Modern ovens have gotten very complex. There are two different issues here. “Convection” is about air movement. The other issue is the difference between gas and electric heat. You can have either a gas oven or electric oven with or without a convection fan.

There are three ways heat is transferred in an oven. There is radiation from the heating element and the sides of the oven, conduction which is the heat transferred by the cooking vessel and convection which is the movement of the air in the oven. The air by the source of heat, is heated and rises. As it cools, it falls to the bottom and is heated again. “Convection” as a marketing term is fan assisted convection. The fan creates a current of air that moves faster and disrupts the natural convection. In theory it should bake more evenly because it changes the direction of the convective heat. Instead of coming from the bottom, it comes from multiple directions. This can change the way things cook. Most baking recipes were developed in ovens that heat from the bottom, so sometimes changing that may or may not be a good idea. Fans create air coming in a straight line which causes increased heat transfer on the side facing the fan, increasing browning. Manufacturers try to minimize the effect by adding baffles or dual fans to create more turbulence to break up the straight line or fans that periodically reverse. GE has a fan that can be directed from the top. “True” or “European” convection is adding an additional element(s) by the fan in back. It is marketed as making the heat more even but it can contribute to hot spots with sort of a blow torch effect. My wall oven has a third element but it is incorporated for brief amounts of time. I had another oven that had an all conv mode with all heat coming from the back so it had terrible hot spots. It gets really hard to evaluate these features because they can vary so much brand to brand. Other variables can be fan speeds and the ways that the elements are incorporated into the different modes. There might be baking or roasting modes on the simple side but some like Miele and Gaggenau have umpteen different modes to create different effects.

In cooking, convection increases browning and may shorten cooking times. This depends on what you are cooking and it’s size. I look at convection as a tool and may just use it part of the time. For instance if baking a cake, I start with standard bake and then turn the convection in after it rises for more browning.

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Gas ovens and electric ovens in the residential setting provide different environments. Many commercial bakeries do use gas ovens because it is cheaper and they have steam injectors if they need to add humidity when needed. I do know of some specialty bakeries that use electric but also have the ability to add steam and ventilate the steam out.

Residential gas ovens are built differently than residential electric ovens. There is combustion of the gas so it needs to have more ventilation than an electric oven. Water is a byproduct of combustion so you have more moisture and heat vented into the kitchen It has been taught that a gas oven is moist based on the idea of water being produced as a byproduct of the combustion of gas and electric ovens being a dry because the source of heat is dry but you have to look at the whole picture. There is a lot of moisture produced by food cooking. It is not vented out as much in an electric oven, while gas ovens vent a lot out. What does it mean for actual cooking? In reading baking and cooking forums I’ve noticed some observations made in general.

Gas ovens are said to be better for roasting and brown better.

This is because you have more evaporation on the surface and it allows the heat to rise and the browning reactions to take place. Electric ovens can use a fan to make up for that.

Some bakers going from electric ovens to gas ovens say that cakes don’t rise as well and sometimes have a dry appearance. Electric ovens hold onto the humidity which promotes starch gelatinization so you have a little bit longer rise. Baking is a complex interaction of different things so you can bake perfectly well with gas. It is one factor. You tend to collect and use over time recipes that work.

Bread bakers talk about how hard it is to keep added humidity in a gas oven. This is because of the venting.

Another side issue with electric ovens now is that most have a hidden bake element on the bottom. This cuts down on some of the radiant heat and I have one pie recipe that will not bake through on the bottom.

For me I would want convection with an electric oven because it makes more versatile. If I were buying gas, I would not worry about it as much.

Other advice-No blue interiors and don’t run the self clean. It tends to disrupt the enamel in the oven, especially blue(except Gaggenau) and is very hard on the electronics.