A. Some people may still be wondering why you’d choose a toaster oven when you could buy a standard pop-up toaster. At this price point, expect some higher-end features, such as convection cooking. Hamilton Beach® Convection Toaster Ovens offer the convenience of an oven and the speed of convection cooking in one convenient appliance. You’ll save lots of cooking time—the convection mode in this toaster oven cooks food up to 25% faster by circulating heated air evenly around food as it cooks. The controls are easy to understand, with knobs to set the cooking method, temperature, and time. Depending on the lighting, sometimes it was difficult to read the settings since they are printed with silver ink on a shiny black surface.
If there’s counter space in front of it, the handle would hit the counter. If it’s placed close to the edge of a counter, the hinge would get jarred. Since most of the door is glass, I suggest not slamming it in either direction and making it a point to close it gently. While it fits under my kitchen cabinets, I wouldn’t recommend using it in that location because of the heat it produces.
While there are a few cons to this particular toaster oven, over all the Hamilton Beach Easy Reach Six Slice Toaster Oven is a great deal. From broiling a lemon and herb crusted salmon for a delish dinner for two to making a tray of pizza rolls for your incredibly picky child, this oven can do it all. The Hamilton Beach Easy Reach Toaster Oven has hamilton beach air fryer both a top and bottom heating element and a fan to help move the warm air throughout the device. I enjoyed the Hamilton Beach Countertop Oven With Convection and Rotisserie (model number 31104D) and had good results with the recipes I made. However, I’m accustomed to precise digital controls and presets and wished for those as I turned the dials.
Despite the lack of interior light, I was able to see through the glass to see my food cooking, although I would have appreciated a light for a better view. You’ll need to wait until 2023 to buy or install a new electric oven, when the rebates (which will vary by state) go into effect. Also, we found hamilton beach air fryer the middle shade setting for toasting (setting 4) to be a bit dark. We recommend using setting 3 for making perfect golden-brown toast. We also used an AI-powered analysis tool to scan 6,500-plus customer reviews across nine toaster ovens to identify what made some models better or worse than others.
We also ran a bonus round to evaluate how well each oven could crisp up the skin on chicken thighs—a very telling test, as very few models excelled at this task. We stopped the baking after 27 minutes as the fries weren’t getting any more colors. This, nonetheless, was over our time limit of 25 minutes, so it was a 0/10. The Mueller could barely fit a 3 lb chicken for our Whole Roasted Chicken test. If you were to purchase this oven and use it to roast a whole chicken, we recommend cutting it open or chopping it into pieces beforehand. The toasting controls can be hard to figure out to avoid burning your toast.
Beyond performance, there are other features that set the Panasonic FlashXpress apart from the competition. Hooks on the door help eject the toaster’s wire rack, so you don’t have to reach your hand as far into the oven cavity to retrieve your food. Some toaster ovens, like our budget pick, are equipped with only two heating elements.
None of the parts are coated with a nonstick finish and hand washing is recommended. The aluminum baking pan became quite stained and we weren’t able to get it completely clean. This is an authentic manufacturer-sourced part which is specially designed for use with Hamilton Beach countertop ovens. It is an identical replacement for a missing or damaged rotisserie rod/fork that was included with a new unit. Please make sure to check the owners manual for the correct application of this component.
The KitchenAid KCO211BM Digital Countertop Toaster Oven didn’t toast as evenly as our picks, and several slices of bread were burned in patches on the bottom. Some of the Bagel Bites we baked were also undercooked and pale. The Cuisinart TOB-40 Custom Classic Toaster Oven Broiler is easy to use, but on its medium setting, bread became too dark. Also, this model has no timer, so you’ll have to keep a close watch on your food to prevent it from overcooking.