The Creme de la Creme of All Toaster Ovens; I Love It!

Update: January, 2006

Once again, I am happy to report that this toaster oven is as good as new and in perfect condition. I still love it and would still recommend buying it. It is a terrific value for the money. Oh yeah, and in reply to the one comment on this review: of course it toasts both sides of the bread!


Update: July, 2004

The toaster oven is still going strong and I still absolutely LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it! Worth every single fricken penny. Don't waste your money on a $30 piece of junk. Spend a little more and get this one. You won't regret it!


Update: December, 2003

I want to add that this toaster oven is the EASIEST one to clean that I have ever owned! The bottom of the oven has a tray that very easily slides out from behind. You just slide out the tray, take it to the sink and clean it, then re-insert it in the toaster oven. No more lugging the heavy oven over to the sink! Wow, it makes me love this thing even more! I've been using it for months and it continues to do a terrific job. It's worth every penny, and definitely worth the extra cost. If you want to buy a toaster oven, THIS ONE is the BEST out there!

Why I Needed a New Toaster Oven

Earlier this year, my DeLonghi Alfredo Ultima toaster oven bit the dust, after 3 years of daily use. In fact, it didn't just die, it almost took me with it; sparking and threatening to set my kitchen on fire. Read my Alfredo review for details. (http://www.epinions.com/hmgd-review-340D-B6382C2-3966A0CF-prod3).

So, I set out to buy a new toaster oven. This was not an easy task. I wanted an oven which could accomodate 6 slices of toast and also cook a small casserole or entree.

I had originally bought my Alfredo from the Chefs Catalogue online. Although 3 years had elapsed, Chefs honored their merchandise and credited me for the $99 cost of the Alfredo (I did have to send the oven back to them, but they paid for the postage). So, although the new Cuisinart costs $150, it only cost me $50 with that credit. (I was really lucky!)

I did a lot of research, between Epinions and other sites, and came to one conclusion: if I didn't want another DeLonghi, the only other option was this model of Cuisinart. All the other toaster ovens received lukewarm or bad reviews, or were just too small for my needs. The Cuisinart Convection was the most expensive toaster oven commercially sold, but at this point I didn't care. I wanted reliability, and I liked the convection option.


Perfect Toast Every Time

I'm very critical about kitchen appliances and I demand reliability, durability, and convenience. This oven has it all. The touch pad controls are extremely easy. Read the instruction booklet for 5 minutes and you'll understand how to use it.

Toast comes out perfectly, no matter how many consecutive slices you make. The oven has a digital timer, so you can see how many minutes the toast will need to cook before it's done. If you make one bunch of toast, and then make another right afterwards, the timer automatically adjusts to compensate for the toaster already being hot. The second batch of toast does not overcook and comes out as nicely as the first batch. To me, this is really impressive. One less thing to worry about.

The toaster also has a special adjustment for bagels, which is helpful. You can set it for frozen bagels and it will defrost and then toast them. I haven't used this option yet, because I don't eat a lot of bagels. It also has a special adjustment for 4 to 6 slices of toast being made at once.


A Nice Compact Convection (or non-Convection) Oven

The oven part of this appliance is terrific. You can either use it with or without the convection feature. When you set it for convection, the fan goes on. It isn't very loud, which is nice. The convection feature does bake or cook food faster than normal baking, and it browns rolls nicely.

I have baked and broiled several entrees and baked goods in the oven and they come out great.

The oven comes with one rack and two levels, so it can be adjusted in 4 different ways, depending on what you are cooking. The instruction booklet goes into a little bit of detail about how to position the rack, but ultimately you can decide for yourself based a bit on trial and error.



The Digital Readout and Timer are Nice Features

This oven has a digital timer, which also serves as a temperature readout and a clock when the oven is not is use. You can adjust the temperature of the oven in 25-degree increments, from 150 to 500 degrees. You can adjust the timer for up to 4 hours, in one-minute increments.

There is no automatic shut off when the timer is done. This is one feature I wish the oven had, but it's rather minor. So when the timer beeps, it's up to you to peek and and decide if your food is done, and if the oven should be shut off.

Also, once you set the timer, you cannot reset it until it's counted all the way down to zero. This is the only annoying thing I wish was different about the toaster -- I wish I could reset the timer on the fly.

When the timer is done, the oven beeps very loudly. It's a rather shrill beep, but it is audible from very far away in your house, which I think is an asset.

Unlike the other models of Cuisnart, which seem to beep at random, this model has no problems. It never beeps except when it's supposed to. I keep it plugged in all the time and don't have any problems with it. I've been using it for about 2 months and have fallen in love with this appliance.



Money Well Spent

OK, do you really want to spend $150 on a toaster oven when you can get a decent little one for about $30 elsewhere? It depends on your needs. I wanted something large enough to really bake or cook in. And I wanted something that wouldn't break in a few years (time will tell, I suppose).

This oven received excellent reviews everywhere I looked, and so far I have been very impressed with it. It is easy to operate, it has a lot of nice features, and it doesn't ever burn my toast. It's too bad that you have to pay $150 to get this level of quality in a kitchen appliance, but believe me, you won't regret spending the extra money on this oven. I highly recommend it. By the way, I have the model which is white color and it looks very nice in my kitchen.