The Black & Decker toaster oven that I've owned for at least a decade finally bit the dust, so I had to buy a new one.I loved my B&D toaster oven, and small ones that that are hard to find.I wanted another small one (most of the toaster ovens out now seem to be as large as full-size microwave ovens, and I'm not willing to sacrafice that much counter space), but I also hoped to find one that was slightly deeper so I could bake more things in it.My requirements were simple - just something that will toast bread and bagels and bake small frozen foods such as pizza and fries. Nothing fancy, therefore nothing expensive.I needed to replace my broken one right away.After searching Macy's, JCPenney's, and Sears and finding very limited choices, I found myself at Target trying to choose between 2 B&D models and this Euro-Pro model, all between $30-35.The B&D ovens seemed so flimsy and cheap I was reluctant to buy one, but the only other "small" toaster oven was a brand (Euro-Pro) that I never heard of. It was taller than the B&D ovens but its footprint was about the same.I liked the way it looked, and it felt solid and well made.The removable crumb tray was also located in the front (another nice feature).So I came home and reviewed the comments here on the 3 models and read so many negative reviews about the B&D toaster ovens I decided to take a chance on the Euro-Pro, even though it lacked reviews.
I've had this for over a week and have used it several times, and it works fine for everything I tried.The toast comes out nice and evenly toasted, bagels and waffles toast fine, I baked a rice dish that came out fine that never would have fit in my old toaster oven.The frozen french fries I tried came out a little burned, even though I did not cook them as long as recommended.I don't broil so I haven't tried the broiler.
My only real complaint is with the timer/toast dial.To toast bread, you set the timer to a number - the larger the number the darker the toast.This timer is like an old-fashioned oven timer that you set to a time and it ticks as it counts down to zero and dings when it reaches zero. At this point it should shut off the toaster oven and your toast should be ready. There are several problems with this button.First of all, the button is all black and it doesn't have an arrow or dot on it, so you can't tell very well what time you are selecting. I got around this by painting a white dot on it with White-Out.Also, the dial shows the times in increments of 10 minutes with no tick marks in between, so you want a number that's not an increment of 10, you have to estimate it.Bagels toast well at around 4 minutes.Another problem is if you select a time < 5, it usually doesn't tick.If it doesn't tick, then it's not counting down and it will never reach zero and never shut off the oven automatically.To get around this, I usually just select a high number > 10, wait for it to start ticking, then move the timer back to the low number I want.Sometimes it stops ticking again and I have to repeat until this finally works. One time I was using the timer and it was ticking happily and then it just stopped midway through.Bottom line:You cannot rely on the timer and/or auto-shutoff to work.I always use the timer on my microwave oven as a backup so if the Euro-Pro's timer doesn't work, I can manually turn it off when the microwave timer beeps.
For the price, it's a decent toaster oven. It toasts; it bakes. If it breaks after a year, at least I didn't spend a lot of money on it ($34 at Target), and I'll have more time next time to research the other brands and possibly order one thru amazon.
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Product Description:
Add a touch of style to your kitchen with this sleek toaster oven. It has full range temperature control from 150° to 450° with a variety of settings including Broil, Bake, Toast, and Keep Warm.Auto offtimer with ready signal and cool touch handles for safety.Included is enamel bake tray, 1 rack and pull out crumb tray.
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