Customer Reviews

Orka 11-Inch Silicone Oven Mitt, Blue

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Length:: 0:50 Mins

Here's my review of the Orka silicone oven mitt. It's waterproof and very heat resistant, also easy to clean. My only complaint is that it doesn't fit as well as a normal oven mitt so can take a while to get used to picking up things with it. Would be nice it it came in different sizes for people with smaller hands.

Length:: 1:25 Mins


***
This is an adequate oven mitt, but there are so many better ones out there (I recommend Lekue). Still, see this one demonstrated here. Your hand feels like it's kind of trapped in a huge plastic device, and you lose lots of mobility. I purchased the translucent oven mitt, but this blue one is exactly the same except for the blue color.

Barely recommended, just because it is certainly quite sturdy.
***

The gloves made excellent gifts for Christmas both for men and women who love to cook. They really do protect the hands!

This oven mitt always performs well, and in my kitchen, where there are multiple pot holders, fabric oven mitts with novelty designs, and, of course, towels, the silicon mitt has gravitated toward being the mitt of choice.

Basically, the Orka works as advertised. It protects well against heat; I can grab the oven rack and move it with impunity, no matter how long the oven has been pre-heating. Additionally, this little wonder washes up like a dream -- just soap it up in the sink with a sponge and let it dry on the dish rack. I hate to put my oven mitts and dirty kitchen towels in with the normal laundry, so this is a great bonus.

Unfortunately, there are drawbacks to the glove. My main qualm is its size: as a female with small hands, the mitt is overly large and awkward to use. I frequently find myself fumbling with whatever I'm holding (especially those handle-less French White Corningware casseroles) and have been forced to use a non-Orka mitt as an "assist" glove to avert spills and drops.

You really should understand that your hand will be swimming in the stiff glove. Do NOT expect it to conform to the shape of your hand. Imagine two stiff tongue-shaped pieces of silicon welded together on the edges. You get one pocket for your palm plus four fingers and one for your thumb. Well, depending on hand size, there's a whole lot of air floating around there, especially in the thumb section.

Also, the glove is a bit shorter than I would prefer. I have an eleven year old scar halfway up my forearm which I got when a wind-up timer failed to go off, and I scraped my arm against the oven in my haste to retrieve a semi-burned pie. Thus I always believe in extra long oven mitts -- and accurate timers!

Great product! It really does a great job of insulating from heat, dry or wet.

I stuck my hand into a pot of boiling water, and didn't feel a thing. I'm not saying you should try it, I'm just saying I did...don't sue me if you get burnt. :)

It keeps the heat off your hands, but it is hard to handle anything that you need any level of dexterity for.

Love the Orka line of silicone oven mitts. You will never get burned, easy to clean, easy to use.

I knew I needed a silicone oven mitt last Thanksgiving since I was going to roast the turkey outside in the cast iron grill which requires a waterproof and effective mitt to turn the turkey. I ordered both the Orka and the Lekue silicone oven mitts. (I had ordered the Orka version first, then thought I'd give the Lekue one a try. Which ever one I didn't like was going to be a Xmas gift to someone.)

The Orka silicone oven mitt is a good alternative to normal oven mitts such as cloth or neoprene, but I prefer the Lekue model for a couple of reasons. First, the Orka mitt is very stiff. The Lekue is less stiff, allowing a better grip. The Orka version is also awkward with the thumb in a claw position.

Pros:
*Waterproof, which means you can use it in wet cooking environments without the water soaking through and conducting heat.
*It takes a long time to feel any heat from what you are grabbing, so it's great if you need to hold on for more then a second or two.
*Easy to clean, throw it in the dish washer

Cons:
*Stiff, stiff, stiff
*Grip is dicey due to the stiffness.

The insulation properties are great, and the smaller size is good for a woman's hand. However, it is stiffer than the fabric or combination fabric/silicone mitts, so it is hard to do anything with you hand except squeeze the 4 fingers against the thumb. Because the mitt immobilizes the hand, I tend to reach for something else as a pot holder.

Also this doesn't collapse for storage and ends up taking a fair amount of room in the drawer.

I got the turquoise which is a great color.

This oven mitt works! The cloth mitts do not keep out the heat like the silicone mitts and this shape works the best! It is so easy to grab trays, items, etc out of the hot oven now with this great grip!