Panasonic’s new Countertop Induction Oven, or CIO, promises to revolutionize the home cooking experience. Find out everything you need to know about the Panasonic CIO today in our review.
What is the Panasonic CIO?
The Countertop Induction Oven promises to help you make healthy, flavorful dishes in under 30 minutes. The device looks like a standard microwave: it’s about the same shape and size, so it should have no problem fitting onto your kitchen countertop.
The CIO is available to order from Amazon or the official Panasonic website for around $600. It’s a combination between a grill and an induction oven. You can use it to do everything from grilling burgers to making chicken dishes with vegetables.
How Does the Panasonic CIO Work?
The secret behind the Countertop Induction Oven is that it uses a Panasonic induction heater (IH) to rapidly raise temperatures without preheating. This gives users precise cooking control. By applying direct heat to the food, combined with an airtight seal to prevent heat escape, the Countertop Induction Oven is able to prepare foods that are crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside.
Another key feature behind the Panasonic CIO is that it circulates a fine shower of steam throughout the interior of the oven during the cooking process. That steam contains flavors that were released by your ingredients during the cooking process. Overall, this should help enhance the savory flavor of your dish.
The key part of the Countertop Induction Oven is the dishwasher-safe, die-cast aluminum grill pan, which guides heat conducted from the center towards the edges of the pan. Why is that important? Well, if you have foods with different heating times, you can efficiently cook both at the same time.
How do you control the Countertop Induction Oven? It’s easier than you think. The oven lets you control the temperature just like an ordinary cooking appliance. However, if you want a hands-off cooking approach, then you also use the pre-programmed auto menu, which lets you push a button to make an effortless meal fast.
All Countertop Induction Oven purchases come with a recipe book designed to help you take full advantage of the oven.
Panasonic CIO Features
- Combines direct induction and instant double-infrared heating
- Make dishes with multiple ingredients in under 30 minutes – including chicken and vegetables on the same dish
- Dishwasher-safe grill pan
- Circulatory steam system that enhances the savory taste of umami in your dish
- Step-by-step induction cookbook with 26 CIO recipes created by Certified Master Chefs at the Culinary Institute of America
Panasonic CIO Tech Specs
- Capacity: 13L (0.5 cubic feet)
- Door: Pull down, normal glass door with black matte finish and Panasonic door screen
- Interior: PCM steel black with fluorine coating and LED cavity lamp
- Control Panel: 9 key escutcheon base with blue LED dial
- Power for Top Heater (Broil): 640W x 2 pieces, Milacron heater
- Settings for Top Heater: 3 levels (high, medium, or low)
- Bottom Heater (Grill) Thermistor: 1400W induction heater
- Settings for Bottom Induction Heater: 6 levels (high, medium-high, medium, medium-low, low, keep warm)
- Bake Heater: 1710W
- Settings for Bake Heater: 6 levels (325/350/375/400/425/450 degrees Fahrenheit
- Auto Program: 6 dishes (poultry with vegetables, fish with vegetables, fish, frozen pizza, toast, or a bagel)
- Size: 500 (W) x 390 (D) x 225 (H) mm
- Weight: 13.3kg (with accessories)
Countertop Induction Oven Pricing
The Countertop Induction Oven is available to order today through Panasonic.com’s official online store. The oven is priced at $599.95 USD. It ships within 1 to 3 business days.
You can also order the Countertop Induction Oven from Amazon, where it’s labeled as Countertop Induction Oven (CIO) – NU-HX100S. It’s priced at an identical $599.95 on Amazon.
What Do Customers Have to Say?
The Countertop Induction Oven is well-reviewed online, with most customers agreeing that the oven works as advertised to cook foods quickly and efficiently. At the time of writing, the CIO had an average rating of 4 stars out of 5 on Amazon with a total of 20 customer reviews.
Pros
- Food comes out delicious
- Helps you save money
- Cuts down on dishes (just place aluminum foil over the pan)
- Uses infrared heat and induction heat to cook food
- Grill feature is great for cooking burgers, hot dogs, grilled chicken, etc.
- Vegetable and fish/chicken combo auto-setting works to cook food well
- Excellent for cooking vegetables
- Grill pan is easy to clean
- Grill pan makes it easy to switch different items quickly
Cons
- Because the oven uses induction heat, you need to use the grill pan to cook your food – if you just place food inside the oven, and don’t use the grill pan, then it will only be heated with infrared heat, which won’t give it enough energy
- Takes a long time for the oven to preheat, which makes it not ideal for cooking toast or other ready-to-go meals
- You need to keep the recipe book nearby to check temperature information frequently (before you make each meal)
Should You Buy the Panasonic CIO?
Ultimately, most of the bad reviews for the Countertop Induction Oven are from people who don’t really understand induction ovens. Overall, the oven appears to work as advertised to help you cook a variety of dishes. The main downside is that it takes longer to toast items than, say, a dedicated toaster oven. It’s more useful for grilling burgers than it is for making toast in the morning.
If you understand the restrictions, and feel like you’d use the grill/induction oven system to make various dishes, then the Panasonic Countertop Induction Oven may be the right choice for you. It’s well-reviewed online and comes with Panasonic’s renowned build quality.
