Downsizing Your Kitchen Is the Best Thing About an Empty Nest

Two momentous things happened in the past year: My kids moved out of our house and my oven stopped working. That big industrial-style stainless steel range had fed my daughter and son—now in law school and college, respectively—so many sheet pan dinners, Thanksgiving turkeys, free-form pizzas, pandemic sourdough boules, and such that I can credit the bulky, wheezing, hissing, and ticking semi-professional gas range with calorically fueling their ability to launch. The beast had been indispensable in the recipe testing of two cookbooks. And the testing of countless recipes for this very publication you’re reading now.

But then the workhorse oven’s igniter failed for the third time in 10 years, and with just me and my wife to feed—and no more need for batch cooking for four—I was in no rush to shell out the $600 bucks to fix it. (I know, I know—that’s a lot, but I’d foolishly bought a range noted for its pro-level BTUs and preposterous unreliability. It should come as no surprise that one of the few local repair companies capable of fixing it is called The Angry Chef.)

Nor was I quite ready to spend several thousand dollars to replace it. The burners still worked, so I could sear and boil and simmer to my heart’s delight. But in the few weeks since my kids had been gone, we realized there would be no more sheet pan dinners polished off in one go, no Sunday roasts feeding the family and then making leftovers for brown-bag school lunches, no more bucket-brigade dishwashing sessions with the contemporary equivalent of the nuclear family working in imperfect unison. The messes were big, the dishes copious, the squabbles not infrequent. But the dishwasher was full each evening. And so was the house and our hearts.

But I digress. This is a story about ovens, and what you actually need when your kids are no longer around and it’s just the two of you watching a loaf of bread last a week and a half, a dozen eggs creep past their sell-by date, and the garbage cans and recycling bins wheel sprightly and light as ever to the curb as if they could go two or three weeks without needing a pickup.

Courtesy of Williams Sonoma

Downsizing is down-cooking. And when it’s just a husband and wife eating, the inefficiency of sparking up a 200-pound range, letting it preheat for 10 minutes, then roasting a few chicken thighs or a filet of salmon feels preposterously wasteful, sort of like using a 747 to deliver a watch battery.

For years I’d been hearing friends—chefs, food professionals, cookbook authors—extol the virtues of the Breville countertop toaster/convection oven. I’d seen videos of braises and pies and whole chickens. One food editor from a major magazine cooked a spatchcocked turkey in one when her main oven failed on Thanksgiving. I’d seen catering chefs use them to augment the ovens of the home kitchens they’d taken over.

And then I saw that Williams Sonoma had partnered with Breville on a line with genuinely handsome colors and brass accents. I ordered the Smart Oven Air Fryer in olive (they call it tapenade)—a deep, muted green that reads more design object than countertop appliance—and tucked it into a corner of my kitchen.

In the first month, my wife and I made our own downsized sheet pan dinners—sausage and broccoli and gnocchi, five-spice chicken and root vegetables—on the little tray provided, which is just right for two people with a little extra for leftovers the next day. We love air-frying salmon fillets from frozen in just 15 minutes. We reheat leftovers in barely more time than it would take in a microwave. The small size is wildly efficient, with so little negative space that everything cooks faster than in a big oven. It’s a quiet marvel of space, electricity, and time efficiency.

Courtesy of Williams Sonoma

This is where the thing stops being a nice idea and becomes a legitimate piece of cooking equipment. The oven packs 13 preset functions: toast, bagel, bake, roast, broil, pizza, cookies, proof, air fry, dehydrate, reheat, warm, and slow cook. This sounds like overkill until you realize you actually use most of them. 

It’s powered by what Breville calls “super convection,” essentially a higher-speed fan that moves hot air aggressively, so you get faster, more even cooking and legitimately crisp air frying. The interior is big enough to handle a 9×13 pan or even a small chicken, but tight enough that you’re not wasting energy heating empty space.

The interface is simple: dials, clear presets, minimal friction. And the included accessories (racks, pizza pan, air-fry basket) mean you’re not immediately buying add-ons. It also has that quietly brilliant optional magnetic cutting board that sits on top, turning dead space into prep space without cluttering your counter.

We still cook. Just… differently. Smaller. Faster. More precisely scaled to two people who no longer need to feed a small army. And yes, we’ll eventually replace the full-size oven, probably in time for the holidays, because we want our kids to come home and be well fed, and because the kitchen is still the hearth of the home, even if it’s quieter now. But then they’ll leave again. And we’ll go back to this compact, tapenade-green little oven, air-frying salmon, roasting vegetables, making just enough. And feeling, in some small, efficient, slightly nostalgic way, like newlyweds again.

Specs at a Glance: Breville Smart Oven Air Fryer (Williams Sonoma Exclusive)

Courtesy of Williams Sonoma

Product: Breville Smart Oven Air Fryer Retailer: Williams Sonoma (exclusive colors) Available colors: Tapenade (olive), plus additional Williams Sonoma exclusives with brass accents Cooking functions (13): Toast, bagel, bake, roast, broil, pizza, cookies, proof, air fry, dehydrate, reheat, warm, slow cook Convection bake technology: Breville “super convection”—high-speed fan for faster, more even cooking and crispy air frying Interior capacity: Fits a 9×13-inch pan or small turkey Included accessories: Wire racks, pizza pan, air-fry basket Optional accessory: Magnetic cutting board (mounts on top) Best for: Couples, empty nesters, small households, efficiency-minded cooks Tested on: Frozen salmon (15 min), sheet pan dinners for two, roasted vegetables, five-spice chicken

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