apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Generally no -
- but sometimes I'll toss a cast-iron skillet in the oven to dry completely after washing and reseasoning and will forget that it's in there until the next time I use the oven.

I use my oven to store my cast iron pan and a few cookie sheets -- I have a tiny apt kitchen, and I cook a lot, but I almost NEVER use my oven (3 times since I've moved in), so it's a great place for storage. I prefer to use my countertop convection toaster oven. It has better temperature control, uses less energy, doesn't need time to preheat, and doesn't heat up the whole place.

No way! What a hassel to have to get the dishes out of there any time you wanted to bake. Then they're sitting on the counter, waiting, and you have to put them back after the oven has cooled off. Too much work for what it's worth.

I would NOT store boxes of cereal though. I would be paranoid about that.

Funny, my mom uses the oven as storage and only uses it for special occasions. She bakes with the toaster oven on regular days and she seems more attached to it.

I don't store anything in the oven except for the pizza stone.

YES! Especially for very heavy cookware. My friend has his dishwasher stuffed with clothes (he washes dishes by hand and his open plan condo has next to no closet space).

I store my cast iron and cookie sheets in the oven. I wouldn't keep anything in there that wouldn't easily withstand me forgetfully turning on the oven, though.

Skillets. It never occurred to me that they might catch on fire. I don't think 450° would do it, anyway.

No way! The oven is for producing my famous brownies! :)

I use my microwave for storage - especially cookies and stuff.

too many melted tupperware experiences... definitely no. if you have to use your oven for storage, you might think about getting rid of stuff or getting products that nest or store more efficiently...

I don't store things in the oven, but I do thaw frozen meat or fish in it. It's a perfect spot as long as the cat hasn't found out how to open the door.

I used to, but it drove my girlfriend crazy. To me, it was an easy space-saving measure. To her it was emblematic of how small the apartment is.

I learned my lesson on not using the oven as storage after an incident that occurred at my Grandparent's house. A few years ago my Grandma was sick and my Aunt visited to help her out. Auntie was cooking dinner for Grandma while she was napping and preheated the oven - only to have the house filled with icky smells and some smoke. Apparently Grandma stored all her medicines in the oven and they all melted along with tupperwear they were stored in!!

I've never seen the point since I'm a baker. My oven is on at least once a week and I never remember if I've left something in there, usually my cast iron skillet, so I have to have something quite hot sitting on the counter for a while. Too much trouble.

in my old apt i used to until one day it started smoking as i was pre-heating it. i had left an ikea plastic serving platter in there and it melted all over the bottom - i got more of it, but never used the oven again. in my new place i only put pans and non-plastic/oven safe items in there just in case i forget again.

I tried to hide some snack food from my kids in the oven then promptly forgot about it. I went to heat up the broiler when I had company over and almost instantly had yucky smoke filling the house! So I will definitely never use it for a 'hiding place' anymore but I would be willing to put empty, oven safe items in there if I needed to.

Only the broiler pans.

But this does remind me of the time when my mother hid a box of her favorite cookies in the oven so my sister and I wouldn't eat them all -- she remembered she had hidden them there when the kitchen filled up with black smoke from the melting plastic container because she was pre-heating the oven!

No. My kitchen is small, but I have ample storage space, fortunately. My mother is just like tasteduds's: she prefers her toaster oven and only uses her regular oven to store rarely-used pots and pans.

I have a tiny kitchen with, inexplicably, a double oven. It's not possible for enough people to live in the apartment that the cook would need two ovens to feed them. So I use the lower oven to store large/heavy pots and pans. The upper oven is always available and is perfectly sufficient for my needs.

When I was a young mom and lived without a dishwasher, I stored dirty dishes a time or two in the oven. It was a lifesaver if company showed up and I wanted the kitchen to look clean.

"My friend has his dishwasher stuffed with clothes"

Now that's weird...

your childhood fears were completely rational! i set the kitchen on fire when i was 10 because my mom used the oven as storage! she didn't usually, but we were having a party the next day and she stuck the paper plates and napkins in there. yikes!

I never have but then again, I've always had ample storage for stuff and even utilize a wall mounted grid to hang stuff that is hangable in the way of pots and pans as I cook a lot of the time and to be quite honest, I most likely never will since I DO use it some of the time.

Small NYC kitchen = all bakeware stored in oven.

I keep a large ceramic roasting pan in the oven, as I have nowhere else to keep it. (read: it won't fit anywhere else except possibly the coat closet which is quite possibly even more ridiculous!) There is nothing meltable on it (thank goodness), because I have preheated it with the oven a time or two.

All of my bakeware and one skillet, I have a tiny corner kitchen in a tiny NYC Apt. I use my oven a fair amount, so I just remove everything and place in on a side table. I wish I had the luxury of having more storage space.

Yep! I put crock pots and such in there, a rice cooker and other frequently used, but rather bulky items. Never had a problem with the oven accidentally burning something.

All bakeware is in the oven. Not that I ever bake. Or use my oven.

a cookie sheet that's too wide, and a cast iron skillet.

i live in 390 sq ft, so the oven is valuable storage space in which to store my bake ware and my tater skillet (grandmother's, then mother's, now my cast iron pan).

it might be noteworthy that my dad used his parents' oven as a garage for his toy automobiles as a child, and one day while preheating my grandmother baked some unexpected treats.

Noooo. I don't even keep my pizza stone in the there. I check it before I turn it on---every time. I can't list the things I ruined by stashing them in the oven. No. Nyet. Bad habit I say. (if you live in a teeny tiny place---ok.)

No - and oddly enough, you'd think I would because the storage in my kitchen is so lacking. But I don't. Maybe I should, at least to keep my casserole dish in there. It doesn't fit anywhere nicely.

Now if you can find a decent place to stash my crockpot...

Yes, I stow my cast iron frying pans and dutch oven/casserole in the oven when I'm not using it. Especially in summer, I don't use the oven that much, and when I do, its usually only one rack, so a lot of the time, the cast iron can even stay put. It also means the cast iron pieces don't have to travel far when I need them. I try to keep stuff organized by how often I need it and where I'm going to use it.

Same as Rapunzel I bizarrely have a double oven in a teeny tiny flat. I couldn't get by without using the bottom one for storage - it holds all my baking sheets, casserole dishes, even cookie cutters and aluminium foil... I've no idea where I'd store these items otherwise.

My mother stores extra cookware in the oven. I store pots in the broiler, but not the oven because I once burned my hand very badly when I preheated my mother's oven and discovered a frying pan full of cooking oil in there. Since then, the only thing I store in my oven is my baking stone.

I keep all my skillets in the oven. I have definitely preheated the oven, more than once, with everything still in there. Luckily they are heat proof. When I use the oven I have to take everything out and it sits on the floor which is inconvenient. I don't like using it as storage, but I am lacking in better ideas right now.

Yea.. I don't because it's a hassle to remove things before cooking and waiting to put them back afterwards. And then, half the time, you end up turning the oven on and having to deal with a hot pan or pot!

Laura
http://www.grafxnerd.net

Yes; my two Le Creuset items: pot in Flame and tea kettle in Kiwi.

I frequently throw my ceramic and cast iron cookware in the oven, as well as baking pans....pretty much anything and everything that can go into a hot oven has been stored there at some point.

But I'm also one of those people who likes to keep her super old Le Creuset red enamel french oven out on the stove top because it adds a bright splash of colour. So I'm more likely to keep the stuff on top of the stove in what I think of as "artful vignettes" and my husband calls "sheer laziness, and could you just put it in the cupboards please?".

Last week I just heard that when a friend was living in her tiny apartment in San Francisco, she stored some of her extra shoes in her oven. I'd never thought of doing that. When her uncle came to visit, he turned on the oven to preheat for a pizza. He came running to my friend and exclaimed, "Why do you have your shoes in the oven?" She exclaimed, "Why did you turn the oven on??!!!"

my live-in landlord has way too many plates, bowls and pans. i stored them in the dishwasher coz we never use it unless we have a big BBQ party in summer..

I mostly do it only as temporary storage, like when cooking for a dinner party and the dirty pans build up. I have no counter space, and hand wash dishes, so if I'm done with or not using the oven, I do tend to slide things into it to get them out of the way, usually the pans I'm done with.

I do use the dishwasher for storage. It is pretty new, but the least expensive economy model, and it doesn't work well, so I don't really use it. Between the super hard water, and the fact that it doesn't wash dishes well, you pretty much have to wash dishes when they come out of it, so why bother? So I use it to store... dishes. Either overflow of dishes to be washed, or clean dishes that were washed and don't fit in the drainer, or the too big, too many drawers for the fridge (which live in the dish washer!) (Seriously, the fridge has so many shelves and drawers and accessories there is no room for food. I took 1/2 of them out.)

My stove has a bottom drawer for keeping food warm. I store my cast iron skillets in there.

My mother stores cookies, bread, chips, and such in her oven. I don't use my oven as a bread box, but absolutely store as many pots, pans, assorted bakeware and oversized utensils as I can possibly fit. There's no decent storage in my tiny corner kitchen -- suitable for miniature people only. Often I'm secretly pleased when I accidentally break a dish or drinking glass since it will then be less crowded in my cabinets.

Storing extra shoes in the oven is brilliant! What a riot!

I've hid dirty dishes in there.

Also frequently hid the cat in the dorm-sized bar-fridge when I was in college and the landlord wanted to show our groovy apt.

She actually liked it.

I would never use my oven for storage. I use it way too often. Plus who wants to worry that they might forget exactly what is in there and go to preheat the oven....could be a fatal mistake for some items. Lots of things could set fire.

And for those who do, isn't it a bigger hassle to take every single thing out to cook, let it sit all over your counters until the oven is cooled enough, and then place it all back? If you have so much stuff you can't store it (even go for underbed storage over the oven), get rid of some.

And I thought I was the only one! I store oversized pots 'n pans in there, as well as cookie sheets. There's just not enough cabinet storage for the big stuff. I guess it's a hassle to take them out each time I have to use the oven, but I really have no other alternative...

great, practical idea!!

{ http://twitter.com/CheapgirlBoston }

we used to store our bread in the oven and then had a little "incident". Thank goodness it was a minor one that involved lots of really smelly smoke & a melted plastic bag. The bread looked like a charcoal briquette. Yum!

I had a roommate who insisted on storing his cast iron skillet (filled with a half a cup of oil) in the oven, in addition to the baking sheets and a couple other things. It used to drive me absolutely nuts to turn the oven on to bake something, open the door to insert my bakeables, and find several (now very hot) pieces of cookware inside. I never got used to it because it was (and still is) a foreign idea to me; we had plenty of storage space for these items, and I'm sure my mother would have frowned on such behavior, so I wasn't trained to do so. Now that I live alone, nothing but the oven racks are inside when I'm not using the oven.

hmmm ... i haven't been, but i will now. not flammable things (what are you people thinking? or perhaps, why aren't you thinking?), but pots & pans & bakeware, definitely. thanks for reminding me. (my mother always kept skillets in the oven.)

Wha? I just...can't imagine doing this.

Where would I put the stuff when I wanted to use the oven? It would just make a bigger mess when it's time to bake something.

I don't use the oven for storage because I use it so frequently that it would just be a pain.

But, I have been thinking about using my dishwasher for storage... I primarily hand wash my dishes so the dishwasher sits empty. I have a vintage housewares shop on etsy, so I am bursting at the seams in terms of storage. Perhaps a project for this weekend!

ChrisGal,
If you only store oven-proof items in the oven (e.g. cast iron and bakeware), then you don't have to worry about burning down the house if you forget to empty the oven before preheating it.

And, some of us really don't have another place to store large pots and pans. It's funny, but my mom always stored pots and pans in the oven, but she absolutely forbid us to store things under our beds, because she thought that was messy. To this day, I don't store anything under my bed.

Maipop,
I don't find it to be a big deal to stack my iron skillets on the back burner when I need to use the oven. It takes two seconds, tops. And if I forget and preheat the oven with them in there, again, no big deal, since I'm just going to set them on the back of the stove, anyway.

I keep my 2 cast iron pans in the oven and my mother's roasting pan - which reminds me I have to return it.

yes, esp when there's no other space to store stuff. my mum uses it for storing baking tins/roasting pans...

yep, my condo has very little storage space. I store baking sheets and a few skillets in the oven

When we were showing our home, I'd stuff all our dirty dishes in there--and voila the kitchen was clean. It felt so mischievous and smart.

Whoa, I'd always assumed that everyone used their oven for storage. My folks always did, and I do (so did my husband before I ever met him), so I thought it was the natural thing to do. I guess not!

We store our cast iron pans in there, and sometimes baking pans.

i've watched a friend drag out from her oven TONS of tupperware, cookie sheets, pots, pans, even kitchen gadgets and utensils and little things. it makes a huge pile on top of her counter and is so obviously ridiculous and inefficient (and unsafe!) that i feel like giving her a good smack.

I do baking trays and muffin tins. Nothing that it would be a problem to leave in there while the oven is in use. And only a few of them, so I can throw some rolls in to warm without having to take everything out first.

A relative though uses her microwave as a bread box. Drives me crazy, but I guess she doesn't use the microwave much. Then again, she doesn't have kids.

Great idea if you never use your oven or if you are crazy about kitchen gadgets and simply don't have enough room in your kitchen, but I definitely bake way too much to do this... it would just be a hassle.

no! --Because hubby never checks in there before turning the thing on. His buddies put balloons all over our former flat when we were away on our honeymoon (cabinets, closets, toilets) and yes... the oven. Nice aroma, melted latex...

i keep my baking pans in there

OH and i use my microwave as a bread box. Yeah... i never use the micro. It's time to sell it off, i think.

Yes, I store cookie sheets, enamelware, etc. in the oven because I have a TINY 1940's kitchen. It is a hassle to take things out and put them back in after cooking, but I need all the storage space I can get.

Shelly - You never read my other point - where are you going to put the mess in your oven when you need to use it? You then are cluttering up all your counters. If someone else God forbid uses your oven, they are going to get the welcome of having to remove lots of very hot pots ad pans out of the oven so they can use it - and counters and table tops (unless you are lucky enough to have granite and the such) are going to get scorched. I would much rather place a few things in a storage bin and push it under my bed rather than cause a fire hazard or a major pain that would just cost me my security deposit PLUS a few hundred dollars when I ruin the counters.

kdkaboom - AGREED. No one I know uses the oven for storage (beyond using it to keep food warm if everyone isn't home for dinner) - and it is a ridiculous idea. I'd rather use the dishwasher for storage than the oven - but both are really idiotic ideas. Like I said, either GET RID of a few things so it will fit or find a place to store it where you don't have to make yourself look ridiculous when you pile everything on your counter when you are cooking dinner. I would think most of you would have already gotten laughs if you ever entertain. Sadly some of you are the same people who say never store a thing on your counter - what do you think you are doing when you pile everything on it to just use the oven?

LoveLuna - If something is a hassle, isn't that usually when someone fixes the problem?

ChrisGal,
I did address your other point. What mess? What fire hazard? What counters (ha!)? I put my pans on the back burner when I need to use my oven. Easy peasy and *nothing* like a "major pain." And I live alone, so no one else uses my oven, and if they did, so what? I only put cast iron in there, so even if someone turned the oven on full blast, it wouldn't harm anything. I also bake in my cast iron, so removing hot pans from the oven is just not a big deal to me. (Trivets, people!)

If storing kitchenware under your bed works for you, great. I wouldn't dream of calling your solution "ridiculous," but it would not work for me (I have no "under the bed"). And besides, I use them every day. Nor am I willing to get rid of one of my few cast iron pans, both passed down from my mom. I have a very small kitchen, so the problem is not "too many things." I'm not worried about looking ridiculous, either, for storing pans in my oven. Who on earth has so much emotion invested in other people's kitchen storage solutions that they'd actually waste worrying about it? I only invite *friends and family* to my house, and I would hope that friends and family don't care where I store my pots and pans.

Using the oven for storage is quite a common thing in the UK. We use our oven daily, and we store in it two frying pans (one big, one small) and three baking sheets. We've never put the oven on without taking things out, it's habit. And if I was over a friends, I would check if there was anything in the oven before turning it on.

The large frying pan gets used everyday, my partner has bacon everyday. The little pan gets used every couple of days for my omelettes. At least 2 of the 3 baking trays get used daily. We've plenty of cupboard space, but it's more convenient to put these items in the oven as they are more accessible.

I keep my cast-iron skillet in my oven because I don't have any other place to put it. Also, because it won't hurt the pan if I forget to take it out before preheating the oven.

When I was growing up my mom kept store bought bread products in the oven, complete with plastic wrap. Let me just say: stupid idea.

I don't keep anything in my own oven, but I might keep pans if there if I didn't have another place to store them. I don't see anything odd about that.

Shelly -- I cook daily and I still only own one cast iron skillet. I wouldn't own another because I would find it extremely unnecessary. I actually only keep what I have enough cabinets for in my kitchen. I just stack them in lower cabinets.


Kitchen pots and pans:
-One cast iron skillet
-One large pasta pot
-Three small pots for soups, sauces, etc (three different sizes)
-Four skillets (deep, large, small, and omelette size)
-Two cookie sheets
-Two pizza pans
-Two casserole dishes (one small, one large)
-Two cake pans
-One rectangular pan

All of this fits in two pretty small lower cabinets - mostly because smaller things actually fit into the larger ones and things I use less sit in the back.

The oven is just crazy - if nothing else you have to have space under your sink that stuff could sit. I know under our sink I literally have: trash bags, plastic bags (grocery store size), a blender, paper towels, oven mitts, strainer, lots of tupperware (again stackable), cleaning supplies, and some emergency candles. I could probably fit half my baking ware under there still with just a tiny bit of organization.

ChrisGal,
I didn't ask you to rearrange my kitchen for me.

My apartment has a tiny kitchen and not so much storage so unfortunately yes, I do use my oven for storage. I keep my wok, baking stone and other random pots and pans in here. It is definitely packed pretty tight, but without any other options for storage (and my absolute hatred of a noticably cluttered kitchen with stuff everywhere, my best option was to keep it all hidden in the oven.

Thankfully I'm a terrible cook and do not like baking so this works well for me.

Just proving how much you can honestly fit into a cabinet - especially a lower one. I'd rather pull my nice skillets out of a cabinet rather than place them in an oven that can be thoughtlessly turned on without thinking.

If something is done without thinking, isn't is by definition done thoughtlessly? Anyway, cast iron isn't so delicate that it cannot tolerate being in a hot oven. You do realize that people use it for baking?

Shelly, yes I do realize that. I have used mine mostly for different types of cornbread. But I wouldn't want it to be constantly getting hot in an oven for no reason - plus that sucker is heavy enough when you aren't trying to lift it with potholders.

I don't make a habit of leaving stuff in the oven when I turn it on. If I forget once in five years (I grew up with pans stored in the oven, so this is second nature to me), I fail to see why on earth it would be a big deal, as long as I only store oven-safe things there.

I still can't figure out why you care where I store my pots and pans.

To be honest, I wasn't going to reply until the last sentence - a good question to you is if you hate my thoughts so much why are you replying?