Toaster Oven Cooking: Baking, Broiling, Roasting (not Toasting!). What Do You Do?

[MelissaH]

In today's NY Times there's an article on cooking in a toaster oven.

Quote

But the weather, coupled with social obligations, made me reconsider this neglected appliance. Unlike a regular oven, a toaster oven doesn't heat up the kitchen. Thus I could do more than just make salad out of the cartloads of vegetables from the farmers' market week after week, and perhaps even attempt a summer fruit pie, without melting into a gelatinous puddle of sweaty misery.

What kind of toaster oven do you have? What do you make in it? Do your experiences match the author's, or is it necessary to get a brand-spanking-new model to take full advantage of having one?

Mine's a Black and Decker model that we got for a wedding gift. It seems to work better as an oven than a toaster. We haven't done much cooking of raw ingredients, but we use it to warm up crispy stuff that wouldn't stay crispy in the microwave. I'm intrigued by the idea of using it to roast garlic and vegetables: must give that a shot the next time I don't want to turn on the big oven.

MelissaH

[Basilgirl]

I have a toaster oven...it's stored in my basement. BUT my mom and I used to make the best open face toasted cheese - we just buttered white bread and slapped American or cheddar on it and broiled in the toaster oven until the cheese was all gooey and blackened in spots. Mmmm. I want one right now.

[wattacetti]

I have a Black & Decker. Apart from toasting the odd slice of vollkonbrodt, I primarily use it as a warming oven to let meats rest after cooking.

[LEdlund]

I can't remember what brand of toaster oven I have but I use it every day! It is large enough to hold a 9' pie pan and a 11 X 9 casserole.

Here are just some of the things I use it for:

For baked potatoes, I start them off in the microwave and finish them in the toaster oven.

Toasting nuts.

Roasting potatoes or vegetables.

Warming bread, buns, rolls, tortillas, etc.

Re-heating leftover meat (for example when I make steak and eggs for breakfast!)

After making up a batch of cookie dough, I will bake off a few at a time in the toaster oven.

Oh, and toast!

The best part is that I put the plates, bowls, whatever, on the top to warm them while it's in use. I couldn't live without mine.

[MHarney]

What kind of toaster oven do you have? What do you make in it? Do your experiences match the author's, or is it necessary to get a brand-spanking-new model to take full advantage of having one?

←

Funny this topic should come up, because I was knee-deep in it for a few days just recently. Because I haven't received it yet, I can't vouch for or deny its quality just yet, but I can tell you how I plan to use it. Last Friday, I ordered a somewhat higher-end toaster oven, a refurbished DeLonghi Airstream digital combo oven (AD1079) from Amazon, their last one in stock for the moment. It has several cooking options: keep warm, bake, bake with convection, broil, dehydrate, defrost, built-in rotisserie, and "pizza function," whatever that means. I've gotten along for years without an auxiliary oven of any kind (well, besides the microwave), but finally decided to get one for several reasons:

• Three times in the last month or so (and dozens of times in the past), I wished I had a second oven in which I could bake something to go along the low-temp slow food I had cooking in the full-size oven. The afterthought items were a bourbon and cane syrup pecan pie, corn bread, and crème caramel, so in each case, the current oven temp was wildly different from what I needed.
  
• I don't have room for a second full-size oven or the dough for a nice double oven with warming rack, nor do I have a lot of spare counter space, so something smaller that could fit on a cart would be in order.
  
• I recently watched the "To Roast a Chicken" episode of The French Chef, in which Julia uses an in-oven rotisserie unit and thought, (first) "How come the power cord on that thing didn't melt?" and (second) "Well, I've got a trussing needle, but no rotisserie. Dang." Sure, I roast chickens in the usual way on a V-rack, but the thought of perfectly uniform browning is very appealing.
  
• I would probably prefer roasting in hell before considering something like the Ronco Showtime rotisserie unitasker. For many reasons, not just the spray-on hair he still sells.
  
• I'd like to try my hand at dehydrating foods (an optional rack on the DeLonghi) and maybe even fresh herbs (despite my best efforts at preservation, I still have a lot of waste), but without the dorkiness factor of using stacked air conditioner filters and a fan à la "Good Eats."
  
• A warming oven would be very nice to have. Hey, I could warm a stack of plates in there before serving, too. Cool.
  

After a good deal of research on various units, I found the DeLonghi can handle all these tasks and, at 1.1 cubic feet internally, with two racks, but just 23"Wx16"Dx15"H externally, can fit a 9" pie tin or 9"x13" baking dish. However, its list of $300 it was too pricey for me.

The final justification (okay, okay...rationalization) for this purchase arrived in two forms: First, I found that Amazon's refurbished price plus an ongoing $25 kitchen & housewares promotion brought the price down to the much more reasonable 50% of list price. Second, I also wanted to set up a sort of Ultimate Dried Herb & Spice Rack that didn't take up any counter, cabinet, or wall space, and so looked for a small cart that 1) was low cost (under $100), 2) had the right dimensions and sturdiness for the new oven, and 3) had a pull-out shelf that could accomodate thirty 3"x3" 8 oz. clear top square tins in one layer so I will never have to poke through cabinets for such things again. After a somewhat lengthy search, I finally found one (and, surprisingly, only one) that fits the bill -- here it is after I set up the spice and herb rack but before the oven's on it, obviously.

[fifi]

I have the original DeLonghi with convection, without the rotisserie. I use it just about everyday. I live alone so small quantities of just about anything are the general rule. In my opinion, microwaving left over meat is an abomination. It just tastes funny to me. I freeze portions of leftover roast and such in foil packets. I throw it into the little oven on convection and all is well in 15 - 20 minutes at about 325. It has done a great job on holiday pies when we ran out of oven space.

I have also used it to dehydrate herbs and tangerine peel and it works terrifically. During my foraging food blog I had collected some horsemint. That is a pretty elusive herb to dehydrate, quick to lose its flavor. It came out great.

One revelation about the convection feature . . . It reheats fried food like nothing else. You know all of those french fries you can't eat? Get a doggy bag. When you want a munchy, put them in the convection oven and reheat. And, if you plan ahead to forget about them, you will have wonderfully crunchy potato sticks.

Heh heh . . . I have the same stands that MHarney has (but without the nifty deeper drawer, mine has a pull out shelf) that I got at Target for a bit less than $30 apiece. I am using them for overflow storage and a computer printer while I am in this apartment but I have recommended the same thing to a few folks for the ovens. All great minds.

[Mottmott]

What kind of toaster oven do you have? What do you make in it? Do your experiences match the author's, or is it necessary to get a brand-spanking-new model to take full advantage of having one?

←

Funny this topic should come up, because I was knee-deep in it for a few days just recently. Because I haven't received it yet, I can't vouch for or deny its quality just yet, but I can tell you how I plan to use it. Last Friday, I ordered a somewhat higher-end toaster oven, a refurbished DeLonghi Airstream digital combo oven (AD1079) from Amazon, their last one in stock for the moment. It has several cooking options: keep warm, bake, bake with convection, broil, dehydrate, defrost, built-in rotisserie, and "pizza function," whatever that means. I've gotten along for years without an auxiliary oven of any kind (well, besides the microwave), but finally decided to get one for several reasons:

• Three times in the last month or so (and dozens of times in the past), I wished I had a second oven in which I could bake something to go along the low-temp slow food I had cooking in the full-size oven. The afterthought items were a bourbon and cane syrup pecan pie, corn bread, and crème caramel, so in each case, the current oven temp was wildly different from what I needed.
  
• I don't have room for a second full-size oven or the dough for a nice double oven with warming rack, nor do I have a lot of spare counter space, so something smaller that could fit on a cart would be in order.
  
• I recently watched the "To Roast a Chicken" episode of The French Chef, in which Julia uses an in-oven rotisserie unit and thought, (first) "How come the power cord on that thing didn't melt?" and (second) "Well, I've got a trussing needle, but no rotisserie. Dang." Sure, I roast chickens in the usual way on a V-rack, but the thought of perfectly uniform browning is very appealing.
  
• I would probably prefer roasting in hell before considering something like the Ronco Showtime rotisserie unitasker. For many reasons, not just the spray-on hair he still sells.
  
• I'd like to try my hand at dehydrating foods (an optional rack on the DeLonghi) and maybe even fresh herbs (despite my best efforts at preservation, I still have a lot of waste), but without the dorkiness factor of using stacked air conditioner filters and a fan à la "Good Eats."
  
• A warming oven would be very nice to have. Hey, I could warm a stack of plates in there before serving, too. Cool.
  

After a good deal of research on various units, I found the DeLonghi can handle all these tasks and, at 1.1 cubic feet internally, with two racks, but just 23"Wx16"Dx15"H externally, can fit a 9" pie tin or 9"x13" baking dish. However, its list of $300 it was too pricey for me.

The final justification (okay, okay...rationalization) for this purchase arrived in two forms: First, I found that Amazon's refurbished price plus an ongoing $25 kitchen & housewares promotion brought the price down to the much more reasonable 50% of list price. Second, I also wanted to set up a sort of Ultimate Dried Herb & Spice Rack that didn't take up any counter, cabinet, or wall space, and so looked for a small cart that 1) was low cost (under $100), 2) had the right dimensions and sturdiness for the new oven, and 3) had a pull-out shelf that could accomodate thirty 3"x3" 8 oz. clear top square tins in one layer so I will never have to poke through cabinets for such things again. After a somewhat lengthy search, I finally found one (and, surprisingly, only one) that fits the bill -- here it is after I set up the spice and herb rack but before the oven's on it, obviously.

←

I'm considering getting something like this and would really appreciate your feedback once you've used this for awhile. Things I'd like to know, beyond the obvious question of how well it does the job it's meant to do: is it easy or hard to keep clean? How much heat does it throw off compared to your regular oven.

[*Deborah*]

When I was in university, I had a toaster oven that served many uses. It heated the room in my dorm when the building heat wasn't enough for me; and was the source of a bazillion cheese sandwiches to get me through the weekend without food service (first year).

When I moved off-campus, I used to eat pretty haphazardly, but every now and then I would go and shop. Well, cooking for one and trying to find something nice that a. isn't horribly expensive or b. doesn't come in a 2-lb package can be difficult. So I settled on these little cute steaks with bacon around them, tournedos, which I would cook to MR in the toaster oven and serve with a little beurre maitre d'hotel (which I saw on Jacques Pépin once at home on break), and maybe some noodles or a potato, and feel like a queen.

Only years later did I discover that my little tournedos were, in fact, filets mignon.

But that toaster oven is the only way I've ever cooked a decent steak (don't have a grill).

[AmyKay]

I was given a black&decker model when I graduated from college. I knew it was a 'kitchen essential' but, at the time, didn't really understand why. I soon learned that those things are great for cooking meats such as chicken and fish, for individual portions of cookies, and for reheating pizzas.

I have recently started using it more and more because my boyfriend is a human heater - very, very sensitive to heat (that's what they call a 'hottie', right? teehee ).

So, I use the toaster oven because it does not get the house as hot as the full-sized version. It is just big enough for two portions of whatever our protein of choice is (usually I do salmon in it, though).

We usually do some sort of fresh salad to accompany dinner, but roasting veggies in there sounds like a great idea, too.

The plate warmer idea is a great one - I'll have to try it!

[MHarney]

One revelation about the convection feature . . . It reheats fried food like nothing else. You know all of those french fries you can't eat? Get a doggy bag. When you want a munchy, put them in the convection oven and reheat. And, if you plan ahead to forget about them, you will have wonderfully crunchy potato sticks.

←

Ah, one more item for my rationalization pile! That's good to hear -- I had never read of that side benefit of convection ovens; I think 25-35% cooking time savings is about the only thing I have read. I usually can't finish the huge portions at my favorite fried clam place (an hour's drive away, so it's not too often), and I've found a standard oven reheats them in only a mediocre fashion. They're still edible and still better than anything in, say, a 20-mile circle, but at the place=10 out of 10; reheated in standard oven=7 out of 10.

Mottmott: Will do. Once I've had it for a few weeks, I'll post my thoughts in this thread. fifi's message makes me think I probably selected a good one. Regarding cleaning, a few bullet items from DeLonghi's product description make it sound like it will clean easily and well:

- Patented DuraStone interior is durable, easy to clean, and distributes heat more evenly

- Easy-load rotisserie is simple to remove, load and clean

- Drop-Down heating element provides easy access to make clean-up simple

I'll be the (modest, sort of) judge of those.

Deborah: But that toaster oven is the only way I've ever cooked a decent steak (don't have a grill).

Until I recently got a non-stick grill pan that's oven-safe (an Analon), I had similar experiences trying to cook a decent steak. Now: Caramelize on the stovetop, pop in the (regular) 400º oven for a shade under 2 minutes a side, and yum -- complete with grill crosshatching.

[EdS]

Toaster Ovens in the Japan forum

[aprilmei]

I live in Hong Kong where kitchens are extremely small. I use a DeLonghi toaster oven to bake cakes, tarts, breads, madeleines, chickens, lasagne; in other words, everything that can fit. My boyfriend has a microwave convection that I like for some things but the toaster oven is far superior for everything that needs good bottom heat. The DeLonghi is back at my flat and I"m thinking of bringing it to the boyfriend's flat - with both small ovens, we don't need a "standard" sized oven.

[annachan]

Lately, I've been using my little Black & Decker almost every week to cook tomatoes. I put tomatoes (cheery, pear or large ones cut up), salt, pepper, garlic powder, basil and olive oil in a glass baking dish, crank up the oven to about 400 and roast. It makes a great and easy side dish.

[Stagiaire]

Mine is a dinky little delonghi "alfredo" a two knob job. Top knob is a timer bottom knob is for temp. It's perfect for

- keeping food warm, while other stuff is still cooking

- cooking bacon (wrap pan with foil, lay out six strips bacon, two cycles of max dark for toast with the temp at toast too...took a while to figure that out) comes out real crisp

- reheating two slices of pizza

[*Deborah*]

Deborah: But that toaster oven is the only way I've ever cooked a decent steak (don't have a grill).

Until I recently got a non-stick grill pan that's oven-safe (an Analon), I had similar experiences trying to cook a decent steak. Now: Caramelize on the stovetop, pop in the (regular) 400º oven for a shade under 2 minutes a side, and yum -- complete with grill crosshatching.

←

I have a neighbour who has one of those grills, and it's on my list! she says it doesn't even set off the smoke alarm.

[lala]

I adore my DeLonghi.

It has the convection, warm and dehydrate options (haven't used that one yet). I use it for breakfast every day (toast and soy sausage patty - heated directly on the rack, no extra fat used!). I live alone, so everything goes in there. Batches of 2 biscuits for dinner. Cheese/Garlic Toast. My bowl of French Onion Soup goes in to bake and toast the cheesy top. Small pieces of meat are roasted - one of my favorite summer dinners is roasted salmon (I use a rub and drizzle of olive oil for seasoning) in the toaster oven, while an ear of corn gets nuked - dinner in minutes, and the kitchen stays cool. It's fabulous for reheating foods, especially pizza, and I make individual serving casseroles in the 1 pint Le Creuset dish my friend gave me. Love It!

[MHarney]

Until I recently got a non-stick grill pan that's oven-safe (an Analon), I had similar experiences trying to cook a decent steak. Now: Caramelize on the stovetop, pop in the (regular) 400º oven for a shade under 2 minutes a side, and yum -- complete with grill crosshatching.

←

I have a neighbour who has one of those grills, and it's on my list! she says it doesn't even set off the smoke alarm.

←

That's true, it doesn't. Heh. I set one off the last time I tried a steak on my cast iron skillet. It wasn't just the light haze that will annoyingly set off most detectors, it was Mt. Etna. Plus, it was au poivre. As I stood coughing and wiping tears away in the yard, I realized that I had created a sort of homemade pepper spray. Needless to say, I'm liking the grill pan a lot better.

[MHarney]

I'm considering getting something like this and would really appreciate your feedback once you've used this for awhile. Things I'd like to know, beyond the obvious question of how well it does the job it's meant to do:  is it easy or hard to keep clean?  How much heat does it throw off compared to your regular oven.

←

I promised an update once I had the DeLonghi AD1079 for a few weeks, and here it is. So far, I've used it to:

• Rotisserie a chicken: Came out nicely browned and moist inside. The instructions are a bit off compared to the actual configuration, which is that the rotisserie skewer goes from the front left to the rear right (in other words, it's not straight across the middle as you might expect and as one page in the manual depicts). The other thing that's not quite clear is that you load up the skewer with the assembly leaning to the front left, then push the rack in, then tip the assembly to the right rear to drop the skewer end into the motor. Seems kind of kludgey at first, but it ended up working well. The instructions say it can handle up to a ten pound item, and I think that's about right. A bird any bigger would probably scrape against the heating element at the top or the rotisserie pan on the bottom, whether it's trussed or not (I trussed my six pound chicken and had probably 2 inches of clearance top and bottom).
  
• Make pizza from scratch using the pizza function: First attempt was so-so as the bottom of the crust ended up very hard. The second time, I ignored their advice to oil the pizza pan and sprinkled corn meal instead. That worked much better and the crust was crunchy but not overly so on the bottom and chewy above. The mozarella I had was only of mediocre quality, so for the second pizza, I also ignored their advice to sprinkle the cheese only in the last few minutes of baking and put it on from the beginning. I liked it better browned, but a good quality fresh mozarella I would put on near the end.
  
• Convection bake a frozen pizza (Stouffer's French bread) with pizza function (on the "P3" setting, as instructed for frozen): Came out better than any one I've baked in my regular oven. Very crispy on the outside, but soft and steaming hot inside.
  
• Convection reheat fried food: I had a few shopping stops to make after picking up a fish & chips from the only place around here that makes a good one (with fresh haddock; a picture on the wall seems to indicate the owner's pals with someone in Gloucester). I arrived home 45 minutes after picking it up, so it was a good test. When I've reheated in the normal oven, I've usually done 300 for ten or twelve minutes. The results there are only okay, and the fish dries out very quickly. In the DeLonghi, I loaded it up cold, picked convection bake at 300 for 14 minutes (about 4 to get to temp), and was very pleasantly surprised with the result: The fish was piping hot throughout, crisp on the outside (almost -- almost -- as if fresh from the Fryolator), but still moist inside. Fresh at the restaurant = 9 out of 10; reheated in regular oven = 6.5; reheated in DeLonghi = 8.
  
• Convection bake a potato while ribs were slow braising in the regular oven: Also came out very crispy on the outside, the way I like it. My regular oven (which I should mention is electric) has never produced such a crispy skin, and if I tried, I believe the inside would end up mealy and dry.
  
• Keep warm: Again, works well and seems to keeps the temperature +/- 10 degrees of the advertised 140 (usually gravitates towards 150). I've used this feature on food a few times and have also used this cycle to warm up empty plates for serving. You can also put plates on top, but the surface is slightly curved, so you have to make sure they'll stay.
  
• Dehydrating: Still waiting for the dehydrating rack to arrive, so I haven't tried this feature yet.
  
• Other features: Haven't had occasion to use the broil or defrost functions yet.
  
• Controls, display, signals: Seem fine to me. The manual isn't very good at explaining the various beeps, but the oven seems to beep when it has reached the intended temperature, when it stops, and a few minutes before the end of the pizza cycle (telling you to put the cheese on, I imagine). The beeps aren't very loud -- I've missed the end beeps once or twice when the a/c in the next room had turned itself on.
  
• Cleaning: All racks and pans, even the bottom "crumb" pan, come out for cleaning; the top heating element swings down for cleaning access. The "Durastone" surface that lines the entire inside and the pans does seem pretty easy to clean, but I've learned that you should avoid the dishwasher for the Durastone pans (the wire racks are fine in the washer, though). My dishwasher is a very good one, but it seemed to just bake stuff further onto the pans. I found that a no-scratch scrub sponge for use on stainless steel (often blue in color) with a little baking soda was the right cleaning method for baked-on stuff. Arm & Hammer has a convenient shake bottle these days that I keep at the sink next to the dish detergent. The only interior part of the oven that's a bit difficult to clean is the right-hand side, where the fan is -- there's a lot of venting there and things seem to stick more. However, should it get nasty (mine hasn't yet), the panel is held on with three easily accessible screws and takes about a minute to remove (I've done it just to see).
  
• Kitchen heat: I'd estimate that the Delonghi heats up the kitchen maybe one third (possibly one quarter) as much as the regular oven, and the heat seems pretty localized to within several inches of the oven.
  

Overall, I'm pretty pleased with the oven; I've used it 3-4 times a week for the last month (the regular oven 1-2 times a week in the same period, and I did see my electric bill drop a couple-three bucks), and it has yet to disappoint. The refurbished one I got was definitely used by others before me, but it was nicks and dings only, and you have to peer at it for a bit to see them. If you'd prefer a brand new one, I saw just last week that Costco is now selling them new for $180 (however, I did not see them today at the Nashua, NH Costco). That's only $19 above what I paid for mine with shipping; if Costco had them a month ago, I think I would have gotten a new one there instead.

[Mottmott]

I'm considering getting something like this and would really appreciate your feedback once you've used this for awhile. Things I'd like to know, beyond the obvious question of how well it does the job it's meant to do:  is it easy or hard to keep clean?  How much heat does it throw off compared to your regular oven.

←

I promised an update once I had the DeLonghi AD1079 for a few weeks, and here it is. So far, I've used it to:

• Rotisserie a chicken: Came out nicely browned and moist inside. The instructions are a bit off compared to the actual configuration, which is that the rotisserie skewer goes from the front left to the rear right (in other words, it's not straight across the middle as you might expect and as one page in the manual depicts). The other thing that's not quite clear is that you load up the skewer with the assembly leaning to the front left, then push the rack in, then tip the assembly to the right rear to drop the skewer end into the motor. Seems kind of kludgey at first, but it ended up working well. The instructions say it can handle up to a ten pound item, and I think that's about right. A bird any bigger would probably scrape against the heating element at the top or the rotisserie pan on the bottom, whether it's trussed or not (I trussed my six pound chicken and had probably 2 inches of clearance top and bottom).
  
• Make pizza from scratch using the pizza function: First attempt was so-so as the bottom of the crust ended up very hard. The second time, I ignored their advice to oil the pizza pan and sprinkled corn meal instead. That worked much better and the crust was crunchy but not overly so on the bottom and chewy above. The mozarella I had was only of mediocre quality, so for the second pizza, I also ignored their advice to sprinkle the cheese only in the last few minutes of baking and put it on from the beginning. I liked it better browned, but a good quality fresh mozarella I would put on near the end.
  
• Convection bake a frozen pizza (Stouffer's French bread) with pizza function (on the "P3" setting, as instructed for frozen): Came out better than any one I've baked in my regular oven. Very crispy on the outside, but soft and steaming hot inside.
  
• Convection reheat fried food: I had a few shopping stops to make after picking up a fish & chips from the only place around here that makes a good one (with fresh haddock; a picture on the wall seems to indicate the owner's pals with someone in Gloucester). I arrived home 45 minutes after picking it up, so it was a good test. When I've reheated in the normal oven, I've usually done 300 for ten or twelve minutes. The results there are only okay, and the fish dries out very quickly. In the DeLonghi, I loaded it up cold, picked convection bake at 300 for 14 minutes (about 4 to get to temp), and was very pleasantly surprised with the result: The fish was piping hot throughout, crisp on the outside (almost -- almost -- as if fresh from the Fryolator), but still moist inside. Fresh at the restaurant = 9 out of 10; reheated in regular oven = 6.5; reheated in DeLonghi = 8.
  
• Convection bake a potato while ribs were slow braising in the regular oven: Also came out very crispy on the outside, the way I like it. My regular oven (which I should mention is electric) has never produced such a crispy skin, and if I tried, I believe the inside would end up mealy and dry.
  
• Keep warm: Again, works well and seems to keeps the temperature +/- 10 degrees of the advertised 140 (usually gravitates towards 150). I've used this feature on food a few times and have also used this cycle to warm up empty plates for serving. You can also put plates on top, but the surface is slightly curved, so you have to make sure they'll stay.
  
• Dehydrating: Still waiting for the dehydrating rack to arrive, so I haven't tried this feature yet.
  
• Other features: Haven't had occasion to use the broil or defrost functions yet.
  
• Controls, display, signals: Seem fine to me. The manual isn't very good at explaining the various beeps, but the oven seems to beep when it has reached the intended temperature, when it stops, and a few minutes before the end of the pizza cycle (telling you to put the cheese on, I imagine). The beeps aren't very loud -- I've missed the end beeps once or twice when the a/c in the next room had turned itself on.
  
• Cleaning: All racks and pans, even the bottom "crumb" pan, come out for cleaning; the top heating element swings down for cleaning access. The "Durastone" surface that lines the entire inside and the pans does seem pretty easy to clean, but I've learned that you should avoid the dishwasher for the Durastone pans (the wire racks are fine in the washer, though). My dishwasher is a very good one, but it seemed to just bake stuff further onto the pans. I found that a no-scratch scrub sponge for use on stainless steel (often blue in color) with a little baking soda was the right cleaning method for baked-on stuff. Arm & Hammer has a convenient shake bottle these days that I keep at the sink next to the dish detergent. The only interior part of the oven that's a bit difficult to clean is the right-hand side, where the fan is -- there's a lot of venting there and things seem to stick more. However, should it get nasty (mine hasn't yet), the panel is held on with three easily accessible screws and takes about a minute to remove (I've done it just to see).
  
• Kitchen heat: I'd estimate that the Delonghi heats up the kitchen maybe one third (possibly one quarter) as much as the regular oven, and the heat seems pretty localized to within several inches of the oven.
  

Overall, I'm pretty pleased with the oven; I've used it 3-4 times a week for the last month (the regular oven 1-2 times a week in the same period, and I did see my electric bill drop a couple-three bucks), and it has yet to disappoint. The refurbished one I got was definitely used by others before me, but it was nicks and dings only, and you have to peer at it for a bit to see them. If you'd prefer a brand new one, I saw just last week that Costco is now selling them new for $180 (however, I did not see them today at the Nashua, NH Costco). That's only $19 above what I paid for mine with shipping; if Costco had them a month ago, I think I would have gotten a new one there instead.

←

Thanks for all that detail. It's very helpful. I once had a rotisserie in my oven and I did like roasting on it. Tempting enough that I might brave the mess.

Do you ever bake? It would be helpful to know how it does. I sometimes make large batches of cookies, scones, empanadas, etc. and freeze them before baking. Then I feel silly preheating the oven for 30 minutes to bake just one or two scones!

And I'd love to know how the dehydrator works for you (when it comes).

All in all, it sounds like a great tool for a single person or couple.

[fifi]

. . . . .

Do you ever bake? It would be helpful to know how it does. I sometimes make large batches of cookies, scones, empanadas, etc. and freeze them before baking. Then I feel silly preheating the oven for 30 minutes to bake just one or two scones!

And I'd love to know how the dehydrator works for you (when it comes).

All in all, it sounds like a great tool for a single person or couple.

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I have recently discovered refrigerator biscuits in packs of two. (Yes . . . I am a biscuit wimp. I am still trying to master "biscuits like Aunt Minnie's" but only attempt that for a group. In the meantime, I cheat.) The Delonghi does an excellent job. I mentioned above that we have used it to do 9 inch pies when oven space was at a premium. I really like the idea of freezing make-ahead scones and such. My sister has an excellent scone recipe. The little oven will do them proud. I do use the convection for baking as it seems to keep the temperature and browning very even for such a restricted space.

Also above . . . The dehydrator is a dream. I do tweak the temperature a bit. I have the original oven with the knobs and the "DEH" setting seems to have a range. I played with it a bit while doing the horsemint and was able to keep the elusive flavor by keeping it on the cooler side. For the tangerine peels I ramped up the temp a bit. I am going to try to raid my sister's Mexican Mint Marigold and see how that works. If I can retain flavor in that one, I am golden. (Mexican Mint Marigold is our version of tarragon. Tarragon doesn't grow worth a flip here.)

[Jason Perlow]

What I -really- want is a toaster oven that's the size of a microwave.

[Gifted Gourmet]

What I -really- want is a toaster oven that's the size of a microwave.

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they are definitely getting larger nowadays!

[fifi]

Here ya go. I actually have the older model with the knobs. My nephew has this one and we used it at the country place during the storm. I like mine better. But, looking at the dimensions versus my cheap but serviceable GE microwave, it isn't any bigger. I haven't been tempted to get the bigger one with the rotisserie since I am very unlikely to rotis anything myself.

[Mottmott]

Here ya go. I actually have the older model with the knobs. My nephew has this one and we used it at the country place during the storm. I like mine better. But, looking at the dimensions versus my cheap but serviceable GE microwave, it isn't any bigger. I haven't been tempted to get the bigger one with the rotisserie since I am very unlikely to rotis anything myself.

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How long does it take to preheat for baking a pie? I strikes me that in this time of a potential doubling (or more) of nat'l gas prices, this oven might pay for itself for those of us living alone who make small amounts often. I find my GE Profile takes at least 30 minutes, per the oven thermometer, to come to temp even though it beeps ready at about 20.

And I confess, I'd probably go for the one with a rotisserie. The one thing I liked about an electric stove I once had was its rotisserie.

[pounce]

FYI: I found the Delonghi Model AD1099 on Overstock refurbished for $199. Not bad if you aren't afraid of refurbed items.

For anyone that has this kind of cooker how much venting does this unit have when you are doing a rotiserie chicken? Does it fill the house with chicken vapor?