Great Convection Oven, But With Some Design Flaws
Written: Jul 28 '08
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Pros: Great convection oven, very efficient, large enough for two people.
Cons: Poor design, digital controls need rethinking.
The Bottom Line: Love the convection oven, hate the controls.
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| writer's Full Review: Cuisinart TOB-165 1500 Watts Toaster Oven with Con... |
First of all, let me say that I really love this toaster oven. I use the convection oven all the time, for everything from baking French fries to baking a potato or two, and reheating leftovers. The convection oven is very efficient, it heats up very quickly, and it bakes evenly. I use the broiler too, and it's much quicker than heating up the broiler in my oven. I use this oven a lot in the summer when I don't want to turn my regular oven on and heat up the entire kitchen.
The toaster isn't as efficient as the oven, which I think is pretty natural for a toaster oven. They do one thing better than another, I think, and you give up something when you try to combine the two functions. The toast is either light on the bottom or the top, depending on how you arrange the shelves, but that is OK with me, because I use the oven more than I use the toaster, anyway.
Now, here's what I don't like about this oven. First, as many people have mentioned, the crumb tray is in the back, which makes it a pain to get out and clean. Clearly, whoever designed this tray didn't have a clue.
Next, the digital controls are easy to set and read, but they don't have a memory, which is ridiculous. The temperature defaults to 175 every time, yeah, there's a temperature I use all the time! You have to reset the temp every time you use the oven, when it would make much more sense to have it default to the temp you used the last time. Every time I bake a potato, I have to reset the temp, which is a pain.
Also, the timer cannot be set after you start the oven, you have to reset everything at the same time, so if you're timing something like cookies, you have to set in time for the oven to heat up, or you have to use another timer. Oh, and if you put in all the settings (time, temp, etc.) and then don't turn the oven on right away, it loses the settings and you have to do it all over again! This design is really inefficient, and it's clear that the engineers who came up with it never actually used the oven, or they would have seen what a mess it is.
Finally, the oven has a beeper that goes off when the time is up, which is fine, but if you can't get to the oven right away for some reason, the beeper just keeps going and going, it NEVER shuts off! Try talking on the phone when the oven turns off and you'll see what a pain THAT is.
So, I really like this toaster oven, but I would like it even more if some real care and thought had gone into the design. Cuisinart, don't sell something you haven't tested and really used!
Recommended:
No
Amount Paid (US$): 125
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Member: Sherril Steele-Carlin
Location: Reno, NV
Reviews written: 315
Trusted by: 78 members
About Me:
I'm a full-time writer and researcher, who loves to work on the web!
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