However, we found it easy to brush them onto the crumb tray using a pastry brush or a paper towel. Also, we were able to remove the stubborn stains on the baking pan by brushing them with a paste of baking soda and water. The oven has a back buffer to prevent it from being pushed too close to the wall. Unlike many other toaster ovens, though, you can’t wrap the power cord around the buffer.
This toaster oven, however, gives you a good bang for your buck as far as functionality and performance. While traditional toaster ovens were large and bulky, hamilton beach the Hamilton Beach Easy Reach Convection Toaster Oven is only 11” x 17” x 20”. We’ve read some user reviews regarding food catching fire in this oven.
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.
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.
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.
We also tested the unique features on certain models, such as dehydrate modes or the steam feature on Balmuda’s The Toaster. Additionally, we took note of any excessively loud beeps and evaluated the usefulness of each model’s accessories. This model comes with the most basic accessories, including an oven rack, a baking pan, and a crumb tray. More-advanced digital models will alert you once the oven is preheated to a set temperature, but the Hamilton Beach lacks this feature. The instruction manual recommends allowing 5 minutes for the toaster oven to preheat. Even so, a charming, old-school ding does alert you when the timer goes off.
While the fan isn’t quite as powerful as the ones in most pod-shaped air fryers or air fryer toaster ovens, it produces similar results. That’s because a toaster oven can fit more food at once, and in our experience it cooks more evenly. Generally, you need to increase the cooking time by several minutes and the temperature 25 to 50 degrees to compensate for the toaster oven’s larger cavity. If you’d like to air fry, but you just don’t have the space (or budget) for an air frying toaster oven, then a pod-shaped air fryer might be best for you. Their cooking baskets can also be a little safer or simpler to maneuver than a hot pan for children, new cooks, or those with mobility concerns.
When the time came to remove the chicken from the oven, I used the special tool provided. While I managed to get the chicken out, it was an awkward process. For my next attempt (I like chicken), I used heatproof, waterproof barbecue gloves for more secure chicken extraction.
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.
The half-bagel slices in the front toasted perfectly, while those in the rear of the oven were paler and less crispy. Overall, we gave the Easy Reach higher than average marks for toasting and feel it does an acceptable job with this metric. Most of the frozen items we heated came out a little undercooked after the recommended cooking time.