Toaster Ovens

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ynggrsshppr

ynggrsshppr

Newly Enlightened
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Dec 20, 2006
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New York City
I've been looking into getting a toaster oven lately and I just wanted to ask everyone here if you have one and if you find it useful. I have zero cooking ability and can't imagine myself using the oven built into our stove (we use it to store pots and pans :sssh:.

I was thinking I could make some basic things like cookies or muffins. Can anyone recommend a specific model or brand?
 
We have a "newer" Cuisinart Convection Toaster Oven for the last two years that we like a lot.

It has electronic buttons/LCD instead of mechanical timers (believe it or not, the typical toaster oven mechanical timer drove me up a wall with the noise).

The oven has all of the typical settings, plus you can set temperature (in 25F increments) and cook time by minute/hours.

With convection ovens, they cook/warm faster, heat more evenly, and the small toaster oven does not heat the whole use like are gas oven does.

I am pretty sure we paid less than the $159 in the link above... Certainly worth the money if you can get it for less.

-Bill
 
I've had a basic toaster oven for decades and find it useful especially for singles or couples. After all, it's a toaster, and an oven! However, I don't bother with it for baking cookies or muffins as I make the full recipes and baking 4 such items from scratch just wouldn't seem worth it to me. I do make 6 biscuits at a time in it.

Also use it for microwaved potatoes finished in the oven to crisp the skin; same for frozen breads; other frozen foods like fish sticks and Eggos that don't microwave well.

Make sure your power outlet can handle the load, which can be high. Sometimes it helps to run it on the outlet on the stove if it's electric, which has its own circuit. I prefer the most basic Black & Decker, which is very cheap and lasts decades.
 
I've been considering a toaster oven for a few months since my B&D toaster oven sent crazy. Yes it is inexpensive but it is not the greatest "oven" for baking. I probably won't buy another. After a much research the Cuisinart TOB-165/Cuisinart TOB-175 seems to be the most well liked by users. Costco had these recently for $99 in black and chrome.

Also interesting but more expensive is the Cuisinart BRK-100/200/300 series which incorporates brick linings which help cook more evenly and theoretically use less energy.

If you are just doing toast, get a good toaster and forget the oven feature as none of them, in my opinion, toast quickly or evenly.
 
My toaster oven is stored under kitchen counter because I never use it. It's good for heating up pizza but that's about it. For bread the slice toaster is quicker. Anything you bake/grill the big oven under stove is much better, it's just more efficient for whatever reasons. For example the sausage I bought from costco need 15 minutes in stove oven, but with toaster oven at same temperature it needs 40 minutes.
 
jzmtl said:
It's good for heating up pizza but that's about it.
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Blasphemy! Cold pizza is the world's most perfect food!


A tip that could go in the "Things I've learned the hard way" thread: Don't let your wife/girlfriend/significant other catch you using the toaster oven to cure powder coated parts. You'll be buying another one for kitchen use.

:buddies:
 
I like mine for simple things. I hate heating up the stove oven as it can be much more costly and give off a lot more heat into the house. But mine was not fancy at all. Cheapest one at Wal-Mart. Something like $20.
 
I have a T-Fal OT8085002 Avante Elite Convection Toaster Oven and love it. There's at least 2 Elite models, mine is the convection one. It has a fan (can be seen on the side in some pics) that is utilized when baking and a glass top. Although a little slow at it, it makes perfect toast, every time! Easy to clean, simple controls and looks smart to boot!
 
Diesel_Bomber said:
Blasphemy! Cold pizza is the world's most perfect food!


A tip that could go in the "Things I've learned the hard way" thread: Don't let your wife/girlfriend/significant other catch you using the toaster oven to cure powder coated parts. You'll be buying another one for kitchen use.

:buddies:
Click to expand...

went out and bought one at Wal*Mart just to do this, cheap - under $20.
 
Except for popcorn, I never use my microwave. But I use my toaster oven on a daily basis. Literally couldn't imagine life without one.

My current one is a KRUPS ProChef Premium that I've had for a few years. It's a bit larger than your average toaster oven. But not so big that it takes up too much space in even a small kitchen. I recommend it. But, if you want to make toast; be sure the top knob is set just to the right of the "toast" indicator.

My KRUPS works well. But it can't compete with my old Black & Decker model. I had that thing for more years than I can recall. A perfect example of durability. Never had to have it fixed. It accidentally caught on fire a couple of times. (Not the fault of the toaster oven itself). But it kept on working! :wow:

It was dropped a few times.... that B&D was like Frankenstein! You couldn't kill it. One day, it just completely gave out. I was surprised it didn't happen years sooner!
 
will said:
went out and bought one at Wal*Mart just to do this, cheap - under $20.
Click to expand...

Yep, I grabbed my garage(originally kitchen) toaster oven for something like five bucks at a thrift store. Good place to buy one if you don't feel like shoveling out the $$$ just to find out you don't like it after all.

My garage oven is simple. No timer or window or any electronics, just one knob for on/off/temperature. The knob is made of bakelite, which gives some indication of it's age. There's no other plastic on the entire thing. It's cured powder coat and epoxy paints, dried out gloves and socks, heated bearings and races, been used as a welding rod furnace(7018 sure is picky if you want to make pretty welds), heated parts to drive out the last little bit of moisture and help paint adhere better, etc. etc. for years now. Still works great.

Gone through a couple kitchen ovens, though. Seems like the oven itself works fine, but the electronic doodads always fry themselves. BSOD on a toaster oven, who knew?

:buddies:
 
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shakeylegs said:
I've been considering a toaster oven for a few months since my B&D toaster oven sent crazy. Yes it is inexpensive but it is not the greatest "oven" for baking. I probably won't buy another. After a much research the Cuisinart TOB-165/Cuisinart TOB-175 seems to be the most well liked by users. Costco had these recently for $99 in black and chrome.
Click to expand...

Yep, that is where I got ours... And I thought I remembered $99 too, but was not sure at the time. At that price, very nice small oven and with convection--it does a better job of heating and cooking.

-Bill
 
Got the stainless steel look Oster toaster oven at Costco. Basic features. Toasts sourdough, melts cheese. Nice big bottom tray/drawer pulls out for cleaning the crumbs. Old mechanical timer and bell.
 
So I bought a Black and Decker a few days ago based on the replies here. It was the most basic model that had and ran for $30. Hopefully it'll last me a long time with care.

Our family did a slab of steak in there and it turned out great. Much better than the old way of just putting it in the stir fry pan. It didn't turn out as dark as I wanted but still I'm very happy with it. I hope it can bake well too.
 
I avoid using the toaster oven for broiling meats - soon the smoke and grease accumulates in the oven, and your delicate baked goods get a slight flavor of roast meat!
 
louie said:
I avoid using the toaster oven for broiling meats - soon the smoke and grease accumulates in the oven, and your delicate baked goods get a slight flavor of roast meat!
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Sounds interesting :D

Did some toast today, the edges toasted way faster than the middle. Baked some small cakes too. Edges rose slightly faster than the middle and turned pleasantly crispy.
 
We tried several and finally found a Delonghi at Sam's for $100. It's the first one we have treid, out of 5 or 6, that actually does what we want, is easy to keep clean and seems well built. Black, chrome, glass and knobs. No Elex timers or controls. It just works.
 
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