As SizzlininIN has opened the door (or drawer
) on things attached to our ovens that we don't know what they are for, I have a question too.
Background: We live in a little "flat" that has a basic kitchen, as in many Irish (perhaps European?) kitchens the burners (hob) is detached from the oven (stove).
As to the oven itself (I will try to keep my colourfully worded thoughts to myself here), it is a small one that is set in the wall, above the floor. It has only a couple of knobs (no fancy buttons), and must be at least 20 years old. There is large top area with a normal front-open door, and a bottom part that I have yet to figure out.
Here's why, one of the knobs has an arrow pointing up, this is the one that heats the main part (which only has one shelf, and only heats from the top - yes, like a broiler, the heating element is on the ceiling of this top part!...Making certain recipes very hard to make sans burning them, even on low heat).
But I can't figure out what the little (I'm guessing, perhaps 9-10 inch area is for(if it'll help anyone I can measure the height). Inside it are 3 old, horribly dirty (in the sense of oven crud) blackened sheets that look a bit like cookie sheets, and which I assume are part of this contraption. They are spaced equal distances apart (like oven racks) in the 9-10 inch high space. I've tried turning the other knob to to see if this are would heat up this area, but it doesn't appear to. Nor does it get any warmer than the residual heat from the top part when the top is in use.
Not being familiar with ovens over here this is all new to me...I thought perhaps a weird plate warmer (lol, I know - far fetched), but that wouldn't explain the dirty sheets...perhaps it worked (got warm) at one point but is broken now?
If you can make sense of what I've described, has anyone encountered something like this before???
Many thanks, I've been shy to ask about this...thanks for opening up the topic.