se the oven and are minor compared to what this oven is right.
Cuisinart makes this oven a market disservice by labeling it a "toaster" oven. Rather it is a full fledged oven (reduced size), which also happens to toast your bread, too. Cuisinart has established a new category of furnaces with this. It has evolved way past the "toaster" phase.
I will try to cover everything I wanted to know if this oven when I am researching it:
Aesthetics:
Aesthetically, this oven turns everyone else on the market hands down.
If you are in, how the equipment looks like and how it works, you'll be very happy with this. It has a professional, sophisticated look of it, reinforced by steel against steel color combination. No black or white plastic look to cheapen it.
Functionality:
Large interior.
The digital control pad is very well marked and easy to use. LCD display is a must. I know that most toaster ovens operated by manual control rings, but I would never have one. I like to be able to enter what I want and watch it on the screen. I know that several things can go wrong with digital control, but I'll take my chances.
I wish the rack automatically slid out when the door opened. I hate having to use a pot holder just to get a piece of toast from the oven. On the other hand, it is no different than using a conventional oven and no one complains about it. All in all. Not a big thing I plan to get some straps to grasp small objects.
It is not as bright inside as it appears in the picture. This oven needs an interior light. I thought that my kitchen lighting will be bright enough, but the roof does not reach into the depths of the oven. It's very dark in there.
The crumb tray is a pain to come from behind. Would it have killed the designers to get the slides out from the front!
TOAST:
I am pleased that the voice quality of this oven. The preset default setting is # 4-Medium in 3 minutes. I generally use a higher setting # 5 or # 6 as I keep my bread frozen and prefer a darker crust, which requires extra time. In addition, I need not add the icing.
The toast was good. It was nicely toasted on both sides, one side a little more toasted than the other. But it takes a little longer to toast than I'm willing to wait - close to 5 minutes (setting # 6). Instead, I prefer the simple just let my bread in a toaster and less than 3 minutes later, it pops up hot and toasted. For a quick and simple piece of toast, I still use a regular toaster. No big deal, because as I mentioned earlier, I look at this Cuisinart as more of a mini-oven than a toaster anyway. But it ideal for roasting large issues bagels.
PIZZA / BAKE:
I'm not sure why they call it "Pizza / Bake," but it is the traditional bake feature (not to be confused with "convection" baking). I was eager to try the bake function, then did some Toll House cookies. It took only an amazing 3 minutes in oven preheated to 350 degrees. I mean, I had hardly sat down because it was beeping that it was finished. I was dumbfounded. My big oven takes about 10 minutes to warm.
The Toll House instructions call for baking 10 to 12 minutes. I usually cook them for 10 minutes in my big oven, so I set the timer for 10 minutes. Well I checked my cookies about 8 1 / 2 minutes because they were already well done!
I am surprised again at how well this oven is heated. Mon reviewer complained that their oven is heated 15-25 degrees lower than the set temperature. But I saw no temperature problems at all. If the oven is not incorrect, it will not affect its baking performance. It is when ordinary baking cooks so quickly, I wonder if I will ever use convection baking function.
CONVECTION Body:
I have not cooked with it yet, but I turned it on in order to ensure that it works and to hear how it sounds. There is a buzz from the convection fan, but it is not higher than the sound of my refrigerator compressor or my microwave when in use. Between washing machines, dryers, dishwashers, microwave ovens, mixers, etc. If you are not used to hear sounds from appliances now you must be an easily irritated person. LOL!
Broil: untested at this time. Will update later when they are used.
SECURITY:
In general, Cuisinart, a small oven, but an oven. This parasite is not heated to 500 degrees after all. Follow the same precautions as you would use your regular oven, and you will be fine.
I guess the exterior of this oven is hot to the touch. I did not notice. I have no plans to sit on top of the toaster oven or on the counter next to it. So the fact that the top and sides may heat is no problem for me. The front of the toaster oven can get hot too, but since I did not touch the door to my regular oven during use, I'm not going to touch that door, either.
I have no problems using the handle without worrying about burning my bare hands, though I confess I have small hands. Maybe someone with bigger hands may come into contact with the hot door, and it does not look like metal band below the handle is heat resistant, which would have avoided this problem entirely. Be careful.
The upper rack tray has a safety lock to prevent the racket accidentally slip out. Strangely enough, the bottom tray is not.
The shelf has raised corners. Good feature to prevent the pot from sliding off. Malfunction when you insert or remove a saucepan. Pans will not just slip in and out. You tilt it just a bit. Slope a pot full of hot liquids are never a good idea, so you must carefully maneuver.
ACCESSORIES:
The broiler pan and drip / baking sheet that comes with the oven is great. It is a very sturdy saucepan set. In the middle of the forehead is slightly raised so that the drippings to flow out to the sides - which will be useful when you use it as a roasting pan to cook greasy objects. I like the forehead, but it's a little big for my daily needs, so I bought a small saucepan set by the Chicago Metallic (which is very nice by the way). I want to save the Cuisinart pan over "this weekend" dishes - which I only cook for a typical week and does not draw a large saucepan.
Instruction:
Cuisinart contains a very detailed manual that covers everything you need to know. It also contains some very delicious recipes designed for this oven. Their recipe caught my attention so much that I was looking for more on the Cuisinart website. Yummy looking recipes there too.
QUALITY:
Generally I feel safe and comfortable to use this oven. Only time will tell how long it will hold up. Who knows, I wrote this rave review and next week the oven could break down at me. I hope not because I look forward to enjoying this oven for many years to come.
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