Steaming is a particularly gentle, flavoursome and healthy way to cook food.
As a general rule, you can do this with two different types of appliance. We let steamers and steam ovens go head to head and reveal the advantages and disadvantages of each.
Steaming is the gentle cooking of foods like vegetables, fish and meat using steam at temperatures ranging from 30 to 100 °C. The food is steamed without added fat and a large proportion of vitamins and minerals are preserved. You can cook this way with two different types of appliances. However, there are a few differences between steamers and steam ovens.
The classic steamer has several tiers and a heating element in the bottom. It is filled with water and heated up so that the rising steam surrounds the food and cooks it. In the form of a built-in steamer, it can be integrated into the kitchen just like an oven.
When steam cooking, one of two principles comes into play depending on the model. Some models heat the water in a tray on the bottom of the appliance. Others generate steam outside the cooking chamber and channel it into the interior. There are also steamers with a water tank or a mains water connection.
If a steamer is combined with an oven, it is called a steam oven. These combined appliances enable you to choose whether to steam food or to bake it with or without adding moisture. That way, dishes come out really crispy, tender and/or succulent, depending on the desired result. What’s more, steam ovens are also available with a water tank or mains water connection. That’s why this detail is not necessarily significant when choosing between a steamer and a steam oven.
The BORA X BO, for instance, is a steam oven with a mains water connection. We have deliberately designed it for convenience, as is the case of the BORA multi-drawer.
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| Steamer | Steam oven | |
|---|---|---|
| Advantage | If you have a steamer and oven as separate appliances, you can steam vegetables whilst a cake is baking in the oven, for instance. If you frequently cook several courses at the same time and cook for many people, a separate steamer makes sense. | By integrating steam and baking functions in a single appliance, considerably less space is needed. |
| The food is cooked gently. It does not dry out and taste, colour and nutrients are preserved. | A steam oven can be flexibly used for steaming and baking with or without the addition of moisture. | |
| When cooking various foods on the different levels of a steamer, flavours are not transferred. | You can enjoy a range of advantages depending on the cooking method. For instance, flavours and nutrients are optimally preserved by steaming and food is nicely browned and crisped up by baking. When steaming, as with cooking in a steamer, several dishes can be cooked at the same time without transferring flavours. | |
| High-quality appliances often give you additional functions, such as sous-vide cooking, regeneration, defrosting and sterilisation. | High-quality appliances often give you additional functions, such as sous-vide cooking, regeneration, defrosting and sterilisation. | |
| Disadvantages | This is the only cooking method possible in a steamer. You cannot bake with it – for that, you need an oven. | With a steam oven, you can either steam or bake. Cooking dishes in different ways at the same time is not possible with a combined appliance. |
| Steam cooking is only possible when the oven has this function. | The differences in terms of quality and performance are much greater in steam ovens. | |
| Steamers without a mains water connection are comparably harder to clean. They have a water tank that should be removed and rinsed after each cooking session. | In models without a mains water connection, cleaning is relatively hard work. | |
| A separate steamer takes up additional space in the kitchen. | Models with a mains water connection cannot be retrofitted in just any kitchen without significant modifications. |
High-quality steamers often include a mains water connection. That’s why this potential disadvantage is not automatically significant when choosing between a steamer and a steam oven. Before buying a steam oven or steamer, take a careful look at its range of functions.
Technically speaking, it’s not usually a question of ‘steamers vs steam ovens’. At the end of the day, an oven is a normal fixture in the kitchen. So, the question is in actual fact: is a steam oven or a combination of two separate appliances the best solution for you?
Steam ovens give you the option of baking with additional moisture. However, this is not necessarily relevant to your decision – there are also normal ovens with this feature.
Thus, two important aspects remain when deciding between a steamer and a steam oven:
Finally, it’s also a matter of deciding what your top priority is. As soon as you’ve established that, the question of whether you should opt for a steamer or steam oven answers itself. If you decide on the latter, the focus switches to the correct installation of the steam oven.
Normal ovens are not equipped for steaming. If you don’t want to buy a steamer or a steam oven, a steamer basket for cooking pots is an alternative. This is the simplest way to steam food.
A steam oven gives you three functions in a single appliance in a comparatively smaller space: steaming, conventional baking and baking with steam. This enables you to perfectly cook a wide range of foods, making them succulent, tender and/or crispy, depending on the desired result.
Both types of appliance generally use the standard recess depth of 45 or 60 cm. However, a combi oven saves space overall, as it replaces a traditional oven. If you opt for a separate steam oven, you will need a second recess for the additional oven.
Generally speaking, yes. In a standard steam cooker, the main residues are usually just moisture and limescale. In a steam oven, however, the baking and roasting functions result in burnt-on residues that are more difficult to remove. High-quality combination appliances such as the BORA X BO, however, usually feature automatic cleaning programmes using superheated steam and special cleaning cartridges, which significantly reduce the effort involved.
High-quality combi ovens generally cost around twice as much as standard steam cookers in the same quality category, as they combine a steam function and an oven in a single appliance. The exact difference depends heavily on the brand, features and installation type. However, when considering the total investment for the kitchen, this difference is put into perspective: as the steam oven completely replaces the traditional oven, the cost of a second main appliance is eliminated. Compared to buying two separate appliances, the combination can often be up to a third cheaper.
