An oven for maintaining cooked foods at temperatures suitable for serving
the foods or even for cooking foods has a cabinet containing multiple
heat sinks of channel-shaped configuration. The ends of the heat sinks
open out of the cabinet, so that any heat sink may receive a tray of food
from either the front or back of the cabinet. .[.The interior surface of
the heat sinks generally conform to the cross-sectional shapes of the
trays, so that the heat sinks lie along the bottoms and sides of the
trays. The heat sinks have a heating elements extended along their sides
and bottoms for elevating the temperature of the heat sinks and directing
heat into the trays within the heat sinks. In addition, each heat sink
also contains a cover which may close the top of the tray in the heat
sink and thereby retard the escape of moisture from the tray or may vent
the interior of the tray..]. .Iadd.In other embodiments, the oven
includes a cabinet having a plurality of compartments therein, and a
plurality of trays in the compartments, each compartment being sized for
receiving only one tray per compartment. The compartments are isolated
from one another in the cabinet whereby flavor from food in one tray in
one compartment is prevented from transferring to food in trays in
adjacent compartments..Iaddend.