Have you ever wondered what the purpose of the drawer under your oven is? Is it used to reheat food? To grill? Or can you hide pans and trays inside? Is it an extra space or a useful kitchen tool?
It can be one of these options. It just depends on the type of oven you have.
Heating socket
If your outlet is intended for heating, usually if you have an electric oven, take a close look at the buttons on the stove. If any of these are marked as a warming drawer, then this is exactly what you have under the stove.
Whenever you need to keep food warm, for example for latecomers for lunch or dinner, or when you are preparing a more complex dish, the individual parts of which do not need to cool, put them in the drawer. You will also appreciate it if you have already cooked the potatoes, but the chicken is not cooked yet. To avoid having to serve the hot meat with a cold side dish, hide the potatoes in a drawer under the stove and leave them there in the warm. Just press the heating button.
A socket like a grill
If your oven is gas-fired and the drawer underneath is quite narrow, it is probably meant to be used as a grill. For example, you can bake bread or grill vegetables. But keep in mind that the food here darkens quickly and can burn. It is therefore necessary to check them more often.
Storage drawer
If you haven’t found a warming drawer button on your stove and the space really is a large empty compartment, it’s probably only designed for storing pots and pans. But to be safe, do not hide the plastic dishes in them, as they could warp due to residual heat.
Older ovens, in particular, have weaker insulation, so although the drawers below are not primarily intended for this, they heat up when cooking in the oven. You can then use them to keep food warm without any problems. But keep in mind that the drawer will only keep warm food that has already been reheated. It does not heat food taken out of the refrigerator or at room temperature. It will also be used to warm up dishes.
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