LIVE WITH IT: JUNE OVEN

PRICE: 

Standard Package - $499. Includes oven, 1 thermometer, 1 pan and 1 wire shelf (3 options for shelf placement) 

**This is the model I have, currently sold out 

June also gives users 3 months of June Premium for free, which I am conveniently using during my 3-month Live With It testing period. After 3 months it’s $4.99/month or $49/year for full access to recipes. 

Gourmet Package - $699. Includes oven, 1 thermometer, 2 pans, 1 wire shelf, 1 crumb try, 1 roasting rack, 3 air baskets for air frying/dehydrating, 3-year full recipe subscription. (Was formerly $599, increased price in 2019 due to “tariffs”)

If Gourmet Package extras are bought separately as accessories:

3-pack of air baskets - $49

1 pan - $39

1 crumb tray - $49

1 roasting rack - $29

3-year June Premium subscription - $150 

TOTAL: $316 (if you want all the bells and whistles, the Gourmet Package is $115 cheaper than buying everything separately but if you just want certain extras you have options)

June’s ovens are currently sold out at juneoven.com, The company links customers to Amazon on both models, but only the Gourmet Package is in stock for $699. It feels a little disingenuous that their splash page promotes “only $499” as the price. 

On a separate “stores” page, June links to both Amazon and Crate & Barrel, which also only sells the Gourmet Package for $699, but also sells June ovens in select physical stores in CA, IL, IN, MN, NY, UT, and WA. 

———————————————

FIRST IMPRESSIONS:

- The box the June comes in is very heavy. My driveway is on an incline so I had to bring the box up on a dolly. 

- Packaging is very nice, Apple-esque. Oven, tray, wire shelf, and a setup guide made getting started easy.

- I already have a microwave and a conventional oven. I wasn’t sure where to put the June, which isn’t small.

(Exact dimensions: 12.75" H x 19.6" W X 19”D). It’s bigger than a standard microwave or toaster oven, but will fit comfortably on most countertops as long as there’s ample width space.

- June advises users to leave space around all sides of the June, including the back, and not stack anything on top of it. I tried moving my microwave and putting the June in its place, but then my microwave was in a weird spot, and I use my microwave all the time. I ended up moving my much-smaller coffeemaker to a different place and now the microwave and June are side-by-side, staring down my oven. Several friends have already commented that my compact kitchen sure has a lot of ovens. But it all fits!

TOUCHSCREEN: 

- The display on the June is bright and pretty, looks great. It’s about the size of an iPhone 11. Navigates just like a smartphone. 

- Small detail I really like: along with time of day, it also displays date and day of week when not in use. Makes the microwave’s digital time look janky. 

- The first two display screens are various programs (chicken, vegetables, seafood, etc) and cooking settings (broil, bake, etc). The last screen includes oven settings, cleaning instructions, connected devices, and a Whole Foods grocery list.

* The Whole Foods grocery list is sort of weird. It’s only about 30 different foods you would buy at Whole Foods, like chicken nuggets or mozzarella sticks, designed to be touch-and-go if you bought those items at Whole Foods, although specific brands aren’t listed. I assume this is some sort of deal June struck with Amazon, since Amazon is their main online retail partner. It would be cool to have some sort of Prime integration so I could create a grocery list using the June.

————————————————

APP:

June has an Android and iOS app. The iOS app has 5 tabs:

1. Cookbook - various recipes with ingredient list, photo and video steps. 

2. Programs - create your own cooking program by setting temperature, multiple cooking types, etc. 

3. Oven - time/temp/status when oven is actively cooking, dashboard of which heating tools are in use, and live video of food being cooked 

4. History - date/time/food/temp/length of past meals, including time-lapse video of cooking process

5. Stickers - promotional June stuff, add branded stickers to pics of your food that you share socially, I will never use this

* It’s really fun to watch all the stats and video of my food cooking remotely, even though my apartment is small so I’m always sitting close by. Depending on the dish, the June will cycle between roasting and baking, broiling, cooling off… exactly the attention to detail that keeps me from experimenting with cooking more often. If you had a bigger house or otherwise couldn’t physically supervise the oven, this could be legitimately helpful. Either way, all the data goes into your history to revisit later. 

- June says the oven can sync to multiple devices, which is a nice perk. Check in on your loved one’s stew progress, plan your commute home, etc.

- There is a June skill in Amazon’s Alexa store so you can give Alexa a variety of commands that control the June… set cook times, temps, status, start cooking, stop cooking, etc. 

—————————————

FIRST MEAL:

- I am historically inept at cooking chicken that isn’t underdone or overcooked. I kept my first session simple and roasted 3 chicken thighs right on the pan. I seasoned the chicken with salt, pepper, and olive oil and placed the pan on the wire shelf. June’s camera on the oven’s ceiling identified the food as chicken (and I assume, estimates volume) with a little chicken icon on the touchscreen once I closed the oven door .June didn’t ask how many pieces I was cooking, it just asked me to stick the food thermometer into the thickest part of the chicken. The thermometer plugs into the left wall inside the oven, so it’s inside with the food throughout the cooking process. I selected “start cooking” and 18 minutes later it played a little melody telling me my chicken was done. it was the best chicken I’ve ever made… juicy and perfectly cooked. Granted, my bar was pretty low but it was a great first impression. 

———————————————————

MID-WAY THROUGH THOUGHTS

- Still really happy with how the June handles meat and fish. It’s a little hit and miss with the June identifying veggies I often throw in with the meat/fish though. I’ve put salmon and asparagus together on the pan and the camera has identified them both, but more often it’s just salmon, or just asparagus. I always defer to the meat to be safe. 

- The June is designed to act as a toaster and has a specific bagel setting but the thermometer gave me an overheating alert when I put an entire bagel and cream cheese in the June to see what happened.

- It’s fantastic for reheating food that would otherwise get rubbery or dry in a microwave (leftover pizza, for example). But it doesn’t defrost. I’ve always got frozen chicken on hand and sometimes am in a hurry to cook it so I’m glad I still have a microwave. 

- $5/month for a TON of tasty recipes in the Premium cookbook feels worth it, but I’m a creature of habit and tend to cook the same 10 dishes over and over, so I haven’t been getting too creative. 

——————————————————————

THE CONS:

- App’s a little buggy. I tried to view a recipe for roasted duck legs in the app with white beans and sausage and got an error message that the recipe wasn’t actually ready yet. When I clicked through again it was there. My first cooking session back in December disappeared from my history after I had already viewed it multiple times (RIP very first perfect chicken). Could have been error on my part but I don’t see a way to delete cooking history that I can tell. Which is bad UX, you should always be able to delete history, even if it’s just a record of what you cooked. 

- Android app averages 2-stars and it sounds like users have been complaining for over a year that the Android app lacks much of the functionality and features of the iOS app. 

- The website doesn’t have a login option, so it doesn’t know if you’re subscribed to June Premium for the majority of otherwise locked recipes. So as you poke around, many premium recipes won’t show you ingredient and cooking details, you just know they exist. I’d like the option to be able to view premium recipes on my laptop in addition to my phone if I’m a paying subscriber.

- All of the recipes use the June oven in some form, but the more elaborate dishes still need a conventional oven or stove. For example, a curried carrot soup recipe I was interested in broiled the carrots in the June oven, but the rest was done in a large pot on the stove and there were quite a few steps. This might not be an issue for more ambitious cooks, but some people will probably be confused that featured recipes can’t all be achieved with the June alone. 

— After about 3 months, I’ve noticed that a little liquid drips out of the front right side of the oven when cooking moisture-rich food. It seems like just steam from inside the oven, nothing is dripping out of the pan itself. My June is sitting on a stainless steel counter so it’s easy to wipe up, but would be a bigger issue on certain surfaces. Obviously it shouldn’t be happening at all. Online reviews are mostly positive but customers do complain about things breaking here and there. It sounds like June has been good about sending out replacement models. 

—————————————

OVERALL:

I love this oven and use it almost every day. Assuming my model comes back in stock, $499 is still pretty pricey and it does take up a decent footprint on a counter or deep shelf. If you’re like me and mainly use the June to cook what you’ve already been cooking more easily, it feels like magic. The app’s stats and camera/video capabilities are mainly nerd fun but cool nonetheless. If you spring for the Premium app, you open up your recipe options a ton, but but you’re also going to have to commit to more time in the kitchen. 

There are a handful of other smart ovens on the market at various price points. Clearly for ovens of all sizes having smart functions is the way to go, and I wish I’d had the June a long time ago.