Toasters / Toaster Ovens (2008-10)

[paulraphael]

Ok, my china plates are just shy of 11 inches and they fit.  Using a ruler, the inside of the oven seems to measure 12 1/2 x 12 1/2.  So your plates should fit just fine!

←

Thanks so much! If I buy this thing you should get a commission.

[John DePaula]

I'm coming to the discussion of warming oven late, but my microwave oven warms up plates (china, corelle, etc.) just fine. Even a Pyrex measuring cup.

[Marlene]

Ok, my china plates are just shy of 11 inches and they fit.  Using a ruler, the inside of the oven seems to measure 12 1/2 x 12 1/2.  So your plates should fit just fine!

←

Thanks so much! If I buy this thing you should get a commission.

←

I do have to say I love it, and I have two regular ovens. This Sunday, the turkey will be in one oven, the stuffing and veg in the other, so the roasted potatoes are going into the toaster oven. My Le Crueset tart tatin pan fits perfectly in there, and that's what I'll use to roast the potatoes.

[Marlene]

I'm coming to the discussion of warming oven late, but my microwave oven warms up plates (china, corelle, etc.) just fine.  Even a Pyrex measuring cup.

←

I can't put my china in the microwave as it has a gold rim. Sparks are lovely though.

[andiesenji]

I have two dedicated plate warmers. They started out in life as king-size heating pads but have never been used for anything except warming plates, bowls and etc. They use little energy and when sort of woven back and forth between items, each will keep a stack of 12 plates nicely warm on the lowest setting.

[John DePaula]

I'm coming to the discussion of warming oven late, but my microwave oven warms up plates (china, corelle, etc.) just fine.  Even a Pyrex measuring cup.

←

I can't put my china in the microwave as it has a gold rim. Sparks are lovely though.

←

Well, true enough. But even my fine china has no gold, so I'm good to go.

[andiesenji]

I won't put my good china in the microwave even though it doesn't have gold, it is more than a century old and I am taking no chances.

[John DePaula]

Good point, but for ease and speed, I don't mind putting my everyday stuff in the micro.

[SuY]

My trusty Black and Decker toaster oven of 13 years has sadly died. Any suggestions on what I should get? Don't need anything fancy as we generally use it for toast/heating up small amounts of food and broiling a piece of chicken for my 2 year old. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

[MSRadell]

If you must have nice toast then steer clear of the convection Cuisinart Toaster Oven. For everytging else it's wonderful, but not for toast; very uneven.

Ray

We find inmates very nice toast, very evenly toasted. It takes a little longer than a conventional toaster but the toast comes out very nice. Of course you can do six slices at a time which is a nice advantage if you have a large family or company visiting.

[gfron1]

I'm looking forward to the new Bodum toasters coming out right now - they're horizontal.

[andiesenji]

My trusty Black and Decker toaster oven of 13 years has sadly died. Any suggestions on what I should get? Don't need anything fancy as we generally use it for toast/heating up small amounts of food and broiling a piece of chicken for my 2 year old. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

←

My neighbor bought a Black & Decker Toast-R-Oven TRO420 1200-Watt Toaster Oven at Linens 'N Things before they went out of business and loves it.

She had purchased another which may have been B & D or maybe DeLonghi but it got much too hot on the outside (she has small grandchildren to worry about) so she took it back and exchanged it for this one.

I know she uses it every day and besides toast, makes mini English muffin pizzas for the kids and also uses it to bake the little frozen pot pies.

It has a timer and will shut off automatically (something lacking on many toaster ovens) and the price was very reasonable at less than $40.00.

[Tony Boulton]

I would not entertain anything but a Dualit 4 slot. It's pricey but will outlast me and probably the next generation, too. I am one of the few people who has purchased two. I had one in England and then I had to get a 110v one when I came here to TX.

[MSRadell]

I'm looking forward to the new Bodum toasters coming out right now - they're horizontal.

←

Have you got any information on this toaster? I looked on their website this morning and nothing shows up. The only toaster they have listed in their 2009 collection is a two slice vertical one.

[andiesenji]

I just checked the ratings at Consumer Reports.

They recommended two:

The T-Fal Avante Elite Convection Toaster Oven, priced at $100.

and

The Rival TO600 priced at $65.00

The T-Fal was considered the easiest to use.

None of the ovens tested rate Excellent or Very Good for toasting - all were rated Good.

The T-Fal was rated Very Good for baking and broiling.

The Rival was rated Excellent for baking.

The pricier Cusinart BRK-100 received a much lower rating.

I hope this helps.

[paulraphael]

I've had a cuisinart BRK-200 (the model with convection, but no rotisserie) for close to six months now. Here's a quick review:

-It's a good toaster; better than any that I've had, but not as good as commercial quality dedicated toasters. Can make several slices at a time. Only drawback is that it's slow.

-It's a great broiler. This is what I use it for most. Hot sandwiches, reheating things that need to be kept crisp, gratins, etc. etc.

-For both toasting and broiling, it's vital to keep the door open a crack. If you don't, the oven will develop hot spots and cook unevenly. Toast will be dried out and blotchy.

-The oven (conventional and convection) is disappointing. The thermostat is innacurate, and completely non-linnear (It's fairly accurate below 300 degrees; above 400 degrees it runs over 50 degrees hot). I wanted to use this thing for cakes and tarts, and find it useless for this. Too hard to calibrate. I assumed I got a lemon, and had cuisinart replace it. New oven had the same problem.

In short: great broiler, good toaster, useless oven.

[gfron1]

I'm looking forward to the new Bodum toasters coming out right now - they're horizontal.

←

Have you got any information on this toaster? I looked on their website this morning and nothing shows up. The only toaster they have listed in their 2009 collection is a two slice vertical one.

←

My rep said it will be about another month before they are released.

[StinkyTheGrump]

Great topic folks, read the whole thread. Does anyone have the Breville countertop oven, also at WS? It has very high reviews on the WS site but I'd rather hear from one of ya'll.

I've got a gift card to WS that's burnin' a hole in my pocket and might just pick this up today

[Tony Boulton]

The Bodum Flatbed Toaster is due out in August.

http://www.amazon.com/Bodum-10957-01US-Bis...r/dp/B0026L6MQW

[Rover]

I was given the Cuisinart Convection Toaster Oven Broiler several years ago as a very generous house-warming gift. A toaster oven of any kind has never been on my wish list, although I have a couple of friends who swear by theirs.

I tried it for toast and was disappointed, put it aside and forgot all about it. it survived a couple of house moves and my interest was re-kindled a couple of years ago. I now love it. Not for toast, however. Toast is best done on broil.

The convection oven is my best friend during the summer. I roast tomatoes, bake tarts, roast/bake fish and vegetables. It heats up in a fraction of the time it takes my conventional oven and doesn't envelope the kitchen in a heat wave. It's superb for reheating anything. I baked a raspberry lemon shortbread tart faster and more reliably in the Cuisinart than I had the week before in the conventional oven (I know ... I think I need a new oven thermometer).

The final winning couple points are:

. economical energy-wise and I unplug it when not using

. vastly reduced cooking odors as compared to conventional oven/broiler, e.g. fish - my range hood is pathetic.

Rover

[MaxH]

Good thread. IMO, toaster ovens are an underappreciated piece of optimal technology. I cook a lot with ovens and broilers (gas rather than electric, by strong preference), but have long used electric toaster ovens as an efficient alternative when the cooking fits their limitations (which aren't just size). They're especially useful to avoid firing up an oven on hot summer days.

Last year on sale ($30? $35?) at a big retailer (Target), I got a pizza-size Euro-Pro model TO1612 1380-Watt toaster oven (alias horno tostador or four grille-pain, in the trilingual manual) which has proven a godsend. I'd long seen dedicated electric pizza ovens offered by restaurant-supply firms, and considered getting one; but this Euro-Pro is cheaper and very flexible. It's a fairly typical toaster oven except for a circular bulge in the back, letting it easily accommodate 12-inch (30cm) round pizzas. (Standard US frozen pizza size: I've cooked a few successfully on the Euro-Pro's wire rack and incidentally, some US frozen pizzas have gotten much better in recent years, I'm impressed.) The top does get hot, not good for small children or careless adults.

I use it on hot evenings, just outdoors, where it doesn't add to indoor heat at all. Excellent for emergency pizzas, entertaining, midnight snacks, etc.

[andiesenji]

The Bodum Flatbed Toaster is due out in August.

http://www.amazon.com/Bodum-10957-01US-Bis...r/dp/B0026L6MQW

←

You can see a close-up view of the flatbed toaster HERE

and if you scroll down a little more than half-way down the page you can see the Fagor flatbed that was introduced last year.

What's old is new again!

This is an old idea brought up to date. I have a couple of flatbed toasters one from the 1920s and a recent acquisition made in 1931. Toaster Museum photo.

These were designed to be used on the table and thus were intended to be decorative as well as utilitarian.

However, unlike the new ones, that require one to physically pick up and turn the toast, the old Sunbeams had a very elegant design that included a rack between which the slices of bread were placed and when one side was toasted the grid could be lifted, swiveled and the untoasted side placed on the hot surface.

The bakelite handles stayed cool.

This new one has yet to be cleaned up but the Art Deco design can clearly be seen in these photos.

I have tested it and it works perfectly - including the crumb tray on the bottom.

Edited July 24, 2009 by andiesenji (log)

[MaxH]

You can see a close-up view of the flatbed toaster HERE ...

←

Andie, thanks for those excellent links. I could barely believe my eyes when I scrolled down on appliancist and found the "Zuse print maker - digital image toaster." I hold out some hope that it's a joke. (Because if not, it's the unwitting punchline to a high-tech joke 30 years ago about over-the-top use of digital technology in toasters.)

Separate topic: Some appliance products (even, seemingly, entire brands) portray their products as "professional quality;" the absurdity of that is that if you actually want professional equipment, just buy it (and some people turn out not to want it, when they find that oven doors fall open heavily, safety standards differ, etc.). Anyway here are some actual professional toasters:

Basic, familiar-looking model producing only 300 SPH (slices per hour)

More models including high-capacity conveyor toasters, 1000 SPH or 1200 BPH (bagels per hour)

[andiesenji]

In my collection of toasters I do have a commercial "conveyor" toaster similar to this Hatco toaster

However mine is much older and I don't recall the maker. It was given to me many years ago and is in my storage building as I never got around to having it restored and it isn't very pretty.

It was originally in the kitchen of the small hospital across the parking lot from my office building that became obsolete when the new multi-story hospital was built - finished in July 1975.

The toaster was in working condition and we used it when my entire family still lived at home.

I also thought the digital image toaster was a joke. I certainly don't need one for my collection. In fact, I have decided that I don't really need to add any more modern toasters to my collection but am still searching for a "sweetheart" toaster.

Edited July 25, 2009 by andiesenji (log)

[Yajna Patni]

I have a toaster that I LOVE. It is a stainless steel Dualit. It looks vintage but it is not. It has three slots and in the third you can make grilled cheese if you feel like blowing $25 on Amazon for the wire holder.

I found the toaster in a thrift store for very little, and its awesome.