Combination heat and steam oven

1. A toaster oven, comprising:

a housing, said housing including an integral door for selectively allowing entry into a cooking chamber of said housing;

a steam generation unit including a boiler exterior to said cooking chamber for heating supplied water to a temperature sufficient to change said supplied water into steam, and a steam pipe extending into said cooking chamber and having a distal end positioned adjacent to a bottom of said cooking chamber, said steam pipe having a plurality of outlets at said distal end for permitting egress of said steam produced in said boiler into said cooking chamber;

an electric heating assembly including a first set of heating elements and a second set of heating elements positioned within said cooking chamber between a top wall and a bottom wall of said cooking chamber, wherein said first set of heating elements and said second set of heating elements are juxtaposed with said steam pipe and said plurality of outlets in said interior portion of said cooking chamber between said top wall and said bottom wall of said cooking chamber;

a manually actuatable control system integrated with said housing, said manually actuatable control system selectively operating said steam generation unit and electric heating assembly according to instructions stored in memory; and

wherein said manually actuatable control system is configured such that an actuation thereof initiates an auto-clean cycle whereby, under control of a microprocessor in communication with the manually actuatable control system and operating according to said instructions stored in memory, the boiler of the steam generating unit is cycled on and off multiple times over a predetermined period of time so as to cause said steam generation unit to issue bursts of steam into said cooking chamber via said plurality of outlets, in a cyclic fashion, over the predetermined period of time without further manipulation of said manually actuatable control system by a user;

wherein the manually actuatable control system includes a user interface configured to allow a user to select a duration and time interval of steam injection into the cooking chamber during a cooking operation.

2. A toaster oven, comprising:

a housing defining an interior cooking chamber;

a heating assembly including a first set of heating elements positioned adjacent to a top wall of the interior cooking chamber and a second set of heating elements positioned adjacent to a bottom wall of the interior cooking chamber;

a steam generation unit in operative communication with said interior cooking chamber, said steam generation unit including a boiler exterior to said cooking chamber for heating supplied water to a temperature sufficient to change said supplied water into steam, and a steam pipe for permitting egress of said steam produced in said boiler into said interior cooking chamber, said steam pipe including at least one outlet in a distal end thereof, said distal end and said at least one outlet being located adjacent to a bottom of said interior cooking chamber and intermediate first and second heating elements of said second set of heating elements; and

a control system integrated with said housing for selectively operating said steam generation unit and said heating assembly;

wherein the control system includes a user interface configured to allow a user to select a duration and time interval of steam injection into the interior cooking chamber during a cooking operation; and

wherein said toaster over further includes a steam pump to increase delivery of steam to the interior cooking chamber.

3. A toaster oven, comprising:

a housing defining a cooking chamber;

a steam generation unit exterior to said cooking chamber in operative communication with said cooking chamber, said steam generation unit including a steam pipe extending into said cooking chamber and having a distal end having a plurality of outlets located adjacent to a bottom wall of said housing, said plurality of outlets permitting egress of steam produced in said steam generation unit into said cooking chamber;

a heating assembly including a first set of heating elements and a second set of heating elements positioned within said cooking chamber, wherein said first set of heating elements and said second set of heating elements are juxtaposed with said steam pipe and said plurality of outlets in said interior portion of said cooking chamber between said top wall and said bottom wall of said cooking chamber;

a control system in operative control of said steam generation unit; and

wherein upon user-initiation of an auto-clean cycle, said control system is configured to cause a boiler of said steam generation unit to cycle on and off multiple times until expiration of a timer, the multiple times of cycling said boiler on and off causing said steam generation unit to issue more than one burst of steam into said cooking chamber, wherein initiation of the auto-clean cycle is carried out by actuation of a manually operable button in communication with said control system; and

wherein each cycling on of the boiler corresponds to a single burst of steam into said cooking chamber;

wherein the control system includes a user interface configured to allow a user to select a duration and time interval of steam injection into the cooking chamber during a cooking operation; and

wherein said toaster over further includes a steam pump to enhance delivery of steam to the cooking chamber.

4. The toaster oven according to claim 3 , wherein:

each of said first set of heating elements and said second set of heating elements of said heating assembly comprising a pair of parallel and linear heating rods extending from one side of said cooking chamber to an opposing side between said top wall and said bottom wall of said cooking chamber; and

said steam pipe is linear and positioned between and parallel to said pair of linear heating rods.

5. The toaster oven according to claim 4 , wherein:

said plurality of outlets of said steam pipe are positioned in said inner portion of said cooking member between said liner heating rods.

6. The toaster oven of claim 1 , wherein:

the manually actuatable control system is configured to carry out the auto-clean cycle prior to initiation of a cooking function.

7. The toaster oven of claim 2 , wherein:

said control system is configured to operate said steam generation unit in an auto-clean mode, whereby in said auto-clean mode said control system cycles said boiler on and off multiple times over a predetermined duration such that each time said boiler is cycled on a single burst of steam is provided to said interior cooking chamber;

wherein said auto-clean mode is carried out automatically upon initiation by a user;

wherein said toaster oven further includes a water reservoir disposed above the steam generation unit; and

wherein the steam generation unit, water reservoir and steam pipe are configured such that during the auto-clean cycle, as steam leaves the boiler, low pressure in the boiler allows water from the water reservoir to enter the boiler under gravity, where it is heated and converted into steam and injected into the cooking chamber.