Toaster ovens are an invaluable tool in the kitchen these days. If you have tight living quarters, like dorm rooms or you are in the military and live in the barracks, then toaster ovens can be your best friend.
Can you find a good oven for ? I found three… read on for my recommendations.
Skip ahead! Here’s my favorite: The Cuisinart Convection Toaster Oven.
They also use very little energy to heat up, keeping the surrounding area cooler than a conventional oven would. Also, they heat up relatively quickly, so if you have a small meal to cook, you can get it started quickly.
No rubbery food!
Maybe the best thing about toaster ovens is that it eliminates the need for a microwave almost entirely. Microwaves generally heat your food unevenly and often result in an in-edibly rubbery, tough or soggy meal.
Toaster ovens, on the other hand, heat your food just the same way your conventional oven will, only on a smaller scale.
Today we’ll look at a few of them that will give you the convenience you are looking for while maintaining the quality you get from a regular oven.
Oster Extra Large Toaster Oven
Oster is a company known for making quality kitchen appliances for a great price. This oven is no different.
Forgetful-proof
It has a 90-minute timer with an automatic shut-off once the timer goes off. This is an excellent safety feature and a great money saver if you tend to forget to turn off the oven when you finish cooking.
Good capacity
It is large enough to fit a family sized pizza, casseroles, lasagna, or any other large dish that you would typically cook for a family. To give an example of just how much this toaster oven can hold, you can cook 2 16″ pizzas, broil a whole chicken, or if you and 6 of your friends want toast, you can toast 14 slices of bread at once (so you each get 2 slices, of course).
It has a nice presence in your kitchen, with a stainless steel brushed finish. And a modern, minimalist display.
Should you buy this one?
The Oster Extra Large oven is an excellent purchase for a quality product at a comparably low price. It does have a couple of shortcomings I feel I should share with you.
The temp control can be somewhat inaccurate, heating up too fast and too hot. The handle gets hotter than you would expect so be prepared to have oven mitts nearby.
Breville Compact Smart Oven
This has something called “Element IQ” that adjusts each heating element individually, depending on the preset you choose. This puts the heat and the power where your food needs it to cook the optimum way.
Easy peasy presets
There are eight preset programs: Toast, Bagel, Bake, Roast, Broil, Pizza, Cookies, and reheat. Although there are already presets on this oven, you can still customize the temperature you want to set.
You might also like my write up of the Best Espresso Makers
Nice interface
There is a backlit LCD screen so you can quickly read the oven and tell what temperature it is on. It will also let you know when it is preheating and when it is ready to begin cooking by turning orange, and once it is done the cooking by turning blue.
Cleanup is very easy. It has a pull-out crumb tray, and it also comes with a broiling pan.
Here’s my post on the Best Burr Coffee Grinders
Should you buy this one?
This oven is certainly made with precise cooking in mind. It cooks your food with ease, and you don’t have to wait long for it to heat up. But this, like the other one, has one flaw. It gets very hot to the touch on the outside. Again, you’ll need some oven mitts.
But if you have children you may want to skip this one, just to be safe.
Cuisinart Convection Toaster Oven
This barely makes it into the $200 budget we are sticking to here, but it makes it. This one is great because it has a convection oven feature, expanding your cooking possibilities and making better food, faster.
Dual cook
With the dual cook function, you can program the to run at two different settings, one right after another. So if you want to cook a casserole, then top-brown it for a few minutes, you can pre-set that so you don’t have to babysit your oven.
Convection with conviction
The oven also comes with a speed convection function, allowing you to cook with convection heat without pre-heating.
Get your very own convection oven. The Cuisinart at Amazon.
Should you buy this one?
If you want a toaster oven with convection oven abilities, this is probably the best one you will find within today’s budget. Even if you don’t think you need a convection oven, you’ll most likely change your mind once you use one. It really is that much faster.
I also checked out the best microwaves for the money.
Wrap – Up
Toaster ovens are ridiculously convenient and huge energy savers. Every kitchen should have one. Either of these three will give you the convenience you are looking for, and they will all be around for several years to come.
Personally, I like the Cuisinart it’s powerful, good capacity and it even comes with a 13″ pizza stone that perfectly fits in the oven.
Alexis DeAnda is a food fanatic, library card user, and cast iron hunter, in that order. She has been cooking for anyone that will taste it ever since her mom let her make doughnuts on Saturday mornings at the age of 7.