Inaccurate Oven Temperature
 

Three weeks ago we moved to a different house. The house was built about 1989-1991 and the stove/oven is original with the house. I baked some cookies that normally bake in 17 minutes. By about 12-13 minutes the cookies were burning. The second batch I watched more carefully and at 11:00 minutes they were fine. The third batch I had to take out at 8:00 minutes. This morning I made an apple pie which normally bakes in 40-50 minutes. I took it out at 30 minutes because it was browning on top. I baked chicken the other night and it was done in about 20 minutes.

Obviously the temperature is not correct. Does anyone have suggestions on how to adapt cooking times to this?

Thanks,

I have a similiar problem, my oven runs on the cool side. I've learned to increase the heat-if it calls for 350*, I set it for 375*

You can call a professional in to adjust it, or convince the family you need a new oven for the holidays.

Good luck,

not only is your oven temp off, but with appliances that old, your electric bill is probably higher. could not believe the difference in our electric bill. i really pinch my pennies. lots of times, i don't buy anything until the old one dies. suddenly last yr all my appliances started dying. and when we were done, my electric bill was less than half what it had been. we went from a $280 dollar electric bill, and higher in the summer months down to an average of $80. we had replaced everything, and i mean everything electrical in my house last yr.

You can get a oven thermometer to check and see how off you are, they are cheap under $10. If you aren't too far off then you can easily adjust your temps when turning on the oven.

If it is way off, it can probably be repaired or calibrated. But, as has already been mentioned, this might be a good excuse to shop for a new stove. In my case, I had the coolest 1965 stove in my house (same frigidaire stove as in the old Bewitched show, google it!) and it worked great. But we remodeled and I decided I wanted to go more modern with my appliances. Its amazing how much the power useage dropped with a new fridge and stove in my all electric house.

I had purchased the extended warrantee on my 12 year old Kenmore stove and had the guy come for maintenance last week. I baked a cake before he came so he could see that one side cooks faster than the other side of the oven. It was obvious it's uneven heat flow. However, he said it's just the way some stoves are and nothing can be done about it. I always have to rotate cakes or cookie sheets half way through to have even cooking.

Problem with your cooking too fast is that stuff is browned faster on the outside but not fully cooked inside. I agree on getting a thermometer to figure out what the temperature really is and then set it accordingly. Might be worth having it checked out, or as others say, get yourself a more efficient new one.

Like GrandmaNewt suggested, go and get an oven thermometer.

I did Google it and OMG, I have that oven's sister!!! My burners line up in a row and have a butcher block in the front but it slides out of sight when not in use. I love having the the 2 ovens at eye level.

piney

I agree about the oven thermometer, but if it's electric you might be able to replace the elements (coils). They just pull and push in and out....unless your oven is so old that isn't possible. If it's gas, I have no idea -- LOL.

I had problems with my oven just the past few days. Made some cookies the other day and lower rack browned as usual but upper rack didn't. Wednesday I made the pies for Thanksgiving diner and had to bake them longer than usual to brown and apple pie bubble up in the slits . When we had the applepie last night the bottom crust wan't fully uncooked but the rest of the pie was fine.

Yesterday the turkey did fine on the bottom rack but the corn casserole on the top rack took almost twice as long to firm up and brown. I've has the range just a few years and it has a new quartz countertop around it so replacement isn't the first way for me to go. Will get an over guage and see what happens.

my old oven (just replaced 6 mo ago) was 400º in the front and 300º in the back...could never bake anything, sure am enjoying the new one LOL