE oven grill etc ?

 

[CAH]

I'm asking about oven/grill. Assuming hob standard in some format or other.

Finding all the different replies useful, thank you....

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[cmcardle75]

Hi, I'm new here. I have been lurking for a little while. This may have been asked before but I can't find anything specific. I have been looking at PVC's as a beginner. I have had a caravan in the dim and distant past so got a vague idea, but I'm out of date and they are different animals.

I'm curious, many PVC's do not have a cooker. How many people actually use their cooker or is it not a vital piece of equipment? Due to space their seem compromises have to be made an the oven seems to be one of the compromises on many models, particularly continental ones.

I realise its a personal decision at the end of the day but just wondered if anyone regretted not having one or find they never use the one they do have.

Feedback much appreciated

I'm in the process of converting an L3H3 Movano. No grill/oven, I wanted the space for more important things (there would have been room, but I'd have lost a cupboard). However, I did fit a BBQ point and bought a new replacement little gas BBQ (£24 in the end of season sale at Asda). Works well as a grille and oven. I can leave it behind if I run out of storage, which isn't very likely, as there's tonnes of that under the bed. I haven't yet cooked a Sunday roast on it, but I will!

 

[cmcardle75]

I'm in the process of converting an L3H3 Movano. No grill/oven, I wanted the space for more important things (there would have been room, but I'd have lost a cupboard). However, I did fit a BBQ point and bought a new replacement little gas BBQ (£24 in the end of season sale at Asda). Works well as a grille and oven. I can leave it behind if I run out of storage, which isn't very likely, as there's tonnes of that under the bed. I haven't yet cooked a Sunday roast on it, but I will!

On top of that I've got a Smev double burner/sink unit. I could have fitted something larger, but prefer the remaining space as real worktop. I find that with ingenuity, 2 burners is all you ever need, even for complex meals.

 

[Stealaway]

I think the Thetford spinflo all in one would be a great investment.

 

[jezport]

We have had the big van with oven, grill, 4 burners and we did use them. However motorhome ovens are slow and the grills are uneven. We now have a PVC with 2 burners and no oven and dont really miss the oven. Theres a million dishes you can cook on a hob, plus we BBQ a lot.
PVCs have less space so a cupboard is more use than an oven to most people.
And lately we generally stop at pubs and instead of paying site fees a nice meal cooked for us and cleared away is a good deal.

 

[WynandJean]

Hello and welcome from West Midlands. . I believe that continental vans are less likely to have an oven as it is more common to cook 'al fresco' It's maybe less practical in the UK due to our climate.

Wyn

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[Minxy]

We hadn't had an over for years, last one was in a MH we PX'd back in 2003 although we did have a grill in a Chausson for a couple or so years but it just 'worried' the bread so got very little use! If we wanted to 'oven bake' stuff we used deep lidded frying pans and then got a 'double skillet' for hob-top ovens, now though our Carthago has an oven and we've used it a couple of times as an oven but mainly as a grill as we like our toast and once it's warmed up it toasts really well. If it didn't have an oven though I wouldn't have one put in.

 

[Nasher]

I'll throw in something a bit different - I have a diesel hob which is also a heater - Wallas XC duo

Wallas XC Duo - Combined Hob & Heater - 1 Amazing Kit - Kuranda UK Ltd

The WALLAS XC Duo is a simple cooking and heating solution, designed for campervan use. This single appliance provides a ceramic cooking hob & efficient heater

www.kuranda.co.uk

I also cary a small halogen oven for when on hookup plus a small BBQ

 

[Hawkstone]

I'm asking about oven/grill. Assuming hob standard in some format or other.

Finding all the different replies useful, thank you....

I have an oven with the grill inside. I use the oven a lot but not the grill. The grill hangs down centrally a little too far for my liking so you have to be careful where you put the rack in. You can’t cook up high as the food or packaging will touch the grill and it prevents you putting anything of height in there. I have put in a second rack and rotate the food around the two bottom levels. I have cooked small roasts, pizza, take away curries and a variety of other meals. If I could, I would remove the grill entirely to give more space. I also have three burners on the hob so I reckon I could probably cook any variety of food albeit a little more slowly the oven. It’s horses for courses. I wouldn’t be without mine......although I absolutely hate the drop down door.....it really hurts when you forget and walk into it.

 

[Shrimp]

We have 3 burners and an oven/grill.
Oven gets used when off grid in summer mainly.
Remoska & Slow cooker get used when on hook up in winter!
I’ve recently got a Ridge Monkey and that is taking over a lot. Warms stale bread, cooks garlic bread, burgers, steaks, fish just about anything that will fit inside it!

 

[DangerMousy]

Our previous MH had a full cooker: 3 gas rings, 1 electric hot plate (useless), a separate grill, and oven - we used all of it except for the electric hot plate. The grill was a bit temperamental, but it worked fine to make toast and we used the oven a lot for various things. Yes its much slower than a domestic oven but you just have to make allowances for that. Our new MH only has 3 gas rings on the hob and its combo grill/oven which I think is a much better use of space - we gain a couple of drawers above and below (and you can never have too much storage!).

It wouldn't be a deal-breaker for me if our perfect MH didn't have an oven - I could manage without and would find different ways to cook things. But I'd prefer not to

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[Terry]

I put full cookers in most of my builds simply because I use/ used to use the oven / grill myself . On the flip side I used a simple smev 2 ring cooker and managed perfectly fine using a gas steamer and frying pan

 

[CAH]

Lots of useful info shared - thanks everyone x

 

[scotzsue]

We have now got a van with 3 burners, have always had full cookers before.
am getting used to it but not done a 9 week trip yet, we used the oven fairly often.
Have had a remoska for years, will be using it more in the future, if that is possible, one of the best used gadgets I have. also have an as yet untried omnia look alike. will be having a play with it this week though.
This van has a microwave, e keep the bread in it, don't use one much at home so am sure this will be the same.
Can't remember who posted the link to the Panasonic combi, I purchased one for home when my old one broke, it is not patch on the LG I had before, grill takes ages, even if preheated and wouldn't be much use for the mpage abroad.

 

[bobandjanie]

We have two gas rings in our PVC and use one of these.

Just used our new oven. 🙂

Many months ago, we purchased this off Amazon.es, and for obvious reasons never got to try it, and put in the cupboard in the motorhome, the Spanish forum was really rating them, 😉 so I had to have one. 😁 We did carry a remoska but found we very rarely have electric so it wasn't getting used...

www.motorhomefun.co.uk

Very pleased with it, cooked various meals and cakes, it all packs up inside itself and goes in the cupboard, being aluminium it cools quickly and is very light.

The best oven we had was in our caravan, our eura mobil oven was used for storage, our swift oven was never used. Bob.

 

[CAH]

Thanks everyone - that was all very helpful