If you’re looking for a smart kitchen assistant, you’ve got more options than ever before. There are smart displays to walk you through recipes or display instructional, even live cooking demos. You can use Bluetooth thermometers to monitor cooking temps or get a smart large kitchen appliance like Samsung’s Family Hub refrigerator to be the command center of your smart kitchen and home.
But just when we thought smart kitchen stuff had peaked, smart countertop ovens hit their stride, and they’re much more exciting than a conventional oven. These microwave-size cookers perform dozens of tasks, including cooking, baking, roasting, dehydrating and even proofing dough.
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Some work with voice assistants; others recognize food with AI cameras or scan packages of frozen food or frozen pizza from your local grocery store. Here are the standout smart ovens we’ve tested.
Chris Monroe/CNET
The Amazon Smart Oven is a steal at just $250. Other countertop convection ovens on this list are much more expensive. The Amazon countertop oven comes with a free third-generation Echo Dot, which you’ll need to connect it to Alexa for voice commands like “Alexa, preheat the oven to 350 degrees”.
The Amazon Smart Oven doesn’t have smart food recognition, but this kitchen appliance does have scan-to-cook for packaged foods (mostly from Amazon-owned Whole Foods) and great Alexa voice controls. You can use Alexa to control over 30 preset cooking functions and more.
This is the only countertop oven we tested that can also serve as a countertop microwave oven, which means you won’t have to clog up more space on your countertop with a second countertop device. You could easily throw out your old microwave oven and replace it with this multifunctional smart oven. You can also use it as a convection oven, a food warmer and for air frying.
In our testing, the Amazon Smart Oven has the cooking capacity to deliver great whole chickens, tasty air-fried French fries and solid 1,000-watt microwaving power. For all those reasons, this smart oven is the most capable we tested and our top recommendation for a countertop oven.
Read our Amazon Smart Oven review.
Chris Monroe/CNET
The $299 Tovala Smart Oven is built around Tovala’s chef-curated meal kits. Those meal kits are pricey at $12 per serving, but you can purchase the oven without the meals and still get plenty of use out of it.
That’s because the Tovala Smart Oven can scan 750 different grocery items from your local store and use steam, bake, broil and toast functions to cook your dish during the cooking process. There’s no voice assistant compatibility, but there is a Tovala app where you can control the oven, see recipes and more.
Amazon’s Smart Oven also scans foods, but only a handful and most coming from the Whole Foods inventory. If you’re interested in the Tovala countertop toaster oven, I’d recommend giving the meal kits a try, because they are easy to make, delicious and interesting. The oven is often on sale or other promotion for less than the $299 MSRP, so if price is a hindrance, check the Tovala website for deals.
Read our Tovala Smart Oven review.
Tyler Lizenby/CNET
The June Oven in its second generation is the best oven we’ve tested when it comes to recognizing food. There are plenty of cooking mode options, with onscreen recommendations for how to cook different foods and several handy accessories. Use it for air frying and dehydrating, or use it as a convection oven for baking and convection cooking, or as a toaster oven for toasting.
The June Oven works with Alexa for voice commands, and the June app lets you control the oven from anywhere and view live video of your food as it cooks. A smart cooking function tracks the core temperature for the perfect cooking time.
You can buy the oven in a Standard package that includes a food thermometer, roasting rack, baking pan, wire shelf and crumb tray for $499 or in a Gourmet package for $699 that adds baking pans, air-fry baskets, a recipe subscription and extended warranty. (Note: This item is currently out of stock, but availability on Amazon tends to fluctuate.)
A third generation of the June oven is available for pre-order. With improved hardware and software, this model offers a handful of updates from the 2nd-gen model. Pricing starts at $599.
Read our June Oven review.
Smart Oven Comparison Chart
|
|
Amazon Smart Oven | June Oven | Tovala Smart Oven |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cost | $250 | $499 | $299 |
| Dimensions (W x H x D) | 21.8 inches x 13 inches x 21.4 inches | 19.6 inches x 12.75 inches X 19 inches | 18.5 inches x 11.75 inches x 12.32 inches |
| Voice assistant compatibility | Alexa | Alexa | None |
| Cooking modes | Microwave, convection bake, auto roast, keep warm, air fry | Convection bake, toast, air fry, dehydrat, slow cook, broil, keep warm | Steam, toast, broil, bake |
| Included accessories | Tall and short grill racks, temperature probe, air fry pan | Thermometer, roasting rack, baking pan, wire shelf, crumb tray | Oven mitt, baking pan, wire oven rack, measuring cup |
We’ve only just begun
This category is only a few years old, and we’ve seen plenty of growth. We recently tested a limited-release smart oven from Whirlpool’s WLabs. The Suvie kitchen robot launched on Kickstarter in 2018 and started shipping last year; it uses water to refrigerate and cook your entire meal. Then, there’s Anova, whose CEO Stephen Svajian announced plans for a new smart oven from the kitchen accessory brand in September. It’s expected to be released later this year.
These ovens might be the best out there right now, but they certainly won’t be the last. More and more companies are expressing interest in this category, so we’ll continue to test out new models as they appear.
Originally published earlier and updated periodically as we review new products.
