I remember seeing a video where a toaster could be laid on its side and used as a pizza oven instead. Rather than simply toasting bread slices, you could apply a small amount of sauce, pop a pepperoni slice or two, and some cheese and slide it into the horizontally kept toaster. Working essentially as an oven now, this toaster could be used to dish out quick pizza slices, or even toast up garlic bread, bagels, etc. While that sideways toaster use is more of a lifehack, it’s the Dwo Oven and Multicooker’s very USP. Designed to be used vertically as a regular oven, or sideways as a wider pizza oven, the Dwo goes to show that even something as basic as your average kitchen appliance has the potential to be reinvented.
Designer: Dogma Design
Designed for compact kitchens that can’t accommodate too many appliances, the Dwo lends itself to multiple use cases thanks to an adaptable design that works standing up as well as lying on its belly. The oven comes with a slim profile, sporting clear windows on the front and back, along with a control panel on top that lets you set the temperature and timer. The clear windows also function as doors, with both of them opening depending on how your oven is oriented. When standing up, the front-facing door opens to give you a narrow yet vertically spacious oven, while when sleeping down, the rear door (which is now positioned on top) opens to let you lower wide items into the oven. The concept is sort of like a wood-fired oven versus a tandoor – one has a frontal opening while the other is accessible from the top.
A roller on the bottom of the Dwo helps it easily transition between its two orientations, allowing you to easily and swiftly change between vertical and horizontal use. Vertically, the Dwo is perfect for multi-level cooking, like baking loaves, tea cakes, or a row of cookies. Lay it flat, however, and you can now lower a wider pan into it, making it ideal for pizzas, wider cakes, focaccias, pies, etc. Of course, orienting your oven vertically or horizontally means the heat coils face in different directions based on the orientation. While horizontal, your pizzas don’t necessarily cook fast from the top or the bottom, given that the heat coils are located on the sides. However, with some clever thermodynamic engineering, the Dwo could be turned into a heat-guiding furnace, so your pizza cooks evenly with browning on the bottom and a melted layer of cheese on the top!
Designed by Colombia-based Dogma Design, the Dwo is a Best of the Best winner of the Red Dot Award: Design Concept for the year 2024. It gives you an adaptable oven that doesn’t occupy much space, and can be used for something as basic as reheating an entire pizza to something more complex like making biscuits or cupcakes. The oven’s unique flat-ish internal space might be limiting had it not been for its ability to literally lean over and shift between standing and sleeping formats. No more trying to tilt the toaster on its side to lifehack your way through college!
