A. Some people may still be wondering why you’d choose a toaster oven when you could buy a standard pop-up toaster. At this price point, expect some higher-end features, such as convection cooking. Hamilton Beach® Convection Toaster Ovens offer the convenience of an oven and the speed of convection cooking in one convenient appliance. You’ll save lots of cooking time—the convection mode in this toaster oven cooks food up to 25% faster by circulating heated air evenly around food as it cooks. 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.
It also comes with an air fry/dehydrate basket rack and a broiling rack that fits inside its enamel roasting pan. But we still prefer the Cuisinart’s ceramic pizza stone over the Breville’s nonstick pizza pan (though Breville does sell a pizza stone separately for around $30). For the past two years, two Wirecutter employees have used the Hamilton Beach for basic tasks like making toast, reheating pizza, and baking frozen snacks. One of our testers initially tried toasting bread in the baking pan, which only browned the top of the bread. As with all models, you want to remove the pan and toast bread directly on the oven rack.
While there are a few cons to this particular toaster oven, over all the Hamilton Beach Easy Reach Six Slice Toaster Oven is a great deal. From broiling a lemon and herb crusted salmon for a delish dinner for two to making a tray of pizza rolls for your incredibly picky child, this oven can do it all. The Hamilton Beach Easy Reach Toaster Oven has hamilton beach both a top and bottom heating element and a fan to help move the warm air throughout the device. I enjoyed the Hamilton Beach Countertop Oven With Convection and Rotisserie (model number 31104D) and had good results with the recipes I made. However, I’m accustomed to precise digital controls and presets and wished for those as I turned the dials.
The toaster oven is a perfect solution, and it does all that while using less power. The 2-in-1 combination oven and toaster allows you to do more in less space. Bake, broil and toast by switching cooking modes easily with the slide of a lever. 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.
The baking pan doesn’t fit into the guide rails and has to on top of the rack. This may prevent the full use of the oven’s capacity and lead to some inconveniences during cooking. Unfortunately, the 31127D doesn’t have any interior features worth mentioning, not even internal lighting or a convection system like the Cuisinart TOA-60. These heating elements are made of quartz which uses infrared light to cook foods faster than the more common nichrome counterparts.
It was the Hamilton Beach Toastation, a combination mini-oven and toaster. What made the Toastation unique is that it had a slot on top like a standard toaster but it was also a small oven that could bake or broil. It was easy to use, cooked evenly and quickly, saved on precious countertop space and it was a cute red color, so it added a little extra personality to my kitchen. Then one day that switch that flipped it from oven to toaster broke. The Toastation had a long life and served us well, so I didn’t feel like it owed me anything. However, they did have a new version of a mini-oven and toaster combo.
After taking out the first batch, we immediately put four more pieces inside to test the oven’s consecutive usability which ended up at 7/10. Also under the identical toasting time, the four pieces of bread became brown with an increased evenness from the first batch. While the color was a bit darker than ideal, the extra crispiness made the second batch more suitable for soups. As you might imagine, an appliance that heats all these foods is going to get dirty. Luckily, most models are as easy to clean out as a traditional toaster, if not easier.
Check the number of slices of bread your chosen toaster oven can handle at once. When the oven is operating, the glass door becomes excessively hot, reaching temperatures as high as 339.2°F. The Hamilton Beach is the only toaster oven we tested with a door handle that becomes very hot to the touch at a temperature of 146.8 °F.
The bake and broil functions will be all you need if you know your way around the kitchen. The temperature knob also includes a Min setting which, at 100°F, can act as a ‘keep warm’ option. However, the chicken’s hamilton beach internal temperature was 185°F-192°F, higher than the USDA recommended 165°F-180°F. When we slid the pan in, the top of the chicken breast grazed the upper heating element’s guard and was seared.
The KitchenAid KCO211BM Digital Countertop Toaster Oven didn’t toast as evenly as our picks, and several slices of bread were burned in patches on the bottom. Some of the Bagel Bites we baked were also undercooked and pale. The Cuisinart TOB-40 Custom Classic Toaster Oven Broiler is easy to use, but on its medium setting, bread became too dark. Also, this model has no timer, so you’ll have to keep a close watch on your food to prevent it from overcooking.