Switched from proofing my bread in the oven to just on the counter last week

My kitchen stays around 74 degrees and after three loaves turned out exactly the same, I finally realized I was just wasting the oven light and electricity for nothing, has anyone else found their house temp is good enough on its own?

2 comments

2 Comments

jenny4721h agoMost Upvoted

Saying "wasting the oven light" like it's costing you real money is kind of funny to me. A basic oven light bulb pulls about 30 watts, so it's roughly a third of a penny per hour to leave it on.

oscarc1216h ago

Actually @jenny47 makes a fair point about the cost being tiny, but there's another angle that gets overlooked. That little bulb generates heat, and in an oven that's already hot from cooking, it's no big deal. But if you're like me and you leave the oven light on for hours after the oven is off just to see in the kitchen at night, that heat is actually making your fridge or freezer work harder if they're nearby. My kitchen is small and my oven sits right next to the fridge, so that bulb is basically a tiny heater fighting against my fridge's cooling. Over a whole night, the fridge kicking on more often starts to add up in a way people don't think about. So yeah, it's not the bulb's electricity cost that matters, it's the hidden stuff it makes other appliances do.

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