Everyone loves fresh baked cookies, straight out of the oven and steaming hot—unless of course they’re overdone! You’re not alone, if you’ve ever been disappointed to find that while baking cookies, one tray is just right, while the other is either over or undercooked. This phenomenon makes it virtually impossible to cook large batches of cookies at once.

Enter the convection oven and say goodbye to uneven cooking forever! No, despite popular opinion, you don’t have to be a professional baker to own a convection oven. Although that may have been true in the past, today convection ovens are by far the most efficient and highest quality type of home oven on the market. Below, we have listed some of the advantages of a convection oven showing that it literally pays to buy one when it comes time to replace your old oven. We’ve also listed some practical tips to help you purchase your new oven without getting baked.

Better
Convection ovens, also known as fan or turbo ovens are made with a built-in fan to continuously circulate air throughout the oven. When hot air blows on food, as opposed to merely surrounding it, the food usually cooks substantially faster. This phenomenon is due to the fact that moving air speeds up the rate of heat transference that occurs when air of two difference temperatures converge. In everyday life this is known as the wind chill factor, making a windy day feel much colder than a windless day of the same temperature since the wind strips away the thin layer of air which otherwise surrounds and insulates you, or in the case of the oven, the food. This added heat speeds up chemical reactions that take place when food cooks, creating a superior result. Pie crust is flakier, meat is juicier, and vegetables are crispier on the outside, and moister on the inside.

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Popularity: 2%

Friedrich M09Y1F Ductless Split System

With spring finally here, summer is just around the corner. Summer brings back hundreds of pleasant memories—barbeques, days at the beach, vacation time, etc. There’s really only one drawback with the summer—the heat! Thanks to air conditioners we can get through the summer without loosing our cool. When it comes time to buy a new air conditioning system for the house, it’s important to know all the options out there in order to make the best, most informed decision possible. Most people are unaware of a great new alternative to central air on the market known as mini split air conditioners or ductless air conditioners. Although popular for years in Europe and the Middle East, mini split air conditioners have only recently made it to the stores in North America. Here is a list of pros and cons to help you decide if a mini-split air conditioning system is for you.

The PROS:

Quiet

Mini split air conditioners are similar to central air conditioning units in that they are both made up of an outdoor compressor and an indoor air-handling unit. The outdoor and indoor units are linked through a conduit which holds the electrical cable, condensate drain, as well as refrigerant and suction tubing. This conduit runs through a small hole that is drilled into the external wall of the building. Since the compressor is placed outside, as far as 50 feet from the air vent, running the machine is very quiet.

Efficiency

In central air conditioning systems, the cold air passes from the air handler through ducts until it reaches the individual vents in each room. Since it takes time to travel through the ducts, they result in more than 30% of energy consumption, especially if the ducts run through an unconditioned area. Ductless air conditioners are, you guessed it—ductless–and therefore avoid the energy loss common with central air conditioning.

Another major advantage of split air conditioners is their ability to heat or cool individual rooms to a custom temperature. Some ductless air conditioners can have as many as four independent air handling units connected to one outdoor compressor. Since each of the split air conditioner zones or rooms will have an individual thermostat and independent controls it is only necessary to condition the areas with people in them, saving energy and money. Central air conditioners, on the other hand, keep the entire home at the same temperature which uses more energy because the unit has to overcompensate for some rooms that tend to be warmer than others. Cooling an entire house is much more expensive than cooling just one room. Window air conditioner units are also inefficient since the cold air passes through the exact same proximity as the hot air, getting heated up in the process. Although mini splits are usually fairly expensive, it’s possible to gain back much of the difference in costs over the life of the unit through the money saved on energy bills.

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Popularity: 1%

Frigidaire Top Mount Refrigerator

For many, the fridge is our favorite home appliance, almost like an old friend. We drop in for a visit from time to time, stopping by for a quick snack, a cool drink, or just to see what’s going on. We sometimes even subscribe supernatural powers to the refrigerator, checking inside again and again for that perfect item, hoping that it has ‘magically’ appeared since the last time we looked. The fridge is a good friend indeed unless of course you’re dieting, it’s empty, or you’re the one who’s cooking.

Refrigerators and freezers use up to a sixth of all electricity in a typical American home – consuming more energy than any other household appliance alone. A fridge virtually runs without ceasing for its entire lifespan of close to 20 years for many models! It therefore makes sense to purchase an energy efficient model which could end up saving as much as $280 a year compared to older, inefficient models which may use up to 60% more electricity. The EnergyStar website and label is a good indicator of which products are the most energy efficient, making it easier to narrow down the choices before you even go shopping.

Since a fridge is such a major appliance, occupying such a central place in our lives, homes, and hearts, it pays to make a smart decision when purchasing a new one. We’ve therefore taken the time to supply you with the basic information to help you make the best, most well informed decision. There are a few basic types of refrigerators on the market. Below you will find a description of each one, along with their pros and cons:

Top Mount Refrigerators:

Most American’s grew up with top mount refrigerators, with the freezer on the top and the fridge on the bottom. Until fairly recently they were the most popular type of fridge for no other reason than that’s what was always the most readily available. Until today, the cheapest models are still top mounts—sometimes surprisingly cheaper–and believe it or not, also the least repair prone type of refrigerator. The advantage of top mounts is that the freezer is located at eye level, making it easier to find those rarely used frozen goods, although this is also a disadvantage since the more commonly used fridge is less accessible. For several reasons, top mount refrigerators are becoming less and less popular today in place of the other models, despite their cheaper price.

Bottom Mount Refrigerators:

Bottom-freezer models are clearly more convenient because the more popular refrigerator compartment is located comfortably at eye level, without any need of bending down to get to most items. Although more convenient, bottom mount refrigerators are as much as 1.5 times more expensive than top mount models, making it a difficult comparison. Both top and bottom mount refrigerators are more energy efficient than side by side models by as much as 16%, with bottom mounts beating top mounts by a few percent.

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Popularity: 2%