How hard is it to shop for a toaster oven?
Pros:
Looks nice, pull out crumb tray, shuts off with timer, seems sturdy, price
Cons:
Outside gets very hot
The Bottom Line:
I like it so far, and compared to what we had before. It's new, so that could change.
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Overall Rating:
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Author's Review
I was shocked at how hard it is to buy a decent new toaster oven. My old, very basic White Westinghouse finally shorted out and I fixed it twice, but thought it might be a fire hazard, so started reading reviews. It seems no one likes any toaster oven. All have bad reviews, cheap or expensive. I wanted something a little more advanced than my old one, but nothing fancy. Also, brick and mortar stores carry only a few - most are online and have vague descriptions and you can't see what they look like or how they work.
I chose this toaster oven because it had the fewest bad reviews I could find on various sites, and mostly 4 or 5 stars otherwise. Some of the bad reviews were about difficulty cleaning, but I think those folks didn't read the manual - the door removes for cleaning.
We ordered this from Target on Monday and received it on Tuesday. We've used it two days - we basically use our toaster oven several times every single day, so we need one that is hard working. This one seems sturdy, I wish it wasn't plastic, but you need that as I'll explain in a bit. It looks good on the counter, and fits a little more inside than our old one. I like the pull out crumb tray - our old one had the drop down kind. I'm not sure how I like the slide up door - I'm afraid if someone's not careful they'll let it fall down and it will break. But it is kind of handy.
I also like that it does't have too many controls and that it shuts off with the timer. One person complained of a toaster oven that it didn't go up to 500 degrees. Well, geez, I never use my real oven that high, who would need a toaster oven to go to 500?
Anyway, we've only had it for two days, but it works fine so far. Seems to be right on with temp. and cooks more quickly than our old one - I have to set things for much less time than I'm used to.
Caution - this sucker gets HOT. Only the black plastic parts stay cool (hence why you need the plastic). Our old t.oven was metal but did not get so hot on the outside, but it was a much simpler model. The glass and the top get really hot. Only open the door with the handle, and don't bump the top metal part when getting anything out. It might have been nice to have some sort of guard there, at least on the front top edge. It's not easy to get things out of the oven without bumping that.
I'll update this review if anything significant comes up. I hope this will last as long as our old one.
