Sabbath mode

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Sabbath mode is a feature in many modern appliances, including ovens and refrigerators which is intended to allow the appliances to be used (subject to various constraints) by Sabbath-observant Jews on the Sabbath and Jewish holidays.

One of the Sabbath laws is that raw food may not be cooked on the Sabbath, but food which was already cooked beforehand may be kept warm until mealtime. On holidays, food may be cooked fresh, but turning the flame on is problematic. In the past, both of these could be accomplished simply by lighting a flame before the day begins, and using its heat over the course of the day. In recent decades, however, appliance manufacturers have instituted a safety feature which automatically shuts the heat after a number of hours. This renders the appliance useless for those who observe these religious laws.

The key features of Sabbath mode ovens are that it disables the standard six- or twelve-hour cutoff and all lights and displays are disabled, so that no visible activity takes place when the oven door is opened.

In more recent ovens, Sabbath mode will often feature the ability to adjust the temperature of the oven without any feedback to the operator of the oven. This is not relevant to the Sabbath, but is useful on holidays, when adjusting the heat is allowed, but changing a digital readout on the control panel is not, according to the prevailing Orthodox opinion and the minority Conservative view. With some Sabbath mode ovens that are controlled using a keypad to set the temperature, there is a random delay after a button is pressed before the temperature change takes place.

A Sabbath mode refrigerator includes, at a minimum, the ability to disable all lights or other electrical activity from occurring when the refrigerator door is opened. Some Sabbath mode refrigerators include a timer for the compressor so that opening the door, which will normally indirectly cause the compressor to turn on as the temperature rises, will have absolutely no effect on any electrical operation of the appliance.

WordNet reports that KitchenAid introduced the feature in 1994.