Are you concerned about protecting your cabinets from the heat produced by your toaster oven? This article is going to provide you a comprehensive response to this question.
You may have a dilemma about how to protect cabinets from toaster oven heat. You know ventilation, heat guards etc. are some useful ways.
So, continue reading to learn about some successful methods in a nutshell.
Let’s get started.
Why should you protect cabinets from toaster oven heat?
A toaster oven is a smaller replica of a standard oven. It can cook in the same way as a standard oven, but in a fraction of time and saves electricity while taking up less counter space. A cabinet is an excellent place to keep a toaster oven. This is also where you may store your cutlery and plates.
Though the toaster oven is very helpful for its features for many cooking modes such as convection cooking, broiling, roasting, grilling, defrosting etc. The heat generated while cooking can cause huge harm to the cabinets.
Toaster ovens can reach temperatures as low as 150°F (65°C) and as high as 500°F (260°C).So you can anticipate, this heat radiation basically creates a long term effect on the cabinets.
The heat can sometimes leave burn scars on the surface. Moreover, occurrences like melting of surfaces are also perilous. This act will be a wastage of kitchen property and money. Now you know how dangerous it is!
How to protect cabinets from toaster oven heat?
As it is very important to ensure the safety of cabinets from the toaster oven heat, we will discuss some solutions to this problem. The necessary methods are given below:
Ventilation:
As the outside of the toaster oven gets very hot when it’s in use, venting it is the best approach to abstain it from harming the cabinets. This allows the heat from the oven to escape without damaging the cabinet’s surface.
When cooking becomes messy, ventilation is also crucial. When you open the oven door, the burnt-on particles of food in the bottom can produce a smoky plume. And that eventually can cause the cabinet’s surface to color black from the smoke.
It will destroy the texture of the cabinet as well. That’s why ventilation is a very significant system.
Using heat guard:
A heat guard protects any object from overheating by reflecting, absorbing and dragging the extra heat with it. By preventing unattractive stains from splattered grease and vented steam, a heat guard will safeguard the structure of your cabinetry.
Tile heat guards or contact papers can be used. Some of the heat guards are composed of top-notch polyvinyl chloride. So, as air moves around them, these dense materials absorb a lot of heat and eventually release it.
These heat guards will not allow the heat to pass to the cabinets. Moreover, these are used to prevent kitchen fire created by any kitchen appliances.
In case of installation and under cabinet lighting, it’s simple to cut to shape. Apart from the protection and security, these heat guards are available in various colors and designs, so they can also be used to beautify your cabinets.
Creating space:
You must leave sufficient room between the upper part of the oven and the cabinets. The top and sidewalls of the toaster oven should have a 4” clearance, according to most manufacturers.
If you’re using a toaster oven within a cabinet, make enough space to keep the cabinet door open to allow air flow. It will protect the cabinets from the heat produced while cooking.
Constructing shelf for oven:
You can use the shelf system to keep your toaster oven. These shelves may be freestanding or fixed on the wall. Freestanding and wall-mounted shelves with a work surface can serve as an active kitchen island. And it will give place to your toaster oven without causing any harm to the kitchen cabinets.
Using the toaster oven cautiously:
As toaster ovens are poorly insulated, the outside surfaces become quite hot while using. It’s even possible that it’ll be too hot to touch. So we must be very careful while heating the food, as the straight effect might be on the cabinets kept near the toaster oven. For specific installation and application instructions, you should check out your toaster oven’s manual.
You may plan your oven placement ahead of time to minimize heat damage to your cabinetry. Then surely the above steps will keep you ahead.
Verdict:
Assuring proper ventilation can be the simplest method of cabinet protection from heat. We did, however, go through a few more suggestions that you might consider beneficial to you.
Now you know how to protect your cabinets from toaster oven heat. I hope you have found this article helpful. You should give these solutions a try.