ELI5: Why do some ovens have separate buttons for ‘Bake’ and ‘Preheat’?

r/

Don’t both buttons reach the same temperature via the same method? If so, how is this not seen as unnecessary over-engineering?

Comments

  1. DidNotSeeThi Avatar

    My electric oven has 2 elements.

    Preheat is both

    Bake is lower

    Broil is upper

    Makes preheat faster

  2. Xelopheris Avatar

    This might happen with more analog ovens.

    When preheating, you can get there faster if you’re using both top and bottom burners. But if you’ve got the top burner on for cooking, you might overcook the top of the food. 

    On more modern digitally controlled ovens, they can do that in software, knowing when they’re preheating versus just maintaining temperature. For older analog ovens, adding that logic can be difficult, so they might just use a second option on the dial.