There are lots of true chefs out there testing countertop ovens and air fryers. I’m not one of them. I’m your average, run-of-the-mill mom who doesn’t have much time to wait on things when getting dinner on the table for teenagers, and I’m not terribly creative with my recipes.
I agreed to test the Wonder Oven Pro from Our Place because it intrigued me: A compact, countertop device that bakes, reheats, dehydrates, toasts, proofs, roasts, broils and yes, has an air fryer mode as well. It also includes a steam infusion feature, which I count as the geeky aspect of this product.
The question is, does the Wonder Oven Pro live up to its lofty name?
The Wonder Oven Pro fits easily onto a counter and underneath cabinets.
Lifewire/S.E. Slack
Key Features and Findings
Straight out of the box, I was impressed with the quality of the Wonder Oven Pro. The air fryer basket, crumb tray, and wire racks are made of steel; the bake pan is cast aluminum with a nonstick ceramic coating, and the heating elements are made of quartz and stainless steel.
Design: This is indeed a compact mini oven for your countertop. It has three rack levels, 30 L capacity, and an easy-to-use digital display. It comes in a variety of colors, too, if you want to match it to your kitchen theme.
The one thing I don’t like about the design is the handle. I’m not sure how they would get around it, honestly, but because of the handle I have to position the oven away from the wall several inches in order to allow the oven door to open fully. That’s just wasted space behind the oven since you can’t really reach anything easily back there. Aside from some sort of retractable handle, though, it probably is just the way things have to be.
The oven handle makes countertop placement a bit awkward.
S.E. Slack
Ease of use: The Wonder Oven Pro is ridiculously easy to set up. Give the pan, racks, basket and tray a quick wash/rinse and heat it up for a few minutes. You’re ready to start using it after that.
Controls: What also makes this countertop oven easy to use is the digital display. It’s clear and precise, there’s no confusion about which mode is which, and the dial is quite fast. I did find myself hitting Stop instead of Time on several occasions as I fiddled with timing. Those two buttons could be placed a little differently for fewer errors but, really, that was a user issue rather than an oven issue.
Capacity: This oven surprised me with how much it can hold as well as how many things it can do. It can hold a whole chicken, which gives you an idea of how big the interior is. I’m used to using a conventional oven, an air fryer, and a microwave for most things. With this oven, though, I didn’t use my conventional oven for weeks during testing and I put my basket air fryer in storage.
During testing, my family used it for everything from baking cookies and reheating pizza to frying French fries and air frying foods of all kinds. (We are an air-frying family in general.) We found using multiple racks at the same time was indeed doable and foods still cooked as expected; I appreciated the broil option to give things a quick crisp.
Steam Infusion: This was a new thing for me; I used this feature in different ways. With toast, it helped to keep the inside of the bread moist while the outside cooked up nice and, well, toasty. I made a quesadilla without it the first time and the tortilla came out like a well-done cracker; the second time I used the steam infusion and the tortilla came out much softer. (I finished with the broiler to give it a bit of a crispy exterior.)
Why pan fry a quesadilla when you can use the Wonder Oven Pro instead?.
Lifewire/S.E. Slack
Specs to Know
Capacity
30 L
Controls
Digital
Cooking Functions
8
Height
13″
Width
16.75″
Depth
13.25″
The Bottom Line
Clearly, this countertop oven lives up to the hype. Would I purchase one on my own? Yes. The sheer ease of use (as long as you have counter space) and wide range of cooking options make it a truly useful kitchen tool.
It’s a bit spendy, true. However, I’ve spent money on air fryers that can only do one thing so, to me, the multi-mode ability of this device makes it worth every penny. The Wonder Oven Pro is staying on my counter.
My air fryer in storage? My sister can have it.
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