Hamilton Beach 4-Slice Countertop Toaster Oven with Bake Pan, Stainless Steel (31143) Import To Shop ×Product customization

Good basic Toaster Oven at a good price-pointThis is a basic Toaster Oven – sized at “4 slice” so it has a small footprint, unlike the “6 slice” which are significantly larger. No frills, low cost, and it works.The GOOD: I like the way they put the drip pan under the rack. It slides in/out when roasting or broiling. Saves having to have a separate drip pan/rack for roasting and broiling – means another 1″ or so of clearance inside oven. Great design idea.I thought the BAGEL option would be useless, but it has turned out to be a good feature. Basically, anything which you want toasted on one side and just warmed on the other (bagels, English muffins, croissants, sandwich rolls, etc.) you put the food on the rack in the upper level cut-side-up and use the BAGEL setting. Works well. Anything you want toasted on both sides – like bread – use the lower rack setting and the TOAST option. Kudos for providing something I didn’t care about but found very helpful.The slide out crumb tray is another plus. You don’t have to turn the unit on its back and tilt out the tray like some others and fish around inside where live wires are located.It heats fast – appears to have a quartz element instead of the usual wire element and that’s good.The “COULD BE BETTER” items – I don’t like the mechanical timer. But in fairness, it works and the results appear to be repeatable if you use the pictograms on the face of the unit. But in this day and age, a digital timer would have been preferred, together with a digital temperature readout. Others complain about the tick-tick-tick on the timer, but I didn’t find that objectionable. It’s not really that loud.Many of the toaster ovens have only a 30 minute timer, like this one. I think that’s too little – a basic meatloaf takes about an hour. Should have a 60 minute timer.It’s hard to read the information next to the dials. The dials are large (easy to grab and turn) but get in the way of reading the settings. H-B has another toaster oven at the same price with what appear to be better black plastic knobs, but different features. Why two designs of knobs?The door slams shut. It would be nice if it were damped somehow.It is bright with polished stainless (so they say) steel outer material. Stands out in the kitchen. I’d like something a bit less visible, perhaps black, or perhaps a brushed metal, or black stainless steel. I know, that’s expensive, but the option even at a higher price would be nice.The VERDICT:Overall, this is a sturdy reliable oven (so far), at a great price. There don’t appear to be many 4-slice toaster ovens so this is a good choice, despite the things I’d like to see different. It has a small footprint and fits where the bigger ones wouldn’t. My criticisms are minor – this thing does the job and doesn’t cost a huge amount. Don’t be put off by the confusion on where the rack has to be – you’ll get used to the options after a few uses. Some reviewers complained about cord length. We didn’t find that an issue, although the cord is short. High-amperage heating appliances should not have long cords. It’s a safety issue.And by the way – be sure you follow their recommendations and run the unit at high temp for 10 minutes before you put food in, to burn off any residual oils used in manufacture. After that, there is no odor from the oven.

good for the price pointI’d say it’s pretty great given the price. In my opinion there are too many controls, and it doesn’t heat super evenly, but it’s good enough.

not as deep as I expectedI should have read the measurements twice, This does not hold a pie pan like my old toaster oven does. Oh well I will adjust and will use small Individual size pans.

Just Too Small for Us and Hard to See ControlsThis oven was just too small for what we needed, and the controls are impossible to see without strong light, and in my case, a magnifying glass. We only used it about 3 times before sending back, so can’t rate it over the long haul. It reheated pizza ok (two slices at a time), and took an hour to heat a frozen enchilada that I transferred from the box to the pan with which the oven came. The timer ticking wasn’t a problem (as mentioned in several reviews), but again, seeing what you are setting the timer at is tricky. Toast came out just ok, but I only made it once, so didn’t have a chance to experiment with settings. This little oven did work ok, and would be good for the occasional warm up or toast, but I don’t recommend it as a main everyday oven, even for a small kitchen.

Does the JobI had never purchased a toaster oven before. People told me to get one with air fryer capability, but I didn’t want to spend that much just to try something. This little unit is perfect for my husband and I. It’s small enough to fit in a cabinet when we’re not using it and for toasting and broiling, it works great. Do follow the instructions closely. Definitely heed other people’s comments: it gets VERY hot, so use the lowest setting first. The outside handle also gets hot, so use a potholder and use aluminum foil on the pans for easier cleaning. And it does cook a bit unevenly – the back of the oven is hotter than the front – but as long as you are aware of that and watch stuff, it is fine. For the price, I am happy with it. Love that it has an “Easy Bake Oven” bell sound when the timer goes off.