I went back and forth with myself on whether or not to post this. It started with asking my better half if she knew that the drawer underneath the oven wasn’t for storage. Naturally, she knew exactly what it was for because she doesn’t have a penis and she pays attention to detail whereas I do not.
Then I asked my BroBible coworkers if they knew what the drawer underneath the oven was for and not a single one of them knew, so I figured it was worth sharing this earth-shattering news with you bros:
The warming drawer is designed to keep hot foods at serving temperature. Always start with hot food. Cold or room-temperature foods cannot be heated, warmed, or cooked in the warming drawer. Bacteria will grow very rapidly in food that is between 40 and 140 degrees Fahrenheit.
It’s a warming station meant to keep food hot while you finish up all the dishes you’re cooking. But, as they point out on LifeHacker (link above), it’s not ALWAYS a warming station. There are some ovens in production where that is, in fact, a storage drawer but these types of ovens aren’t particularly common.
I’ve been using that tray underneath the oven as storage for my entire damn life. I’m not sure I’ll ever stop just because I’ve found out that it’s actually meant to be a place for me to keep my potatoes au gratin warm. At least I now know the intended purpose of the space and can move on with my life.