Why I Don't Like My Euro-Pro TO160L Toaster Oven

So we finally took our old toaster oven to the boat yard to see if they wanted to use it as an anchor. If it was up to me we would be bringing the new one we recently purchased to the boat yard too. Though my wife seems happy enough with it for now, there are a couple of things I just don't like about it.

Some Basics

The Euro-Pro TO160L 1380 Watts Toaster Oven does have Convection Cooking that allows for faster cooking. After seeing the picture on the instruction book of some kind of bird roasting inside this oven I thought that perhaps we could do our Thanksgiving turkey in it this coming year. Once looking at the oven itself, it doesn't look too big. I do wonder what kind of bird I was looking at in that picture. Probably a Cornish hen and hopefully not my pet parakeet. Mmm, still thinking about Thanksgiving, do they sell one pound turkeys?

My wife and I talked about her making cupcakes but she said she couldn't do a whole thing of mix at one time so she doubts she will ever use it for that. I asked, "what will you bake in there?" My wife said she will bake some muffins in it for me. I won't be holding my breath.

The fact is we uses the old toaster oven for toasting English muffins and such. I personally would be happier with a four slice toaster. Unfortunately my wife likes melting cheese on some breads so I suppose that would make a mess in four slice suggestion. This toaster does do well in melting things. I made a quick American cheese on rye bread and it was ready quickly. It gets hot fast. In fact everything around it gets hot fast. As per the directions we have to keep a four inch clearance on all side. I wonder how long that will last as every inch of kitchen counter becomes high priced real estate.

The real problem however is the heat on the top of the unit. My wife says it's the same as the old. I believe it's much hotter. I may use it to keep my coffee hot while waiting for my English Muffins to toast. The heat is radiating just five inches under cabinetry. I won't put chocolate bars in that cupboard. She also had part of it just an inch beneath an under the counter radio. Talk about "hot" artists singing on the radio, they are sizzling now. I know I may be joking about the heat but I am concerned. My wife not. I think she's just happy with a new appliance in the kitchen . Our previous one should have been at the bottom of the ocean years ago.

This has a number of settings for cooking. The temperature is regulated up to 450 degrees. The oven can be set for broil, bake, toast and something our previous toaster oven didn't have. a "Keep Warm" cycle. All is regulated by a timer. The timer seems to work well enough for long periods of time.

A Couple-a-More Things That Trouble Me

Unfortunately, like with our old toaster, I can't get that perfect place on the toast timer to do it just right. I'm either not setting it long enough and have to reset again to get a bit more heat and toastiness to my English muffin or I'm doing a Ash rendition of Burn, Baby, Burn. I can never get the timer to toast my muffin "just right".

Something else I do not like. If you go to slide one of the two metal racks, that the food lays on, forward a bit the whole rack starts falling down. it doesn't come out completely but be sure you don't have any kind of liquid on it or it will come right down burning your hands and wrists.

OK, they give you a nifty little rack holder and the instructions say YOU MUST USE IT every time you move a rack. Hey we tried it and it works. Reality though already has this holder somewhere with the missing socks from the dryer. Not good to have to have a special tool to remove the racks and those racks are dangerous.

The oven does have a nice bottom crumb catcher area that cleans easily. Ha, my wife would always cover it with aluminum foil but NO on this one. The instructions give fair warning NOT to use foil anywhere on this oven.

Final Thoughts

We have an oven in our home. My wife will not be doing any baking or much broiling in this thing. She uses our microwave for frozen dinners and such. This will cannot cook a large bird or at least anything big enough for us. Even if it is just me and my wife at times, she still cooks like just in case someone may drop in unexpectedly. This will not bake a full box of mix for cupcakes at one time.

What I'm getting at is this particular unit the The Euro-Pro TO160L 1380 Watts Toaster Oven, is too big for us using too much counter space for the little it does. It may be better for just a person or two in a household. Not for us. We should have purchased a smaller unit just for toasting and melting cheese sort of use.

As far as safety though, I don't like the heat this puts off and I am afraid of the racks. Both mentioned in more detail earlier.

I am hoping my wife gives in before someone or something is hurt and we can purchase a different toaster oven that I can give a favorable review. My advice on this one...avoid it.