This model comes with the most basic accessories, including an oven rack, a baking pan, and a crumb tray. More-advanced digital models will alert you once the oven is preheated to a set temperature, but the Hamilton Beach lacks this feature. The instruction manual hamilton beach juicer recommends allowing 5 minutes for the toaster oven to preheat. Even so, a charming, old-school ding does alert you when the timer goes off. We preferred this subtle sound to the ear-shattering beeps on some digital models, like the Wolf Gourmet Countertop Oven.
Although it’s not hard to read the display dead-on, it can be tricky to discern from some angles. We found that the displays on the pricier Cuisinart and Breville toaster hamilton beach toaster oven ovens were easier to read. Keep in mind that a large toaster oven can be pretty heavy and is more cumbersome to move; this means it’s more likely to live on your counter.
It might be best located on an island or a table for ample airflow all around. The Balmuda’s controls and capacity are also limited compared to our top picks. It offers just three temperature settings—350 °F, 400 °F, and 450 °F—plus four presets, and it can only fit two pieces of bread.
We also see a place for the Easy Reach in an adventure van or other type of RV. It takes up little space and is lightweight, simple to use and to clean. When we combine its lower price with its ability to compete with higher-priced models, we feel the Easy Reach is a great buy. A black pan can be used for roasting, baking, or catching drippings when using the rotisserie.
While you wait, take the time to wash the rack and accessories in warm, soapy water. Some higher-end Hamilton Beach toaster ovens have a roll-top door. This opens upward and rolls over the top of the unit rather than opening outward and potentially getting in your way or taking up counter space. Odds are you won’t be sharing much of the frozen foods you cook in the Easy Reach. Due to its compact size, it barely accommodates a 9-inch pizza, while the most other ovens fit a standard size 12-inch pizza.
The crumb tray caught most of the mess, and the walls wiped clean with no fuss, thanks to the nonstick coating inside the oven. Two cooking racks and a removable crumb tray that’s accessible from the front when the door is open complete the assembly. Since this is a large oven, you’ll be able to use much of your own cooking and baking gear, besides the pieces that came with the oven. The controls are easy to understand, with knobs to set the cooking method, temperature, and time. Depending on the lighting, sometimes it was difficult to read the settings since they are printed with silver ink on a shiny black surface. You should also know that as soon as the oven is preheated, the timer starts counting down.
A. Hamilton Beach toaster ovens are known for their reliability and even cooking, so you needn’t be concerned. That said, when baking rather than toasting, you’re likely to get more even results by using the convection function instead of the regular baking function. At this price point, expect some higher-end features, such as convection cooking.
However, neither chicken wings or French fries came out with the kind of results we’d expect from fried food. The GE Quartz Convection Toaster Oven and the GE Calrod Convection Toaster Oven are identical, except that one has quartz heating elements and the other has Calrod heating elements. The quartz model costs about $25 more than the Calrod version (at the time of this publishing), but there wasn’t a huge difference in performance between the two. The underside of the toast we made was very uneven and patchy in the GE Quartz, while the GE Calrod toasted a bit more evenly. The cheese topping on Bagel Bites didn’t melt as evenly in these models as our picks, and the bottoms were burned. Also, the wide gaps on either side of the oven racks allowed bread to slip through the slots and onto the bottom of the oven cavity.
Corner to corner, no other oven was as consistent (aside from the exorbitantly priced Wolf Gourmet Countertop Oven). Similarly priced large toaster ovens (like ones from Breville and KitchenAid) concentrated heat in the center of the oven and had more significant fall-off of heat toward the edges. Additionally, as a Japanese appliance, the Panasonic FlashXpress is designed around degrees Celsius for temperature input.
Of course, you should always read the manual before use and adhere to any safety guidelines contained within. Most sold out products will be available for purchase at our store located in Santa Ana. Along with our in-house experts, our team analyzes thousands of product reviews from the most trusted websites.