May I use a warming drawer on Shabbos?

May I use a warming drawer on Shabbos?

One of many conveniences of a modern kitchen is the increasingly popular warming drawer, which functions as a separate unit or as part of a cooking range. Some warming drawers actually operate as slow-cookers (raw food can be inserted and will be ready to eat many hours later). There are specific issues with slow cookers that are beyond the scope of our current discussion; warming drawers that are also slow cookers have their own set of rules.

Warming drawers that function only to keep cooked food warm are permitted for Shabbos use—they are not considered muktzah (forbidden to be handled on Shabbos)—provided that certain precautions are taken.

Electric Bulbs, Digital Displays & Thermostats: An electric bulb or digital display that is triggered by opening the warming drawer must be disabled before Shabbos; otherwise it cannot be used. Additionally, opening the drawer causes the internal temperature to drop, thereby engaging the thermostat, so a Shabbos user should wait until the heating element is running before opening the door.

Shehiyah (placing food on the fire before Shabbos to remain there on Shabbos): If there is no possibility of increasing the temperature on Shabbos, there are no restrictions of shehiyah in a warming drawer, just as with a special Shabbos hotplate. However if the warmer has knobs designed to raise the temperature, the food that is placed inside before Shabbos must be at least k’ma’achol ben d’rusoi (edible to robbers’ minimal standards, i.e., half-cooked).* Others argue that the warming drawer differs from the norms of shehiyah, because not enough heat is generated by a warming drawer to actually cook food, and therefore these precautions are not necessary.

Nesinah Batchillah (placing food to be heated on Shabbos): Some poskim allow placing hot food or fully cooked dry food directly in a warming drawer (like a hotplate) on Shabbos, though some are machmir (stringent) to place the food only on top of a pan already being warmed—both in a warming drawer and a hotplate.

Chazarah (returning) items to the warming drawer: All the usual conditions for chazarah must be met (see Halachah #414), as well as taking care to avoid engaging the heating element, as discussed. There are halachic restrictions with placing food in the oven (chazarah l’tochah) versus on the fire on Shabbos, but these do not apply to a warming drawer, since the heat merely warms the food. There is also no concern of hatmanah (wrapping, see Halachah #710 for details), since there is space between the food and the walls of the warming drawer.

* An alternative is to cover the stovetop with a blech (aluminum sheet), so the fire is not inadvertently adjusted on Shabbos.

https://halacha2go.com?number=753

Practical Halacha: One minute a day. By Horav Yosef Yeshaya Braun, shlita, Mara D'asra and member of the Badatz of Crown Heights.