You Have Been Using This ALL Wrong

I have to admit, I have never read the instruction manual for any stove I have ever used, except for the new digital one my Mom got, to see how to set the damn thing.

But, I have to say when I saw this article I had to laugh, Fun Fact: That Drawer Underneath Your Stove Isn't for Storage...

"The warming drawer is designed to keep hot foods at serving temperature. Always start with hot food. Cold or room-temperature foods cannot be heated, warmed, or cooked in the warming drawer. Bacteria will grow very rapidly in food that is between 40 and 140 degrees Fahrenheit."

Makes perfect sense, NOW, but who knew? You? LMAO! I know I didn't.

How many of you will now go clean that drawer out and use it for this purpose? Or does this just go into the file to use later? Going to be hard to find another storage place I am sure.

I've known that since I was about 8. It can also be used as a broiler.

a reply to: searcherfortruth

Well, I'll be darned!
If I ever knew that, I'd forgotten. I don't think my Mother ever used it that way, it always had cast iron pans in it...almost too heavy to open.
Mine has come off it's track a long time ago and I've tried a few times to put it back and can't get it. Now, it just sits there (empty) at a peculiar angle, hardly noticeable to anyone but, me I think.

It doesn't really get warm down there when I am using the oven though. My stovetop gets pretty warm so there is where food that needed to be kept warm would go or into the microwave, the microwave keeps things relatively warm-ish.

I don't cook enough anymore to have to keep things heated like that so, I wouldn't use it for that purpose anyway even if I thought it got warm enough in the drawer. Mine is empty, BTW.

a reply to: searcherfortruth

No it's not, it's a broiler.

It's best used for cooking hotdogs.

It also assists in drying out fresh picked Herbs that You want to smo....uh....er..... use in any salads.




Proud Member of LEAP• Law Enforcement Against Prohibition

a reply to: watchitburn

Putting water in that would seem to be a major pain in the ass. Have you actually seen instructions that says that is a broiler?

I never knew that, and I cook all the time. I feel like a moron now, thanks.
I've never seen any of my family or friends use it that way, either. It's where they store their pots and pans.

Suppose the lesson in all of this is... read the instructions for stuff more often.

Okay, I think I'm confused.

I've had a stove before that just had an empty metal drawer under it, but then I've also had a stove that had a drawer that slid out that was actually a broiler.

I'm assuming you are talking about the plain empty drawer?

The house in which I live right now doesn't have any drawer whatsoever under it, so I have to dedicate an entire cabinet to pots and pans.

Anytime I have to keep a dish warm, I just put it back into the oven and set the oven to warm.

a reply to: TNMockingbird

It does get hot in there, only, not sure if the heat stays there if the oven is turned off, I would think the oven has to be left on warm at least. The key is for the food not to get cooked or dried out, so leaving food in there for long doesn't seem a good idea.

I cook all the time, but I do not have anyone to save food for, still, I thought it was funny.

a reply to: DustbowlDebutante

I think it would be used if you had food that needed to be kept warm while still cooking other food in the oven. There are some stoves that have a broiler pan and some just have the warming drawer. I do not think the warming drawer itself is designed to be a broiler pan.

a reply to: searcherfortruth

It is only a warming drawer if it is designed to be, and has controls to turn it on/off. I know this b/c we just researched tons of stoves and bought a new one. It does NOT have a warming drawer. The drawer at the bottom of the one we bought is for storing cookie sheets, etc. Some of the newer models do indeed have warming drawers. Otherwise, business as usual... (just a storage drawer.)

originally posted by: searcherfortruth
a reply to: watchitburn

Putting water in that would seem to be a major pain in the ass. Have you actually seen instructions that says that is a broiler?

Broiling doesn't involve water. When your oven has a broiler, you put food on the broiler pan (catches drips through slots in the top "lid" part of the pan), and the fire or electric heating element is above the food, but in close proximity.

Not all ovens have these. Some have warning drawers, others just have storage drawers, some of which get kind-of warm from heat transference from the oven.

In a normal oven it's a normal drawer intended to store broiling pans. That's it. Unless it has controls, it is NOT for cooking or warming anything. Mine doesn't even have a drawer at all. Not all stoves are built like yours.

a reply to: searcherfortruth

My parents always had an electric oven and always used theirs that way growing up.

Then I got a gas oven and proceeded to destroy a glass lid because in a gas oven, it's a broiler.

I just looked up my stove paperwork. It's even called a storage drawer.

In times of old- I have a McClary wood cook stove too - the warming drawer is at the top. Makes more sense up there...

a reply to: searcherfortruth

Do not get folks all excited. Odds are, that they are using the drawer just right.

The first stove my parents had while I was growing up had a warming drawer. The next one did not - it just had a storage drawer. When I moved out my first apartment had stove with a storage drawer. The next one too had only a storage drawer.

The stove my fiancee and I got for the apartment we bought had a warming drawer.

It is pretty model specific. Most stoves today does not have a warming drawer. Not here anyway - I specifically searched for it, when we designed our kitchen.

Reading the comments to the article, it seems this is the case elsewhere.

Edit: But it is a good tip nonetheless. I am sure many people does not notice the feature, if they are used to it being a just storage drawer!

a reply to: dogstar23

Oh I thought you meant boiler, silly me!

a reply to: dogstar23

Seriously, I know what a broiler is for and how to use it, some of the old stoves did allow for broilers underneath, but most of the time broiling is done in the oven. Todays stoves probably are built more for storage or warming, but I have not researched them because, I have not needed to.

Again, I thought the article headline was funny and decided to share, really do not care, actually what anyone does with that bottom drawer. All stoves are not equal to the task.

I always thought they put that drawer under the stove for a place for mice to build their home behind the frying pans. Was I shocked to find it was a warming oven where you could forget food to feed the mice The mice sure will be happy.

a reply to: searcherfortruth

The dial on the oven says broiler. and it cooks hotdogs down there, that's all I need to know.