Reflector Oven

Object/Artifact

-

Historical Collection at the George Hail Free Library

Name/Title

Reflector Oven

Entry/Object ID

2025.04.07.10

Tags

Life at home

Description

Metal Reflector Oven, typically used to roast meat.

Use

Often made of tin, Reflector Ovens were also known as "Tin Kitchens" or "Roasting Ovens." The open side was placed toward a fireplace flame and the skewer typically held a slab of meat to be cooked. The portable tin reflector oven appeared in America around the second half of the 1700s. Old probate inventories referred to it as a “tin kitchen” or “tin oven.” Made in a demi-barrel shape with three sides, with the fourth side left open to face the fire, the oven came in different sizes to roast meat, such as a chicken, a goose, a slab of beef, or a large turkey. Quick breads made without yeast, such as cornbread, could also be baked in these kinds of ovens – which had a tray to hold the bread pan instead of a spit to hold a piece of meat. Food would also be reheated in these ovens.The convenience the tin reflector oven afforded the 18th-early 19th-century cook might be compared to today’s microwave oven. (Webb Deane Stevens Museum)

Context

This oven is dated to the late Revolutionary War period.

Made/Created

Time Period

18th Century

Lexicon

Nomenclature 4.0

Nomenclature Tertiary Object Term

Kitchen, Tin

Nomenclature Secondary Object Term

Oven, Reflector

Nomenclature Primary Object Term

Tool, Hearth Cooking

Nomenclature Sub-Class

Food Preparation Equipment

Nomenclature Class

Food Processing & Preparation T&E

Nomenclature Category

Category 04: Tools & Equipment for Materials

Getty AAT

Concept

tin kitchens, reflector ovens

Dimensions

Dimension Description

Stove

Height

14 in

Width

18 in

Dimension Description

Long Toaster

Width

12 in

Length

28-1/2 in

Dimension Description

Short Toaster

Width

10-1/2 in

Length

15-1/2 in

Material

Metal

Location

Location

Container

Display Case11

Area

Museum Floor Landing

Building

George Hail Free Library

Date

July 15, 2025

Location

Room

Charles Whipple Greene Historical Collection

Building

George Hail Free Library

Date

April 7, 2025

Notes

In rectangular glass case on table in landing

Exhibition

Warren During the Revolutionary War

Research Notes

Research Type

Researcher

Person

Suzanne Reynolds-Alpert

Notes

"In colonial times, housewives did not bake meat in an oven; instead they roasted it, fried it, or boiled it at the open fire. This device, sometimes referred to as a "tin kitchen" or "reflector oven," available in the later years of the 18th century, roasted the piece of meat from the back as well as from the front, by means of reflected heat. The meat was skewered to a spit, which was routinely turned to insure even roasting. The drippings accumulated in the bottom of the oven and could be poured off through the spout at the side." Source: Memorial Hall Museum, record of similar item (https://memorialhalldeerfield.catalogaccess.com/objects/4857)

Create Date

April 7, 2025

Update Date

August 11, 2025