Move over, oven and microwave
Pros:
Quick to heat, excellent for reheating leftovers, quiet, fast
Cons:
Control labels are slightly unintuitive but not a major problem, unit exterior gets very hot
The Bottom Line:
Makes fast, delicious meals and leftovers! I absolutely love mine and recommend it to anyone.
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Overall Rating:
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Author's Review
I bought this toaster oven because I was tired of waiting for my oven to reach a desired temperature, and because I was tired of mushy, soggy leftovers. I also wanted something that wouldn't heat up my apartment in the summer.
I've had it for a few months now and am very happy with it. My love of this toaster oven has inspired both my boyfriend and my mother, who has never owned a toaster oven before, to get their own.
Quick to Heat
My oven is huge can take up to 30 minutes to reach 350 degrees. I think this is impractical and wasteful for cooking and reheating meals for one/two people, so I invested in a toaster oven! This toaster oven seems to hit 350 in less than 10 minutes. I love whipping up breadsticks in just minutes with this thing.
Way better than the microwave
I used to just microwave everything, especially fried leftovers, but food would become soggy and mushy. I assumed this was just a trait of microwaving or at least a trait of leftovers and there was no way around it. However, with this toaster oven, I reheat fried foods, bread, and many other things to PERFECTION! They are sometimes better out of this oven than they were when I first cooked or purchased them! This microwave oven has breathed new life into leftovers.
Spacious interior
This is easily one of the largest microwave ovens on the shelves today. I think the space it consumes is worthwhile, as I am able to pack entire meals for two inside this thing!
Apparently it can hold an 11'' pizza, but I have yet to cook anything that huge in it.
Adjustable shelf
I haven't needed to move the shelf much, but I do appreciate the option of doing so. There are three possible height settings available. I moved mine to the lowest setting and it works great for everything I've put in it.
Tons of settings
This toaster oven has more settings than I'll ever use. I tend to just use convection bake and the toast option, though I still use my 2-slice toaster for making toast.
Non-stick interior
I'm sure this matters to someone, but I have yet to get more than a few crumbs inside this thing and have never gotten to enjoy this feature. Maybe I'm just a neat cook.
Problems
I find the control labels confusing. They put the title/name for the buttons beneath the buttons instead of above the buttons, as I would have expected, and it's not clear through spacing/design at a glance that the titles are for the buttons above, not the buttons beneath.
While the handle on the door stays cool, the rest of the unit does NOT. I have already melted a few plastic clips that were merely nearby the unit. I also melted a bag of bread to the top of the unit, but that was my own fault for forgetting to remove it. (Fortunately I was able to scrub it off with a sticker removing chemical, and the finish was not damaged!) I definitely had to learn to be careful to clear a good 10 inches of space around this toaster oven when it is in use.
