Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Zed]

I have only had a tiny little gas oven in one of the 6 apartments that I've lived in here. I miss being able to do things like cook lasagna.

How did your employer set you up?
OK, the question is aimed at those for whom housing is provided.

[Alias]

Are ovens considered a luxury item here?

[the saint]

No... an absolute essential - at least in our household. A big fat oven was our first purchase here. Got it over the Internet with help from a Korean friend. THe landlord even removed the little cupboard/dias thing where a two ring burner thing should go for us so that we could have it installed.

Wife's making her own homemade pizza in it as I type... mmmm mmmm!

Gotta love it

[indytrucks]

I used to live in a place that had an oven.

It was great. Lasagna, homemade pizza, baked bread, cookies, muffins.

Then the university moved us. No oven.

I miss having an oven.

[oneiros]

I had one of those little ones. It was still big enough to bake bread or make lasagna. I sold it when I moved across the country, and have regretted it every day since.

[Zed]

[prairieboy]

Bought a nice size (not as big as back home but bigger than a toaster oven) a few months ago for just over 300,000 on sale at Homeplus.

Pizza and cakes...yummy!

[ajuma]

I lived with one of my bosses for a while (relax, it was great!) and she had an oven. I asked if I could use it to bake cookies...she said "Sure, but I don't know how it works!" She used it to store extra pots and pans!!! One of the first things I bought where I'm living now is a REAL stove with an oven! They're really not too expensive.

If you look at Korean cooking, NOTHING requires an oven, so in some households, it IS a luxury item...

[Ya-ta Boy]

I'm not trying to play one-upmanship, but I have two. A few years ago I bought a convection oven when those were the only choices we had. It was adequate but sometimes was a pain because it would zap the aluminum foil and once it exploded my glass baking dish.

I still have that one, but last fall I bought a regular oven for W250,000 at Wal Mart. It is a bit smaller than Mom's, but I was able to roast my Christmas turkey with no problem. I did that before in the other one, but it was a problem.

Anyway, I don't understand why people don't shell out the bucks then sell it to the next occupant. I'm am sure there are few foreigners who wouldn't pay for a real oven.

Well, it isn't my problem.

I have to say that having a real oven that doesn't zap things unexpectedly is a god-send. I can bake bread on Sat. morning and do all the other things that require an oven. In the days before I had any kind of oven, I really missed cinnamon rolls, lasagna, some casseroles, apple pies and cakes. I'm not bragging, but life without a lemon cake is not really worth living. That was a lesson I learned the hard way.

[kangnam mafioso]

This is when you really know you are a LIFER. When you start buying ovens. Geez people -- Use that money to buy a ticket to Thailand! What are you thinking ??