Even I can cook now!

I am really surprised by all the negative reviews on this oven. I’ve had mine for about 6 months now, and couldn’t be happier. I bought it as my main oven, after I moved yet again to a place with a very old gas stove. It’s probably just in my head, but I feel very uneasy around gas appliances and would rather not use them. So I popped a nice wood panel on top of the gas oven so I can use it as a counter top, and put this Europro on top of it. I am ashamed to say it, but I really am the worst cook in the world, my cooking attempts frequently end up in the trash or down the toilet. Now, though, I can proudly report that since getting this convection oven, I get perfect results every time, and haven’t wasted a single product.

This is my third toaster oven, but first convection one, and also the first large size that can handle bigger pots and things. My previous simple Black&Decker was a little nightmare that could never get even a piece of toast right, and would occasionally burst in flames spontaneously. I was very happy to toss that one on the side of the road, good luck to whoever picked it up!

I purchased the EuroPro at Target for $50, which I think for this model is a great deal. It is fairly large, but not too heavy and fits great on top of the nasty gas stove in my kitchen. My only complaint with the set up is that the power cord is really short and could barely reach my power outlet. I don’t know what’s up with that, but I’ve noticed every toaster oven I’ve had came with a really short power cord.

The user manual recommends running the oven on the highest setting for about 20 minutes at the beginning to break in the heating elements and burn out any factory oils and smells. I didn’t notice any excessive smoking or smells even during this warm up time. The oven has three dials on the front – one to select the cooking type – toast, broil, bake, warm up; another one for the temperature; and a third one for the timer, which has maximum of 60 minutes, as well as a “stay on” setting. The timer dial also has three little square indicators for the toasting function, they go from lighter to black, and the black sits at the spot where 10 minutes are indicated. I am not really sure if when the toaster function is selected the timer runs faster or not, but unlike many of the other reviewers, I don’t find the time to make toast excessive at all, in fact it seems much faster than my old toaster, and I always get my toast just the way I wanted and exactly as indicated by the setting on the dial.

The oven comes with a generous number of trays and cooking surfaces, including a ceramic pizza plate. I have found them all to work great for their intended purpose. I am simply amazed with how precise all the settings and the cooking is, it seems to heat very evenly. I have not burned a single thing yet and it always seems to work as directed – if it says bake at 450 for 30 minutes, I bake at 450 for 30 min and it comes out perfect – maybe it’s just me, but has never happened to me with another oven.

I am still not sure if the convection cooking is any faster, but it certainly feels a lot more even, every part of everything I’ve tried comes out equally well cooked. The only thing I haven’t tried yet is broiling.

Another amazing thing about this oven is how easy it is to keep it clean. Six months now using it as my only oven (I don’t even use the microwave because I hate microwaves), and it still looks like brand new. There is a tray on the bottom, which unlike my previous toaster could be simply pulled out to clean up the spills and crumbs. I don’t have to move the oven or anything. The trey on my previous Black&Decker was actually attached to the oven and could only be opened but I had to dangle the whole thing over the sink to clean it up. As usual it’s the simple things in life that make you happy!

I really have to dig deep to find something to complain about. I already mentioned my biggest problem is the short power cord. The oven also occasionally makes a little noise when the convection fans first come on, but they go away very quickly. I would have liked a light inside the oven, but can’t really expect in a product at this price and size.

These are all really minor problems, though, and I really do think that this is the perfect compact oven.