There has to be better Toaster Ovens out there...

Wedding present gift
We put this Toaster Oven on our registry at Bed Bath and Beyond. Black and Decker is a reliable name and the Toaster oven on display was easy to use and it seemed like it would be a great buy. (I had always wanted a Toaster Oven!) Little did I know that this would not be all it was cracked up to be!

Details on this Toaster Oven
The toaster is a grey color and has a door that opens down (like a typical full-size oven). On the right of the toaster there are a series of dials. The top one is the temperature for the oven. The next is an area for a light when the unit is on. Then there is a push button for toasting and dial to set the browning for toasting.

The unit has a swing down crumb tray and also comes with a broil rack and bake pan.

In the instructions it does say that you want to make sure that the Browning is off if you use the oven and make sure the oven is off if you use the browning.

The directions suggest pre-heating for 5 minutes when baking or cooling.

Cleaning this beast...
This toaster oven is extremely hard to clean -especially the crumb tray. I have a heck of a time trying to get to all of the places and usually end up spilling the crumbs everywhere. (Yuck.) The removable trays are a breeze to clean by hand with a mild detergent and water, but the rest is quite difficult.

Shame on you- Black and Decker
We have not used this toaster oven as much as I would have liked to because of the burn factor. When you set the temperature part of the oven you have no idea how long it takes for it to actually hit that temperature (preheating for 5 minutes doesn't help-it is almost always too hot!). Plus on the dial itself it only says 100, 200, 300, 400 with some space in between. Yikes! There is a big difference between 300 and 400... not great for food if you are only estimating. Also, since there is no warning light for over-heating you have no idea if the unit is getting too hot. Don't touch the metal around the oven when plugged in and on because it gets extremely hot. This product is extremely hard to use safely.

Every time I have tried to use the oven the food always tends to come out more brown, crispy, and even burned...even if I cut the cooking time down and try to fail on the side of the temperature being set too cool. I can never make the oven work out well for my food.

The only redeeming quality
The one thing I do love about the oven is not the oven but the toaster. If you put your bagel or bread in and press the toast button it comes out exactly light-medium-dark as you chose on the dial below the toast button. I love how the bagel or toast tastes.

Overall
I would definitely avoid this toaster oven. There are better ones out there and we are looking to replace ours soon!

For more information:
www.blackanddecker.com
1-800-231-9786