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Testing the June Intelligent Oven

cooksillustrated.com

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Re: Testing the June Intelligent Oven

#21

Post by extrapickles »

tzs wrote: post #12
glup wrote: post #3

I think I would pay $100 for a toaster oven with a decent PID controller, controls that made sense (what does "200F" on dial 1 and "Toast" on dial 2 even mean?), and had a decent chance of working in 20 years. I've already got a pretty decent set of sensors + heavy duty, self-updating neural network between my shoulders, thanks.

If you would be OK with a little DIY work, Google for things like "reflow soldering with toaster oven". There have been many conversion projects to adapt cheap toaster ovens for hobbyist reflow soldering. This involves putting in some good temperature sensors, and bypassing the built-in controls to put the heating elements under the control of an Arduino or similar controller. Some even add a cheap graphical LCD that…

I’ve built one of those. They also need a bunch of insulation, heat spreading plates and another heating element to get reasonably even heating.

You can drop the insulation for food use, but thats one of the cheaper parts of a build.

Since temperature is important for reflow (melt the solder without melting your leds and connectors) they have good ways to calibrate them.

Re: Testing the June Intelligent Oven

#22

Post by adt2bt »

losvedir wrote: post #17

Wow, what good timing. My wife and I don't cook a whole lot so we don't want a full size oven, but were thinking about getting one of these smaller toaster-oven footprint appliances. We were looking at the June oven and, e.g., the crazy Brava Light oven (which seems cool, but I can't get over the woo-woo marketing materials). Cook's Illustrated is a really respectable magazine, so this recommendation carries some sub…

I got one of the 2nd version June's as soon as they came out and I cannot recommend it enough. It makes so many things an absolute breeze.

Salmon is surprisingly good, though the June does not get the skin crispy - if you like crispy salmon skin on your salmon fillets you'll still need to do it on the stove.

I also really love how good it is with frozen pizzas. If I want a light dinner, I'll toss a frozen pizza in there and 20 minutes later it's perfectly done and anywhere from 600-900 calories per pie.

I literally have not turned on my real oven since I got it and likely won't until Thanksgiving. I doubt a big turkey will fit in the June.

Re: Testing the June Intelligent Oven

#23

Post by joezydeco »

imglorp wrote: post #2

Can we talk about commodity kitchen hardware? A brand new microwave seems to have the same halfassed, user hostile firmware they shipped around 1999, oriented around a fixed segment display. I would like to see some simple additions that would make a world of difference. * Add some IR temp sensors, for what $5 in parts, that can heat to an approximate inside temp. * Update the firmware, for example, to stop beeping w…

Add some IR temp sensors, for what $5 in parts, that can heat to an approximate inside temp.

Food is not thermally transparent. The outer surface will quickly reach the cavity temperature so that's not an indication of the core temperature. The accepted way to measure the core temp is with a probe.

Re: Testing the June Intelligent Oven

#24

Post by Moto7451 »

wiredfool wrote: post #14
justtopost wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed. I honestly perfer the 70s dial to most modern interfaces. One step, done. Meanwhile if I don't want some useless preprogrammed setting, it takes a minimum of 4 keypresses to set a time, to say nothing of power. I can order food online almost as easy ffs.

I liked the food service one I used years ago. 9 buttons, numbered 1-9, and they ran the oven for 10x seconds at a pop. Add one button/latch to open, and it was a simple as it could be. Toss something in, hit 1 button, ding, open door.

My very cheap microwave does that same behavior only it's in minutes. It also has a 30 second button. Save for heating pancake syrup (a 10 second job) I rarely set a time explicitly or wait to cancel a button press early.

Re: Testing the June Intelligent Oven

#25

Post by losvedir »

adt2bt wrote: post #22
losvedir wrote: post #17

Wow, what good timing. My wife and I don't cook a whole lot so we don't want a full size oven, but were thinking about getting one of these smaller toaster-oven footprint appliances. We were looking at the June oven and, e.g., the crazy Brava Light oven (which seems cool, but I can't get over the woo-woo marketing materials). Cook's Illustrated is a really respectable magazine, so this recommendation carries some sub…

I got one of the 2nd version June's as soon as they came out and I cannot recommend it enough. It makes so many things an absolute breeze. Salmon is surprisingly good, though the June does not get the skin crispy - if you like crispy salmon skin on your salmon fillets you'll still need to do it on the stove. I also really love how good it is with frozen pizzas. If I want a light dinner, I'll toss a frozen pizza in th…

Neat, thanks for the hands-on report! Have you had any maintenance issues with it? My only hangup at this point, I think, with a fancy "smart" oven is that there are more things that can break or be buggy. And how is it to clean?

Re: Testing the June Intelligent Oven

#26

Post by roel_v »

imglorp wrote: post #2

Can we talk about commodity kitchen hardware? A brand new microwave seems to have the same halfassed, user hostile firmware they shipped around 1999, oriented around a fixed segment display. I would like to see some simple additions that would make a world of difference. * Add some IR temp sensors, for what $5 in parts, that can heat to an approximate inside temp. * Update the firmware, for example, to stop beeping w…

I have one like that, a Miele with a temperature probe that commumicates with the oven. It does a lot of other things automatically too, holds temperature very accurately, great oven. They exist.

Re: Testing the June Intelligent Oven

#27

Post by A2017U1 »

xvf22 wrote: post #18
imglorp wrote: post #2

Can we talk about commodity kitchen hardware? A brand new microwave seems to have the same halfassed, user hostile firmware they shipped around 1999, oriented around a fixed segment display. I would like to see some simple additions that would make a world of difference. * Add some IR temp sensors, for what $5 in parts, that can heat to an approximate inside temp. * Update the firmware, for example, to stop beeping w…

I have an LG inverter microwave and it has an annoying "cute" song it plays when it finishes (and periodically to remind you unless you open the door). There seems to be no way to shut it up without opening it up and disconnecting things.

Have pulled open every microwave I've owned and cut the speaker. Dozens of buttons, not a single mute switch.

Microwaves are loud enough as it is, you can hear them running from the next room. Strangely enough never seen a toaster with an buzzer though.

Re: Testing the June Intelligent Oven

#28

Post by userbinator »

theclaw wrote: post #20
imglorp wrote: post #2

Can we talk about commodity kitchen hardware? A brand new microwave seems to have the same halfassed, user hostile firmware they shipped around 1999, oriented around a fixed segment display. I would like to see some simple additions that would make a world of difference. * Add some IR temp sensors, for what $5 in parts, that can heat to an approximate inside temp. * Update the firmware, for example, to stop beeping w…

My cheap unbranded microwave has a dial to set the power (which is always on max) and a clockwork dial to set the time, which also starts the oven when turned. This is the best UX of any microwave I’ve ever had - I can start it with the correct time in a single action just by feel - I don’t even have to look at it. I very much doubt it has any firmware to speak of, or what feature such firmware could possibly offer t…

I agree completely. Knobs are very intuitive and self-indicating. The very first microwaves used that UI:

https://www.radarange.com/

Re: Testing the June Intelligent Oven

#29

Post by 3guk »

imglorp wrote: post #2

Can we talk about commodity kitchen hardware? A brand new microwave seems to have the same halfassed, user hostile firmware they shipped around 1999, oriented around a fixed segment display. I would like to see some simple additions that would make a world of difference. * Add some IR temp sensors, for what $5 in parts, that can heat to an approximate inside temp. * Update the firmware, for example, to stop beeping w…

Did You know the vast majority of modern microwaves have a keypress sequence to turn off the beeping?

I seem to remember on most it’s something like holding the 0 or 1 buttons for 3 seconds.

Re: Testing the June Intelligent Oven

#30

Post by tokyodude »

I don't know how they compare to the June but there are many models of convection ovens in Japan that claim to figure out what you put in them. Many of them will optionally add steam and nearly all of them will also do microwaving as well.

Here's a few from Panasonic

https://panasonic.jp/range/

and Sharp

http://healsio.jp/

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