Other models make up for the lack of convection with multiple heating elements placed around the oven. Easily toast artisan breads and bagels with this Hamilton Beach 2-slice toaster. Its wide slots are perfect for everything from this slices to small breads, waffles and English muffins. hamilton beach toaster The other two settings—bagel and defrost—worked as expected. The bagel setting cooks just the inside of the bread, leaving the exterior warm but not overly crisp. The defrost setting helps to crisp up frozen foods, and I found that it was particularly useful when cooking frozen waffles.
To see if this appliance is a worthwhile purchase, I put it to the test over the course of several weeks. I tested all seven of its browning options on standard white bread, and settings 6 and 7 performed hamilton beach toaster oven nearly the same, leaving the bread crisp and brown but not charred or burnt. Like traditional ovens, many toaster ovens use convection heating or at least offer it as an option for baking.
It has two slots to hold your bread, a push-down lever to start the appliance, and a dial to select a brownness level. The whole appliance is fairly compact, measuring roughly 11 x 7.5 x 7.5 inches. It’s compact enough to store in a cupboard if desired, but I simply opted to leave it on the counter for a few weeks hamilton beach juicer during testing, as it doesn’t take up too much space. How well the toasters or toaster ovens produced both very light toast and very dark toast. Hamilton Beach’s Easy Reach Toaster Oven has a roomy interior, making it especially well-suited for warming up multiple snacks or cooking pizzas (up to 12 inches).
I tested all seven of its browning options on standard white bread, all leaving the bread crisp and brown but not charred or burnt. Some toasters housing are all plastic, some are all metal or a combination of the two. The toaster also allows you to push its lever up to raise the slots, which makes it significantly easier to grab smaller items without the risk of burning your fingers. The Hamilton Beach 2-Slice Toaster is pretty average as appliances go.
Pull it out and wipe it down, and most of your cleaning is done. The Hamilton Beach 2-Slice Toaster retails for around $35, which is standard for a two-slice toaster with basic settings. Given its reliable performance, I think it’s worth the price—you could probably find one for cheaper, but it might not have bagel and defrost settings.