Decent toaster oven, not as good as other brands
Pros:
Size, weight, ease of use, energy savings
Cons:
Questionable craftsmanship/quality, size
The Bottom Line:
Shop around and read reviews to see if this one would be the best for you. If using it only for toasting small items, it's probably worth the money.
|
|
Overall Rating:
|
 |
|
Author's Review
I received this toaster oven as an early Christmas present. It works pretty well so far though it does seem to be ⦡mp;#128œcheaply made⦡mp;#128 compared other toaster ovens I have used.
The oven is very light and has only .7 cubic feet of cooking space. This is perfect for us as we just wanted it so we could make small things like garlic bread without having to turn on our oven and use all that electricity. Upon opening the box, the instructions were inside the oven. The instructions themselves are just for the most basic operation of the oven and include very few tips on cooking certain foods. The most important thing here is that the oven is coated with a chemical at the factory for shipping purposes which will burn off. They recommend turning the toaster oven on at 450 degrees Fahrenheit for 15 minutes in a well ventilated area to burn this substance off. I highly recommend doing this outside ESPECIALLY if you have children, small pets (especially birds), or are sensitive to things like this.
Once that was done, it was onto the operation of the appliance. I made a little bit of room for it on our counter, and with it being small, it fit into a corner to the left of my oven. This is good since I prefer to have as many of my cooking appliances in front of me at one time as possible. My microwave is above the stove and the toaster oven is now on the counter next to the stove. I turned the appliance on and toasted some regular bread. It took about 3 or 4 minutes and it was perfect. I would not use it for regular toast as the toaster is quicker, but this will be good for things like Texas toast, bruschetta, etc. Again it is small, so it will only toast maybe 4 slices of bread or a small loaf of the frozen garlic bread from the grocery store. If you have a large family, this would not be the toaster oven for you. For toasting purposes, the appliance has an easily removable crumb tray underneath.
There is also a grilling tray for cooking things like chicken, veggie burgers, etc. I have not used it for this yet, but again it is small so will not cook a whole lot at once. The size here is both an advantage and a disadvantage.
Features of the oven include heating from the top and bottom for even cooking, a timer with a bell when the time is up, and a temperature setting of up to 450f plus the toaster setting.
I may return to edit this review after the appliance is used a little bit more to elaborate on how it cooks food.
