Essentials

Our Place Wonder Oven review: Here's why it earned a permanent spot in my kitchen

By Carolin Lehmann

Edited By Fox Van Allen

June 15, 2023 / 4:30 PM EDT / Essentials

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Our Place's first-ever kitchen appliance is here, and it looks like an adorable Easy-Bake Oven for grownups. The Our Place Wonder Oven is a 6-in-1 air fryer and toaster oven with steam infusion. It promises to air fry, bake, roast, toast, reheat and broil, plus look good while doing it, all under $200. What else would you expect from the creators of the uber-photogenic Always Pan?

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Our Place Wonder Oven, $195

$195 at Our Place

The people at Our Place gave me the opportunity to check out the Wonder Oven before its June 20 launch, and allowed me to test it out in my own kitchen. Here's what I've learned about the kitchen appliance, including what it does and what makes it special.

Hands on with the Our Place Wonder Oven

To test out the Wonder Oven, I made honey garlic glazed salmon. I typically make this dish in my Whirlpool convection oven that doubles as a microwave.

Thanks to its smaller size, the Wonder Oven broiled my salmon significantly faster. (I even accidentally slightly overcooked it because I didn't believe that it could already be done.) Typically, this salmon's glaze is a huge pain to clean off a cookie sheet -- I've even had to toss one, despite lining it with aluminum foil. But the glaze wiped clean off the Wonder Oven's included bake tray.

To test the steam infusion technology, I heated up an English muffin from my freezer. Unfortunately, this feature was not intuitive -- I accidentally added water to the unit at the wrong time, and was unable to figure out how to remove it. This didn't negatively affect the appliance's operation, however.

Once I fully read the directions, I put my English muffin in the toaster oven and added water when the unit was pre-heated (as recommended). The English muffin came out so much better than when I toast one in my convection oven. Instead of having a hard, dry exterior with just a little bit of fluffiness inside, the Wonder Oven left it moist with a light crispiness.

A professional chef used the Wonder Oven to create this dish of roasted sea bass, confit tomatoes and summer vegetables. Carolin Lehmann for CBS Essentials

Once you get to know the Wonder Oven, you can make truly fantastic entrees and desserts with it. One of Our Place's professional chefs used the device to broil oysters, air-fry baby artichokes, air-fry goat cheese (in a frisée and fine herb salad), roast sea bass and steam-infuse cream puffs for dessert -- all of which I got the opportunity to sample. I was surprised to see such a wide range of tasty creations come out of such a small oven.

The pros and cons of the Wonder Oven

The Wonder Oven is much smaller than I'm used to: Its interior measures 7.6" x 10.3" x 10". I was concerned I might burn my hands using a smaller oven, but thankfully that didn't happen. The size could be an issue for some people: It's large enough to cook a 4.5-pound chicken, but not large enough to fit a 12-inch frozen pizza. The appliance is also not fully self-explanatory -- you'll want to fully read the instructions before you use its many features.

That said, I do like how its smaller size means that food cooks quicker than in my Whirlpool convection oven. The steam function is rather uncommon (though it is offered in the competing Balmuda steaming toaster, a Tik-Tok viral favorite), so it definitely adds something new to my kitchen (and has proven to make my English muffins taste better!). I also love the easy cleanup and that it looks great on a countertop.

Our Place Wonder Oven

The Our Place Wonder Oven comes in four classic Our Place colors. What helps set it apart is its steam infusion technology that makes for crispy exteriors and moist interiors. There is an inlet at the top of the appliance that you can pour a small amount of water into. This promises to make meats juicier and breads moister.

The petite Wonder Oven is faster than a traditional oven and can even fit a 4.5-pound chicken. It comes with a wire rack, bake pan, air fryer basket and crumb tray.

Order now. The Wonder Oven ships by June 20.

Our Place Wonder Oven, $195

$195 at Our Place