Best Toaster Oven Reviews 2017

The Breville Smart Oven is a countertop toaster oven that that takes the guess work out of cooking foods perfectly. This 1800 watt oven has independent heating elements that automatically adjust to ensure that food is cooked properly. It has 9 default menu functions that suggest the ideal time and temperature – but you can adjust them according to your exact needs and the Smart Oven will remember your settings for the next time. The Breville BOV800XL has a convection option that will speed your cook time by up to 30%

At a moderate price of $249, coupled with all of the great features that it offers, it’s no wonder that the Breville BOV800XL is one of the most popular countertop toaster ovens available on the market today.

Here are some of the features of this Smart Oven…

• Easy-to-clean, stainless steel housing and a non-stick interior
• 3 rack positions with magnetic auto eject option
• Element IQ with 5 quartz elements
• Capacity to cook a 13” pizza or 6 slices of toast
• LCD display which accurately shows time and temperature.
• LCD display illuminates in orange when preheating/cooking and blue when finished
• 9 preset cooking options on a large function dial
• Separate temperature and time dial – with sound alerts and automatic shut off.

And if all that wasn’t enough, Breville throws in a removable crumb tray, a baking sheet, a broil rack and a pizza pan – all of which are the perfect size to fit inside your Smart Oven.

Another noteworthy benefit of Breville's "Element IQ" technology is that it uses energy efficiently – even though it has a maximum 1800 watt potential, doesn’t mean that it always runs at that. For example, if you are baking, it will automatically run at 1500 watts. It also has a convection heat option that can cook foods up to 30% faster – again, cutting down on energy usage.

The outside dimensions of the Breville BOV800XL are about 18.5 x 16 x 11 inches and it weighs 17 pounds. The interior measures about 13 1/2" x 11 1/2" x 5" (larger than many other comparable models). In terms of visualizing the internal space, Breville says that this oven can handle a six slices of toast at a time – or a 13 inch pizza. There are three rack positions. It has an easy to read digital display and large knobs.

There is a timer (up to two hours) which provides audible alerts to let you know when your food is done – and it will automatically shut off just in case you don’t hear them! This is great for avoiding burnt or overcooked foods.

The door opens flat, which makes it easy to get foods in and out of the oven. The racks will auto eject which reduces the risk of reaching in to a hot oven and getting burned.

When we conducted our research on the Breville Convection Toaster Oven with Element IQ, it had already been reviewed by over 3700 people on Amazon. 75% of users gave this highly versatile toaster oven 5 stars – giving it an overall Amazon rating of 4.5 stars.

The critical reviews sited what appear to be a variety of isolated problems that are not the norm for owners overall – things such as problems with the display, glass door breaking, problems with even heat and units not working properly after just a few years of ownership. There are also some people who reported problems with customer service.

People love the flexibility of the foods that you can cook in the Breville Smart Oven. Whether you are making toast, baking cookies, making pizza or roasting a chicken, you can have confidence that your foods will come out perfectly and taste wonderful. Cleaning your Breville convection oven is easy because it has a non-stick interior that is easy to clean and a removable crumb tray. The outside can be wiped down with a damp cloth.

One of the things that makes the Breville countertop oven stand out is the fact that it uses quartz elements which help to cook food quickly. Not to mention the fact that it automatically adjusts the heat to your needs – it will vary the way the heat is distributed to best meet the needs of what you are cooking. The 9 cooking options on the menu are designed to distribute the heat according to the type of cooking you are doing. For example, if you choose the toast setting, the heat will come evenly from the top and bottom, just where you need it.

The 9 preset cooking options on the function dial are: Bake, Broil, Roast, Cookies, Reheat, Pizza, Bagel, Toast and Warm. The Breville Smart Oven has so many possibilities in what you can cook that we hesitate to even call it a toaster oven!

The Hamilton Beach 31230 Set & Forget Toaster Oven comes with a built in temperature probe that ensures safe meat internal meat temperatures without overcooking. The one major feature that makes this oven stand out from the others on our top 5 short list is the fact that it comes with a built in temperature probe that lets you cook meats perfectly to your desired internal temperature.

Another positive is that with a price tag of under $150 when we looked on Amazon, it is a good value considering all that it offers. In addition to the ones that we have already discussed, the Hamilton Beach Set & Forget oven comes with a crumb rack, baking pan and broiling tray all designed to fit inside your oven.

The Hamilton Beach Set & Forget toaster oven will take up a bit of space on your counter – the external dimensions are about 18.2 x 10.4 x 15.4 inches and it weighs approximately 17 pounds. But with all the features it offers, its space that will be well earned. The internal space is large enough to bake a 12 inch pizza, toast 6 slices of bread or roast a 7 pound chicken.

You control this Hamilton Beach toaster oven with a programmable digital touchpad and there is an easy to read digital display. There a wide variety of default cooking options available at the push of a button. Or you can set the temperature that you want manually (in 25 degree increments). In addition to a standard timer that will shut off the oven when the designated time is reached, there is also an option to automatically switch to warm.

There are three main ways of “cooking” with the Hamilton Beach 31230:

• Traditional baking, toasting or broiling.
• Convection oven which speeds up cooking time.
• Cooking with the built in temperature probe for meats.

Of the 337 people who have written reviews on Amazon so far for the Hamilton Beach Set & Forget Toaster Oven, 87% gave either a 4 or 5 rating, with an overall average of 4.1 stars. There some critical reviews from users how had specific problems with their ovens working properly, as well as feedback about the broiling and toasting functions not working like traditional appliances that we mentioned previously.

Let’s start with the temperature probe that is built in to the Set & Forget Toaster Oven. This very handy feature will make sure that your meats are cooked properly, without overcooking them. All you do is insert the meat temperature probe and then set the desired internal temperature. Whether you like your roast rare or medium, the Hamilton Beach countertop oven will known when it’s ready!

In addition to the “Probe” option, there are a total of six pre-set modes for cooking – Toast, Bake, Broil, Convection and Warm. With regard to the “Warm” setting, you can use it manually as a starting place, or you can set the oven to switch over to it from any other modes if you are cooking something that you want to keep warm until it’s time to serve. Of course, you can also set the oven to shut off automatically at the end of a designated cooking time too.

While there have been some isolated reviews that the broiling function works slower than a full scale broiler, or that they get better toast from a traditional toaster, there is so much more that you can do with this oven – and the majority of users who love the results that they get.

Out of the all the models that we are recommending, Black and Decker TO1303SB is one that we would consider more of a “traditional” toaster oven. The Black and Decker 4-Slice Toaster Oven is small enough to fit nicely on your counter top and easy to clean.

With a price tag of under $30 on Amazon when we looked, there are not a lot of “advanced features” built in to the Black and Decker TO1303SB Toaster Oven but the ones that it does have are quite nice for a basic toaster oven. If you look at this price in comparison to what you would pay for just a decent quality 4 slice toaster, you are getting the ability to bake, broil and warm up foods too.

This small sized toaster oven is perfect singles or couples, or for when you just have something small to cook and don’t want to run your full sized oven. It is also the perfect size for studio apartments or mobile homes. It comes with a removable crumb tray, baking pan and broiling rack that fit perfectly inside.

The Black and Decker TO1303SB a small countertop oven, approximately 14.5 x 9 x 11 inches so it won’t take up a lot of space on your counter. For people who don’t want to have it out all the time, it weighs 7.5 pounds, which isn’t too bad. This oven has a side opening door, rather than one that opens flat. The internal capacity is not very large – while it is called a “4 slice toaster oven” if you are doing anything other than traditional sized square pieces of bread, you wont’ be able to do that much at time. You won’t have enough room to roast a whole chicken, and you can cook a small 9 inch pizza.

This is a budget, entry-level toaster oven, designed for people with small kitchens or for people who aren’t cooking for a big family or entertaining. As a countertop toaster oven, it does its purpose of not having to use your full sized oven when there’s not a lot to cook. It doesn’t have a convection cooking option.

The controls on the Black and Decker 4 Slice Toaster oven are basic and simple to use (although there have been a few users who report that they can be hard to read). There is a dial for setting your temperature, or you can use the preset dial for four cooking modes. There is another dial which allows you to set a 30 minute timer or select browning level.

When you use the timer, you can choose to have the oven shut off or stay on when it reaches the end of the designated time. It doesn’t have an option to switch to warm though. In terms of energy consumption, the Black and Decker 4 Slice toaster oven has two independent heating elements which means that it can be energy efficient (but the level of “efficiency” will depend on the cooking mode you are using).

The Black and Decker has what the manufacture calls “Exclusive Even Toast Technology” which is designed to help you make your toast exactly the way you want it. Some users report that there is a learning curve on the different controls, for example there was a bit of burnt toast in the start, but once they got the hang of things, they were able to cook foods the way they want them.

Just because this is a small toaster type oven, doesn’t mean that it’s just for bread products. It can be used to bake small batches of cookies, roast pieces of meat and do some nice broiling. The timer only goes up to 30 minutes – but since this oven is not designed for large quantities of food, for most things that you will cook in it, that’s plenty of time.

Some owners report that you need to be careful removing food because the side opening door can sometimes swing back and bump your hand.

The Panasonic FlashXpress™ Toaster Oven is another small sized counter top oven but we wouldn’t call it a “simple, budget model” like the Hamilton Beach. This is because it has many more features and uses double infrared heat to cook your foods (more on that in a minute…). It has a digital timer (up to 25 minutes) and six pre-set cooking modes – and of course you can choose your own.

As we have been discussing, the feature that makes this stand out is the fact that it cooks with double infrared heat. It also has an easy to read and use digital control panel. The interior light is another nice touch. You also get a removable crumb tray and square baking tray, which fit perfectly inside. Keep in mind that this is a small sized counter top oven and it can’t be used for broiling or roasting.

In terms of comparison, the other small toaster oven we recommend is the Hamilton Beach. There is a $100 price difference between the two so if you are looking for a compact countertop oven, you will have to determine what is most important to you. The HB is popular because of simplicity and price; where as the Panasonic FlashXpress™ Toaster Oven is popular because of how it cooks food quickly and efficiently. People also love how well it reheats food – preventing them from getting soggy. It can even bring new life into many leftover fried foods.

The outside dimensions of the Panasonic FlashXpress™ are approximately 13” x 12” x 10.25” (as compared to the HB - 14.5 x 9 x 11 inches) and it weighs 7.5 pounds. This oven is available in two colors white (Panasonic NB-G110PW) and silver (Panasonic NB-G110P). The door opens flat, but not at the “counter level” because the controls for this oven are located along the bottom, not on the side like many models.

The location of the controls has an impact on the internal capacity. By putting them at the bottom, you get more width but loose some height – which for many users this is a positive thing. The interior space is about is 10.2” wide by 9.8” inches deep by 4” high (but when you use the e interior rack there's only about 2.5’” of height available for cooking food). For a “visualization” of the internal space – there is enough room for a 9 inch pizza or 4 slices of standard square bread.

The digital control panel has both “words” and illustrations for the preset cooking functions that will automatically calculate the time for common foods. You can choose any of following cooking modes from the auto cook menu: Toast, Frozen Waffle, Roll Reheat, Frozen Pizza, Quick Reheat of Frozen Hash Brown.

In addition to the presets, you can manually set the temperature, anywhere from 250 to 500 degrees. There is a digital timer which you can set for up to 25 minutes – which for the types of foods that you are most likely to cook in this small oven, is usually enough.

Now let’s talk about what makes this more than a basic toaster oven, besides the digital functionality. The Panasonic FlashXpress™ cooks your food with both near and far infrared heat, using a combination of quartz and ceramic in the construction. The far infrared is what cooks the outside of your foods perfectly and the near infrared is what penetrates the inside. Because this makes your foods cook evenly, it means that food comes out better and in less time than a toaster oven that uses traditional heating methods. There is also a thermal sensor which will precisely control the oven temperature.

Because the Panasonic FlashXpress™ Toaster Oven uses double infrared heating it means instant heat with no preheating needed. It also means that your foods will cook quicker without being over done. You will absolutely love how the heat distributes evenly both on the outside and inside of your foods.

According to the manufacture, foods will be cooked 40% faster than a traditional oven. They don’t say how this compares to convection ovens. By the way, we didn’t mention this before, but this oven doesn’t have a convection cooking option – but that’s because it already has the double infrared to speed up cooking.

There is a nice interior light button which let’s you see how your food is doing without opening the door. The timer will beep to let you know that your food is done.

For making toast, there is a separate button that lets you choose your shade options, from light to dark with 5 increments.

On the downside, if you are looking to roast and broil foods – this oven is not designed for either.

The Cuisinart Convection Toaster Oven Broiler with Exact Heat™ Sensor is an older, discontinued model but it has so many great features, it’s still a very popular selling toaster oven – not to mention the fact that you can get it for about half the original selling price on Amazon. With a moderate price of about $164, which for some can seem a bit expensive for a toaster oven, what the Cuisinart TOB-195 Toaster Oven offers in terms of flexibility, functionality and cooking size may make it exactly what you are looking for.

This one comes with only the baking rack and crumb tray – not an extra pan like many other models – but there are many you can purchase that will fit inside. When looking at the interior capacity – people either appreciate the fact that the control panel runs along the bottom instead of on the side, or they see it as a downside. By placing the control panel where it is, you gain width but lose height. Ultimately it depends upon what you will cook most in your oven.

As far as the convection cooking option, people see it as a positive addition for speeding up cooking, but there are some people who report that it can be a little noisy.

The Cuisinart TOB-195 Convection Toaster has electronic touch pad controls with four pre-set functions - Pizza/Bake, Broil, Toast and Convection, and is available in three colors:

• Cuisinart TOB-195 – Stainless Steel/Brushed Chrome
• Cuisinart TOB-165 – White
• Cuisinart TOB-175 - Brushed Chrome/Black

This is a large counter top oven with both traditional and convection cooking options. The outside dimensions are 18.5 x 17 x 10 inches with an interior volume of 0.6-cubic-foot. In comparison, its about the same size as the Hamilton beach, just a little bit shorter in height. You can fit 6 slices of toast or a 12” pizza inside, and could roast about a 7 pound chicken. There are two positions for the oven rack.

The Cuisinart Exact Heat Toaster Oven Broiler has easy to use electronic touchpad controls with 7 button options for default cooking modes. You can choose from: Pizza/Bake, Toast, Convection Bagel, Reheat and Defrost. There are also options to set your own temperature, as well as a clock and oven timer.

At the time of this writing, the Cuisinart Exact Heat Toaster Oven Broiler had 785 reviews on Amazon and has an overall feedback rating of 4.6 stars (the highest of all the toaster ovens on our short list) with 70% of owners giving it 5 stars. When it comes to the critical feedback, one of the most common is that people can be confused by the different digital controls (and the variety of options available). Just about every person said that once they actually took the time to go to the owners manual, they figured things out and were overall happy with the results. There are some people who report that the toasting was uneven or the baking quality didn’t meet their expectations.

The Cuisinart Convection Toaster Oven can be used to toast, bake, roast broil and reheat foods – so it makes for one versatile kitchen appliance, as it should be since it will be taking up a bit of space in your kitchen. Users love the fact that they can use it as an alternative to their traditional oven to save time and energy. And people who don’t have the room for a full sized oven – but do want more than a compact one – are really impressed by how much they can do with it.

When making toast, you can use the shade control to get exactly the kind of toast you want. This unit also has a Exact Heat™ Sensor that precisely maintains the oven temperature. It has an easy to clean interior, which is another plus.