The 4 Best Toaster Ovens of 2023

Jun 09, 2024

We’ve read through this guide and stand by our recommendations. In our last round of testing, in April 2021, we tried out two trendier models that ultimately couldn’t compete with our picks.

Today’s high-end toaster ovens are Mini-Me versions of full-size ovens, and they’re useful for so much more than making toast. They preheat in just a few minutes and can do everything from reheating leftovers to baking a cake. Larger toaster ovens can even roast a beautiful, golden-brown chicken. After many hours of testing since 2015—making stacks and stacks of toast, mini pizza bagels, and cookies—we think the small Panasonic FlashXpress Toaster Oven and the large Cuisinart Chef’s Convection Toaster Oven are the best options, depending on your space and needs.

We tested toaster ovens by making toast and baking an assortment of food like frozen snacks, chicken thighs, and cookies.

We used an AI-powered tool to scan more than 6,500 customer reviews across nine toaster ovens to learn what people liked and disliked.

We’ve been long-term testing our picks to see how they hold up over the long haul—we’ve been using some models in our own homes since 2017.

The knowledge gained from hundreds of hours of testing since 2013 has helped us identify the most promising models to test each year.

Some toaster ovens (ones with convection technology, like our larger pick) can even work with air frying recipes, though that may require some adjustments. But if you’re looking to do a lot of air frying in your toaster oven, you may want to check out our separate guide to air fryer toaster ovens.

This compact toaster oven was among the best at evenly toasting bread, baking cookies, and bringing frozen foods to life. It performed as well as or better than competitors that cost significantly more.

The reasonably priced Panasonic FlashXpress Toaster Oven excels at making toast, cookies, and frozen snacks. In our tests, it cooked food evenly and didn’t generate any hot spots that would cause inconsistent toasting. Impressively, it made toast faster than most of the other models we tried. This oven takes up very little space on a counter, but it’s still large enough to fit four pieces of bread or a slice of leftover pizza. We think the FlashXpress is best for people who want to use a toaster oven just for toast or other small jobs, like preparing a handful of frozen snacks—though it was also one of the only models in this price range that could evenly crisp the skin on chicken thighs. For accomplishing bigger tasks, consider getting one of our other picks, the Cuisinart Chef’s Convection Toaster Oven or the Breville Smart Oven Air Fryer Pro, each of which holds a 13-inch pizza or up to nine slices of bread.

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This Cuisinart model provides impressively even cooking, a whopping nine-slice toast capacity, a three-year warranty, and some useful accessories.

The large Cuisinart Chef’s Convection Toaster Oven (TOB-260N1) has nearly all of the capabilities of a full-size oven. It delivers even heat to up to nine slices of bread and can easily handle a 13-inch frozen pizza or a whole roast chicken (whereas our other pick, the Panasonic FlashXpress, can fit only a handful of frozen snacks). The Cuisinart’s three-year warranty is outstanding, as are its impressive accessories, which include a ceramic pizza stone. Like the Panasonic, this toaster oven was one of the fastest at preheating to 350 °F in our tests. Since this model is so large (it measures roughly 20.5 by 13.25 by 11.25 inches), we recommend it for households with ample countertop space. Although the Cuisinart is not marketed as such, it can also be used to air-fry food (pod-shaped air fryers are simply mini convection ovens). However, if you plan to air fry on the regular, you may want to consider getting our upgrade pick, the Breville Smart Oven Air Fryer Pro, which has a slightly more powerful fan for air frying.

This small, affordable oven is ideal for those who want something simple. It performed far better than the others we tested at this price level.

The inexpensive Hamilton Beach 4-Slice Toaster Oven toasted bread better than any other oven under $100. This no-frills model lacks many of the features included in our other picks—such as digital controls and preset cooking features—but it heats evenly. The Hamilton Beach’s humble size makes it ideal for kitchens with limited counter space, but it’s still large enough to fit four slices of bread. This toaster oven runs cooler than other models we tested, so you’ll need to increase the temperature by about 25 degrees when baking or roasting. But we think that’s a forgivable drawback considering the low price.

This convection toaster oven has a slightly more powerful fan for air frying than the Cuisinart, plus convenient markings on the door and the easiest-to-clean interior. It also has additional settings for proofing bread, slow cooking, and dehydrating.

If you plan to air fry often, or don’t mind paying top dollar for a more polished overall experience, we’d recommend the snazzy Breville Smart Oven Air Fryer Pro. This pricier oven shares many of the same features as our main pick, the Cuisinart, including a large oven capacity, two oven racks, and two convection fan speeds for more control over how you cook your food. One of the main differences is that the Breville’s fan is a bit more powerful and crisps up food faster. It also has just a slightly bigger cavity, and comes with a few additional settings some people may find useful, including: proof, air fry, reheat, cookies, slow cook, and dehydrate. However, if you don’t think you’d take advantage of these added features, you’ll probably be just as happy with the Cuisinart, which costs significantly less.

This compact toaster oven was among the best at evenly toasting bread, baking cookies, and bringing frozen foods to life. It performed as well as or better than competitors that cost significantly more.

This Cuisinart model provides impressively even cooking, a whopping nine-slice toast capacity, a three-year warranty, and some useful accessories.

This small, affordable oven is ideal for those who want something simple. It performed far better than the others we tested at this price level.

This convection toaster oven has a slightly more powerful fan for air frying than the Cuisinart, plus convenient markings on the door and the easiest-to-clean interior. It also has additional settings for proofing bread, slow cooking, and dehydrating.

To winnow down our selection of models to test, we spoke with Martha Rose Shulman, who’s a cookbook author, food writer, and frequent contributor to The New York Times. We also consulted reviews from America’s Test Kitchen (subscription required), Serious Eats, and Good Housekeeping. Additionally, we looked at highly rated models on the sites of retailers such as Amazon, Sears, and Bed Bath & Beyond.

Since 2016, Michael Sullivan has spent hundreds of hours researching and testing toaster ovens for this guide. As a senior staff writer at Wirecutter, he has researched, tested, and reviewed toasters, air fryer toaster ovens, pod-shaped air fryers, and deep fryers, among other kitchen gear and gadgets. This guide builds on work by freelance writer Brendan Nystedt.

We also used an AI-powered analysis tool to scan 6,500-plus customer reviews across nine toaster ovens to identify what made some models better or worse than others.

A toaster oven is a multipurpose appliance that lets you toast bread and bake or reheat food. It’s a nice alternative to firing up your full-size oven, especially in warmer months—a toaster oven preheats in just a few minutes (whereas a full-size oven takes about 20 minutes to preheat), so it uses less energy and gives off less heat. It’s also great for use in a small rental with a tiny kitchen and an oven that doesn’t work well (or is missing altogether). If your kitchen is so active that the oven is often full, you can use the toaster oven as Martha Rose Shulman—chef and author of The Simple Art of Vegetarian Cooking—does. When she runs out of room, she told us, she turns to the toaster oven to make gratins, lasagna, and sandwiches.

If you get a toaster oven with a convection setting, you can also use it for air frying (air frying is, after all, just convection baking). While the fan isn’t quite as powerful as the ones in most pod-shaped air fryers or air fryer toaster ovens, it produces similar results. After years of testing, we’ve found that convection toaster ovens and air fryer toaster ovens are actually more versatile appliances than pod-shaped air fryers (which are really just small, powerful convection ovens). That’s because a toaster oven can fit more food at once, and in our experience it cooks more evenly.

There’s not a huge difference between toaster ovens with convection and those marketed as air fryer toaster ovens. But we did find that air fryer toaster ovens typically have more powerful convection fans, which help them cook a bit faster and make food slightly crispier. If that appeals to you, or you’d find it helpful to have a dedicated air fryer setting, consider one of those instead. (Spoiler alert: Our upgrade pick here, the Breville Smart Oven Air Fryer Pro, is also the top pick in our air fryer toaster oven guide.)

If you’d like to air fry, but you just don’t have the space (or budget) for an air frying toaster oven, then a pod-shaped air fryer might be best for you. Because their small capacity keeps your food close to the fan and the heating elements, pod air fryers can make food even crispier, and often do so more quickly, than their toaster oven-shaped cousins. Their cooking baskets can also be a little safer or simpler to maneuver than a hot pan for children, new cooks, or those with mobility concerns. Just keep in mind that the pods tend to cook a little less evenly, and in most cases you’ll only be able to make a couple servings at a time. The nonstick coating in the baskets of pod-shaped air fryers are also likely to wear off within a few years, so you’ll need to replace either the basket or your entire machine.

We have picks for those, too. However, in our research, we’ve found that toaster ovens have a longer life expectancy than slot toasters. If you don’t have room for both appliances in your kitchen, we’d recommend getting a toaster oven instead.

If you want an appliance that’s more versatile than a pod-shaped air fryer, we recommend the Breville Smart Oven Air Fryer Pro.

After testing 23 toasters for dozens of hours, we think the Cuisinart CPT-122 2 Slice Compact Plastic Toaster is the best, especially for the price.

After speaking with our experts and spending years doing our own long-term testing, we made a list of the most important qualities to look for when you’re choosing a toaster oven:

Ease of operation: A good toaster oven should be intuitive to use, with clearly labeled controls and an easy-to-read display. The most basic features should include adjustable temperature controls (ideally between 150 °F and 450 °F) and adjustable toast-shade settings.

Even heating: Several factors play a role in how evenly food cooks—the distance food is placed from the heating elements, the number of elements used, the placement of the elements inside the oven, and how well the elements maintain a set temperature.

Some toaster ovens, like our budget pick, are equipped with only two heating elements. But fewer heating elements aren’t necessarily an indication of poor toasting performance. If the oven cavity is small, two elements are enough to regulate heat. That said, avoid larger toaster ovens with only a couple of elements because they won’t be able to distribute heat evenly. The more heating elements a toaster oven has, the bigger and more expensive it will be.

Some brands will advertise the material of their toaster oven’s heating elements, and generally, ovens using quartz or ceramic will cost more than those using Calrod. But in all our research and testing, we didn’t see consistent correlations between element type and either price or performance. For instance, our budget pick, the Hamilton Beach, has the same quartz elements as the Cuisinart Chef’s Convection Toaster Oven, which costs more than $200. And the Wolf Gourmet Countertop Oven we tested, which normally costs over $700, uses Calrod elements, which are typically found in cheaper models. So, it’s not always worth paying more for certain elements, as performance varies with every oven.

When we selected models to test, we didn’t consider convection to be a must-have feature.

Reasonable size: We looked at a range of toaster ovens in various sizes. Some people want a small oven for simple tasks like making toast or baking snacks and cookies. Others may prefer a larger unit, akin to a countertop oven, to cook a 12- or 13-inch pizza or roast a whole chicken. Larger toaster ovens should be able to do everything a full-size oven can, so it’s important they have enough space between the bottom rack and the upper heating elements to fit a 5- to 6-pound chicken. If the oven cavity is too narrow, the chicken breast will be too close to the upper heating elements and the skin will burn.

Keep in mind that a large toaster oven can be pretty heavy and is more cumbersome to move; this means it’s more likely to live on your counter. Small toaster ovens are much lighter and easier to tuck away in a cupboard.

Useful accessories: Most toaster ovens come with the same basic accessories—a crumb tray, an oven rack, and a baking pan. More-expensive models typically offer multiple oven racks and additional pans, such as broiling and pizza pans. A crumb tray is absolutely necessary to catch crumbs and grease. Many toaster ovens have unusual dimensions that don’t fit standard baking pans, so it’s nice that they’re included. But if you already have a quarter or eighth sheet baking pan that fits the dimensions of your toaster oven, you may find it sturdier and easier to clean. If you want to purchase extra oven racks or baking pans, most manufacturers sell these separately online.

Extra settings and features: A reliable timer and an oven light are nice additions, but they’re not necessary. Other features, like automatic cooking modes and racks that pull out when you open the door, are also convenient. Some features are less clearly valuable—we’ve seen everything from toaster/toaster-oven crossbreeds to models with rotisseries built in. Over the years we’ve tested several ovens with rotisseries and find them to be more trouble than they’re worth—they don’t brown the bird evenly, and they can be a hassle to assemble and clean. Ultimately, we focused our search on models that were able to handle baking, toasting, and other standard tasks well.

We also looked at smart toaster ovens, such as the exorbitantly priced June Oven; it boasts an HD camera (which monitors your food as it cooks), carbon fiber heating elements, and two convection fans. When we tested the June Oven in 2018, we didn’t feel the technology was helpful enough to justify the price, and the oven didn’t produce better results than our pick, the Cuisinart, which costs significantly less. We recognize that for some, a level of automation could prove helpful, so we’ll continue to test smart ovens. But we haven’t yet tested one where the features feel worth the investment for most people.

Convection: One feature that manufacturers like to tout is convection, which basically means that a fan circulates the hot air inside the oven. Convection can slightly reduce cooking times, and it has a dehydrating effect that makes foods a bit crispier on the outside (it’s what air fryers actually use to “fry” food). If you’re interested in air frying and have the counter space, air fryer toaster ovens like our upgrade pick have more powerful fans that cook food a bit faster and a bit crisper. But any toaster oven with convection will hold more food and cook more evenly than a pod-shaped air fryer.

That said, we didn’t consider convection to be a must-have feature (though nearly all high-end models now include it). For many basic tasks, it doesn’t make a huge difference. We did our own test to see how break-and-bake Toll House cookies differed when baked on a convection setting versus a standard setting. The convection-baked cookies were crispy on the outside and slightly undercooked in the center. The conventionally baked cookies were crispy outside and soft inside. But the results didn’t leave us thinking one method was superior to the other.

Sufficient warranties: Regardless of price, most toaster ovens offer a standard one-year warranty. An exception is the Cuisinart Chef’s Convection Toaster Oven (one of our top picks), which was the only model we tested that came with an impressive three-year warranty. Our upgrade pick, the Breville Smart Oven Air Fryer Pro, comes with a two-year warranty.

In every round of testing we conducted for this guide, we started by filling each toaster with as many slices of basic white bread as we could, then set each machine to toast at medium shade. The results gave us a heat map of each oven, showing us how evenly each model toasted and whether there were any hot spots.

We also made break-and-bake Toll House cookies in each model, evaluating the finished cookies for color, consistency, and texture: Were they evenly baked, or were they underdone or burnt? We’ve also made pizza Bagel Bites, keeping an eye on how browned the cheese was, whether or not the cheese melted effectively, and how crunchy the bagel got on the underside. To even the playing field, we didn’t use the convection setting on any of the models we tested (unless we were specifically comparing models that shared that feature).

We also ran a bonus round to evaluate how well each oven could crisp up the skin on chicken thighs—a very telling test, as very few models excelled at this task.

To test how well the toaster ovens maintained a set temperature, we stuck an air probe thermometer into their cavities and monitored them for 20 minutes. We also tested the unique features on certain models, such as dehydrate modes or the steam feature on Balmuda’s The Toaster. We tested toaster ovens with air fry modes, such as our upgrade pick, the Breville Smart Oven Air Fryer Pro, with similar contenders for a separate guide—these models typically have larger, more powerful fans than toaster ovens with standard convection fans. Additionally, we took note of any excessively loud beeps and evaluated the usefulness of each model’s accessories.

This compact toaster oven was among the best at evenly toasting bread, baking cookies, and bringing frozen foods to life. It performed as well as or better than competitors that cost significantly more.

We recommend the Panasonic FlashXpress Toaster Oven for those who want a small oven to make toast, prepare a few frozen snacks, or reheat a couple slices of pizza. We are smitten with its adorable retro 90s design, and after years of long-term testing we continue to be impressed with its strong baking performance, compact size, and reasonable price. The FlashXpress cooked foods to a lovely, even golden brown better than most other models we tried in this price range (and beyond), and its toast shade settings were among the most accurate. For a relatively low price, this toaster oven stands out from a crowded pack of mediocre, cheap models. We found its performance and features to be comparable to those of larger and pricier toaster ovens.

Bread toasted on the medium setting came out beautifully golden brown, without any scorching or charring. Other models we tested toasted bread unevenly, with extreme light and dark patches. With every batch of toast made, most toaster ovens get hotter, which can leave you with charred pieces of toast if you’re not watching closely. The FlashXpress compensates for the increased temperature by automatically reducing the cook time, so the results are the same every time. In our tests, the first batch of toast took about 2 minutes 30 seconds, the second batch took 2 minutes 4 seconds, and the third batch took 1 minute 20 seconds (the display timer will always start at 2 minutes 30 seconds for the medium setting, but it adjusts the time partway through). These were some of the fastest toasting times of all the toaster ovens we tested.

The FlashXpress made crispy-yet-melty Bagel Bites that were more consistently browned from one edge of the pan to the other. Some ovens’ results weren’t dark enough; others were overdone or unevenly cooked. This was also one of the only models in this price range that could bake chicken thighs with a golden brown, crispy skin. Up against bigger, more expensive toaster ovens, the FlashXpress more than held its own.

The FlashXpress is one of the smallest toaster ovens we tested, so it’s a great option for those with limited counter space (at 13.5 by 13.5 by 14.5 inches, it measures a bit over 1 cubic foot). It takes up only a little more space than most four-slot pop-up toasters and fits four pieces of bread (compared with up to nine in our other top pick, the much larger Cuisinart TOB-260N1). You can’t cook a large casserole or a loaf of bread in this toaster oven, but there’s still plenty of space for leftovers, a small slice or two of pizza, chicken breasts or thighs, frozen waffles, and cookies. It can also just fit a 9-inch round or 8-by-8-inch square cake pan.

Beyond performance, there are other features that set the Panasonic FlashXpress apart from the competition. Hooks on the door help eject the toaster’s wire rack, so you don’t have to reach your hand as far into the oven cavity to retrieve your food. Though this feature was common on some of the larger, more expensive models we tested (such as our other pick, the Cuisinart TOB-260N1, and our upgrade pick, the Breville Smart Oven Air Fryer Pro), the FlashXpress was one of the few to include door hooks at a lower price.

We also like that the FlashXpress beeps when the cycle has finished and turns itself off automatically (as does our other pick, the Cuisinart). This model also has an oven light, which is rare for toaster ovens at this price level. According to the manual, preheating isn’t necessary. However, for the best results, we’d still recommend waiting a couple of minutes for the unit to preheat.

The FlashXpress’s one annoying quirk is that you can’t add time or change the temperature midway through a preset cooking cycle (although you can change the toast shade settings). This means you have to turn the Panasonic off and back on again to adjust it. That said, the controls are clearly labeled and straightforward to use, so we’re willing to overlook this drawback. We’d also prefer dial controls over the FlashXpress’s blister-push buttons, but they’re perfectly usable and not as glitchy or mushy as others we tested.

The FlashXpress’s retro LED display looks more like a time bomb from a 1990s action thriller than a modern kitchen appliance (but we kind of love it). Although it’s not hard to read the display dead-on, it can be tricky to discern from some angles. We found that the displays on the pricier Cuisinart and Breville toaster ovens were easier to read.

Additionally, as a Japanese appliance, the Panasonic FlashXpress is designed around degrees Celsius for temperature input. There’s a converted-to-Fahrenheit selector on the temperature indicator, but the markings are oddly spaced. Want to punch in 400 °F? You can get either 425 °F or 390 °F, but nothing in between (we chose 390 °F). But this idiosyncrasy didn’t negatively impact any of the items we cooked—most toaster ovens heat at least 10 to 15 degrees over or under the set temperature anyway.

We noticed that crumbs tended to accumulate on the inner ledge at the base of the oven’s door. However, we found it easy to brush them onto the crumb tray using a pastry brush or a paper towel.

Another quirk of the FlashXpress: The oven light turns on and off periodically throughout the cooking process, because the rear heating element doubles as the light. We didn’t find this to be particularly annoying, but it’s something to be aware of before you buy.

When mapping out the Panasonic’s internal heat distribution, we found a 1-inch margin right behind the door where the toast didn’t brown well (which is typical of most toaster ovens). Since you can’t fit full slices of bread in that space anyway, it’s not a huge deal (just remember to push your bread all the way to the back of the oven rack). But it did affect other foods that were in that zone. Even though Bagel Bites and cookies placed in the cool area were thoroughly cooked, they weren’t as pleasantly browned. But similar problems were common in many of the ovens we tested.

Also, the FlashXpress has a somewhat flimsy, stamped-metal crumb tray (versus the sturdier trays that come with our other picks). After only a few cycles, the FlashXpress tray was already warped. But the warping didn’t make the tray overly difficult to pull out or to clean.

Should you encounter any problems with the FlashXpress under its one-year warranty, contact Panasonic. Unlike our other picks, Panasonic sells replacement parts for many of the oven’s components (including the heating elements, power button, and door handle).

This Cuisinart model provides impressively even cooking, a whopping nine-slice toast capacity, a three-year warranty, and some useful accessories.

The versatile Cuisinart Chef’s Convection Toaster Oven (TOB-260N1) is one of the best toaster ovens we’ve found for bigger jobs, like cooking a 13-inch pizza, roasting a whole chicken, or toasting up to nine slices of bread at once. This model is a different beast entirely than the Panasonic FlashXpress (our pick for the best small toaster oven): The Cuisinart is almost twice the size, and its much bigger oven cavity can handle a wider variety of cooking tasks. The Cuisinart toasted bread more evenly than the other toaster ovens we tried at this price level. It also has a better warranty, more accessories, and one of the shortest preheating times of all the larger models we tested. Plus, the two-speed convection fan means it’s also good at air frying (even though it’s not specifically advertised to do this).

Without a doubt, the Cuisinart distributed heat evenly across its voluminous cavity, toasting nine slices of bread in a single batch to near golden-brown perfection. Corner to corner, no other oven was as consistent (aside from the exorbitantly priced Wolf Gourmet Countertop Oven). Similarly priced large toaster ovens (like ones from Breville and KitchenAid) concentrated heat in the center of the oven and had more significant fall-off of heat toward the edges.

The Cuisinart comes with a number of accessories: two racks, a baking pan, a broiling tray, and a ceramic pizza stone. After years of long-term testing, the pizza stone continues to make crisp, golden-brown pizza crust (it’s also great for baking bread and pies). Most of the other competitors we saw at this price level come with only a single rack and a flimsy metal pizza pan, so the extras with the Cuisinart feel like a step up—in fact, it’s the only model we’ve tested since 2013 to include a ceramic pizza stone.

The oven cavity is large enough to fit a 5.5-quart Le Creuset Dutch oven or a 6-quart Lodge Dutch oven (with aluminum foil in lieu of their lids)—just know that their weight will cause the oven rack to bend slightly. A standard quarter-sheet tray (and if you put a quarter-sheet tray on each of its two racks, that’s equal to a standard half sheet pan you’d use in a full-size oven). It can also fit a 12-cup muffin tin (ours measured 14 by 10.75 inches) or a 9-by-13-inch baking pan (without handles). The Cuisinart has four slots for the racks, with metal hooks that pull out the middle rack when the door is opened. It was one of the fastest models to preheat to 350 °F, taking just over three minutes.

The Cuisinart has one unusual feature that we didn’t see with many other toaster ovens: a setting called Dual Cook. It allows you to program a custom cooking cycle by hooking two existing modes together to play out back to back. So let’s say you’re baking a pumpkin pie. Using this dual cook mode, you could, for instance, bake the pie at 425 °F for 15 minutes, then program the oven to automatically reduce the temperature to 350 °F for the remaining 30 to 40 minutes. You don’t have to set a timer or remember to lower the temperature—the oven does it for you. (Our upgrade pick, the Breville Smart Oven Air Fryer Pro also has this feature, which Breville calls “phase cook.”) The Cuisinart also has a “+30s” button that allows you to add 30 seconds to any cooking function—if you hold that button down you can also adjust the volume of the beeps or turn them off entirely.

The Cuisinart also has two convection speeds, regular and high. If you want to use this oven as an air fryer (because pod-shaped air fryers are simply tiny convection ovens), we’ve found that the high setting works better, since it cooks food a little faster. However, if you plan to air fry often, and you’re looking for an oven with a slightly more powerful fan that will cook even faster and get food a little crispier, we’d recommend getting our upgrade pick, the Breville Smart Oven Air Fryer Pro (you can also check out our guide to the best air fryer toaster ovens for more options).

The Cuisinart has a three-year limited warranty, whereas most similarly priced competitors include just one- or two-year warranties. But according to a representative we spoke with, Cuisinart won’t repair the oven if it becomes defective under warranty, and won’t ask you to mail it back. Instead, they’ll ask you to cut the cord and send them a picture of it, then send you an entirely new unit. They’ll even do this if the lightbulb burns out, which is the downside to this otherwise excellent warranty. For certain issues, you may have to choose between living with a broken minor part and sending an otherwise functional machine to the landfill. If something goes wrong with the oven after the warranty expires, Cuisinart will offer you 20% off the retail price of a new oven and provide free shipping. They also sell the oven’s accessories separately.

The biggest shortcoming on the Cuisinart is the single dial control, which functions as a combined selector for cook time, temperature, and toast setting. It’s not as intuitive as the two knob controls on the Breville Smart Oven Air Fryer Pro. But once we familiarized ourselves with it, we appreciated its sleeker, pared-down interface.

You should also know that as soon as the oven is preheated, the timer starts counting down. This can be annoying if you’re not quite ready to put your food in the oven, but we think it’s easy enough to adjust the timer once you’re ready. The timer on our upgrade pick, the Breville Pro, also begins counting down once the oven is preheated. However, it will pause the timer when you open the oven door, whereas the Cuisinart doesn’t.

Unlike our upgrade pick, the Cuisinart lacks a handy rack-position key on the oven door. However, when you open the oven door, you’ll find the rack position numbers printed on the side of the oven. But you’ll still have to consult the user manual to know where the racks should be placed for each cooking function, which is a little inconvenient.

Also, we found the middle shade setting for toasting (setting 4) to be a bit dark. We recommend using setting 3 for making perfect golden-brown toast.

You can’t replace any of the oven’s components (aside from the accessories), so if something goes wrong with the oven under warranty, Cuisinart will just send you an entirely new unit (whereas Panasonic offers all kinds of replacement parts).

This small, affordable oven is ideal for those who want something simple. It performed far better than the others we tested at this price level.

If our other picks have more features than you need, we recommend the inexpensive, no-frills Hamilton Beach 4-Slice Toaster Oven (31401). The Hamilton Beach, with its two quartz heating elements, toasted bread faster and more evenly than any other under-$100 oven we tested. It has three manual knobs to control the settings. Although the Hamilton Beach lacks most of the features included in high-end models—such as preset cooking functions, a convection setting, and an internal light—it excels at the basics, like making toast, cookies, and frozen snacks. Its small footprint is ideal for kitchens with limited counter space. This toaster oven has a few quirks that are expected with such a cheap model (such as running several degrees cooler than its set temperature), but on the whole we think those flaws are negligible.

The Hamilton Beach has manual knobs that adjust the temperature (from 150 °F to broil/toast mode), the function (broil, toast, and bake), and the 30-minute timer. The biggest drawback to this model is the toast shade setting on the timer dial. You have to turn the knob past the 10-minute mark and then reverse it to the desired shade setting. However, it’s difficult to determine exactly where the dial should be placed for your preferred toast shade. Eventually, we were able to find the sweet spot on the dial for our desired doneness, but it took multiple attempts. That said, the toast came out remarkably even for a toaster oven of this caliber. Like most toaster ovens, the Hamilton Beach will get hotter after each batch of toast you make in a row. You’ll need to reduce the toast shade setting for each subsequent batch you make to prevent the bread from burning.

This model comes with the most basic accessories, including an oven rack, a baking pan, and a crumb tray. More-advanced digital models will alert you once the oven is preheated to a set temperature, but the Hamilton Beach lacks this feature. The instruction manual recommends allowing 5 minutes for the toaster oven to preheat. Even so, a charming, old-school ding does alert you when the timer goes off. We preferred this subtle sound to the ear-shattering beeps on some digital models, like the Wolf Gourmet Countertop Oven.

The Hamilton Beach runs cooler than other models we tested, so you’ll need to increase the temperature by about 25 degrees when baking cookies or snacks. But we think this is a forgivable drawback considering the low price tag. The indicator light is a helpful feature that allows you to see that the unit is on, but we did notice it’s difficult to detect unless you crouch down to see it. The Hamilton Beach doesn’t have a strong spring mechanism to keep the oven door from falling open. Be mindful of this when opening the door, to avoid putting unnecessary stress on the hinge.

We’ve read some user reviews regarding food catching fire in this oven. Though we never experienced this in over two years of long-term testing, always be sure to place food at least an inch from the heating element. Also, clean the heating element and the bottom of the unit before operating. An accumulation of crumbs and other food particles can burn and begin to smoke if not cleaned out regularly.

The Hamilton Beach oven comes with a one-year warranty. Contact Hamilton Beach for repairs or a replacement.

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. Otherwise, they encountered no issues—the Hamilton Beach is great for any simple toasting and baking jobs.

This convection toaster oven has a slightly more powerful fan for air frying than the Cuisinart, plus convenient markings on the door and the easiest-to-clean interior. It also has additional settings for proofing bread, slow cooking, and dehydrating.

It’s significantly more expensive, but if you plan to air fry food often and want even more cooking functions than the Cuisinart, you should consider getting the Breville Smart Oven Air Fryer Pro—our top pick in our guide to the best air fryer toaster ovens. Its convection fan has two speeds, like the Cuisinart’s, but the high speed is slightly more powerful and can crisp up food faster. The Breville Pro is also a bit roomier—it can fit a 6-quart Lodge Dutch oven without a lid, or a 5.5-quart Le Creuset Dutch oven with a lid (the same Le Creuset can only fit in the Cuisinart without a lid). Just avoid using the lid if it has a non-metal knob that could be damaged by close contact with the heating elements (use foil to cover the pot instead).

The Smart Oven Air Fryer Pro also has a few preset functions the Cuisinart doesn’t, including: proof, air fry, reheat, cookies, slow cook, and dehydrate. We also appreciate that the Breville Pro has rack markings printed on the door, so you never have to guess as to their placement. Compared to any of the other models we recommend, the Breville Pro’s nonstick interior is by far the easiest to wipe clean.

We like the Breville Air Fryer Pro’s sleek design and easy-to-navigate interface. The Breville also has a Phase Cook feature (similar to the Cuisinart’s Dual Cook Mode), which allows you to program two back-to-back cooking functions. Like the Cuisinart, the Breville’s rack glides out when you open the door so you don’t have to stick your hands deep into the oven cavity to retrieve your food. It comes with two oven racks so you can cook more food at once—an addition we appreciate with the Cuisinart too. 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).

One disappointing thing about the Breville, especially at this price, is that it comes with a two-year warranty, whereas the Cuisinart has a three-year warranty. To learn even more about the Breville Air Fryer Pro, see our guide to the best air fryer toaster ovens.

If you’re looking for ways to reduce energy costs in light of inflation, a toaster oven is a good place to start. There are many instances when using a toaster oven makes more sense than firing up your full-size oven—it’s overkill to use a big oven for reheating leftovers, defrosting frozen bread, baking a handful of cookies, or cooking a couple of chicken breasts. Using a toaster oven in warmer months can also help keep your kitchen cooler. According to the Energy Star Market & Industry Scoping Report (PDF) toaster ovens use roughly one-third to one-half less energy than a conventional electric oven when cooking small meals. Also, most conventional ovens take an average of 20 minutes to preheat, whereas toaster ovens typically preheat in 5 minutes or less—that’s a lot less energy spent and less heat emanating from your main oven. Another way to use less energy is by unplugging your toaster oven when you’re not using it. Though most digital toaster ovens consume very little energy in standby mode (less than 0.2 watts according to the Energy Star Market & Industry Scoping Report)—over time it adds up.

What about slot toasters? They may use less energy, but if you’re buying with sustainability as a top priority, and you have the counter space, you should probably consider getting a toaster oven instead of a slot toaster. We’ve learned through research done by The Ohio State University that slot toasters aren’t built to last (you can read more about OSU’s in-depth work in our blog post). Since most modern slot toasters aren’t repairable, they’re destined for a landfill once they give out. Toaster ovens, on the other hand, typically last longer, which may be in part because the heating elements are enclosed or better protected by metal guards to prevent damage. They’re also not moved or banged around as much as slot toasters, making their electrical components less susceptible to failure.

A toaster oven could also be a good holdover if your main oven craps out and you’d like to take advantage of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA)—which sets aside $4.5 billion for the first-ever federal consumer rebates on electric appliances, including ovens. You’ll need to wait until 2023 to buy or install a new electric oven, when the rebates (which will vary by state) go into effect. In the meantime, you may be pleasantly surprised by how much one of our larger picks (like the Cuisinart TOB-260N1 or the Breville Smart Oven Air Fryer Pro) can accomplish as a temporary replacement oven.

If you have your eye on a recipe written specifically for a pod-shaped air fryer (as most are) but want to prepare it in a convection toaster oven, you can get good results with some minor adjustments.

Generally, you need to increase the cooking time by several minutes and the temperature 25 to 50 degrees to compensate for the toaster oven’s larger cavity. (Similar advice holds true for air fryer toaster ovens, since their cavities are also larger than pod-shaped air fryers. But since air fryer toaster ovens have more powerful fans, we’d estimate that the adjustments would be smaller—say, increasing the time by a couple minutes to start with, and the temperature by 25 degrees.) There aren’t hard and fast rules, so it may take some trial and error for you to figure out what adjustments work best depending on what you’re cooking. Also, you don’t need to buy an air-frying basket—a regular quarter-sheet pan will give you similar “air-frying” results in a convection oven (though you may want to line the pan with aluminum foil for faster cleanup).

To prep your toaster oven, you’ll need to run several cycles with the machine empty before using it to cook anything you plan to eat. This way, any industrial residues in the oven (these are applied to prevent corrosion during shipping and storage) can burn off and won’t have a chance to get into your food. Do this in a ventilated space if possible; depending on the oven, you’ll smell fumes during the first round or two. While you wait, take the time to wash the rack and accessories in warm, soapy water.

Once your toaster is up and running, we recommend that you empty the crumb tray often. To keep grease from dripping on the lower heating element, use foil and a pan underneath whatever you’re cooking. If grease splatters inside the oven, clean the interior according to the manufacturer’s instructions or refer to the care and maintenance section in our guide to the best air fryer toaster ovens.

It’s common for most toasters to release steam while toasting, so don’t be alarmed. This is a normal occurrence, especially if the bread is particularly moist.

If you want a slightly smaller convection toaster oven: The Breville Smart Oven has all the functionality of our larger main pick, the Cuisinart TOB-260N1, but the Breville has a slightly smaller footprint (at 19 by 13.9 by 14.1 inches, compared with the Cuisinart’s 20.9 by 16.9 by 11.4 inches, according to the manufacturers). But it’s still big enough to fit both the Lodge 6-quart Dutch oven and the Le Creuset 5.5-quart Dutch oven (without their lids). The Breville comes with a single rack (whereas the Cuisinart has two), and its non-stick pizza pan isn’t as good a value as the Cuisinart’s ceramic pizza stone (which is also useful for baking bread and pie). The Breville did well in our tests, toasting bread almost as evenly as the Cuisinart. However, the Breville is slower to preheat and lacks an internal light. That said, we appreciated this toaster oven’s intuitive interface, easy-to-read display, and ability to regulate heat well. Since the Breville didn’t surpass the Cuisinart in our tests and costs about the same, we recommend it only if you prefer its relatively smaller size.

The Müeller Toaster Oven is nice looking for such an inexpensive toaster, but it couldn’t maintain a consistent temperature—when set to 350 °F, the oven temperature slowly climbed to 455 °F before cascading back down. This oven didn’t toast bread evenly, either—the top of the bread was evenly browned, but the underside was uneven and burned in spots. The cookies we baked in the Müeller burned on the bottom before they were finished baking.

The Black+Decker 4-Slice Toaster Oven ran cooler than most other models we tested—when set to 350 °F, its actual temperature registered 290 °F when measured using an air probe. Toast was very even on top, but a little too dark on the underside. The cookies we baked in this model took almost twice as long to bake as those in the Panasonic FlashXpress Toaster Oven, though they did spread more than cookies baked in the Hamilton Beach 4-Slice Toaster Oven. Chicken thighs took longer to cook than the other models and the skin was unappetizing and flabby. Our AI-powered analysis tool confirmed the issues we experienced—many complained about this toaster oven’s poor temperature control and difficult-to-use manual dials.

The Dash Mini Toaster Oven is cute as a button, but it’s so small it looks more like a child’s toy than an actual cooking device. Measuring roughly 7.75 by 8 by 7.25 inches, this no-frills toaster with a single dial timer control can toast only one piece of bread, one cookie, or a single chicken leg at a time. It’s also very inconsistent at regulating its internal temperature. In our tests, it fluctuated wildly between 299 °F and 462 °F. The chocolate chip cookies we made burned on top, and the parchment paper nearly caught on fire before we removed it. It could be good for toasting sandwiches, and you might consider getting it if you have a pint-size kitchen. Otherwise, the size is far too limiting. You can’t even reheat a slice of pizza in it.

The Zojirushi ET-WMC22 toasted so unevenly that the bread looked like someone with terrible aim had zapped it with a laser. Needless to say, we dismissed it immediately.

The Black+Decker TO3250XSB 8-Slice Extra-Wide Convection Countertop Toaster Oven hogs a lot of counter space. It toasted unevenly and burned cookies and Bagel Bites in our tests. Also, this model had difficulty maintaining its internal temperature.

The Black+Decker TO1322SBD 4-Slice Toaster Oven was the most inconsistent in our tests, burning some things and undercooking others.

The Black+Decker TO1303SB has low ratings on Amazon. We found that it was cheaply built, gives you little control over the toast shade, and has a small interior space.

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.

The Hamilton Beach Easy Reach Oven with Convection, Silver (31126) is popular on Amazon. But we weren’t fans of its lid, which opens up over the top of the oven instead of down. Many people with small kitchens might store items like metal bowls or sheet pans on top of their ovens, and the lid prevents that. Also, its medium toast setting produced pale results.

The Oster Large Digital Countertop Oven (TSSTTVMNDG) has cheap plastic components. In our tests, its performance was inconsistent, and it had hot spots and high running temperatures.

The main drawback of the Breville Mini Smart Oven is that it toasted bread inconsistently. That said, it baked cookies and Bagel Bites well. It also regulated its internal temperature surprisingly well. We liked this model overall, but in the end we dismissed it because it didn’t perform as well as the Panasonic FlashXpress and costs about $30 more.

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 GE Quartz Convection Toaster Oven and the GE Calrod Convection Toaster Oven are identical, except that one has quartz heating elements and the other has Calrod heating elements. The quartz model costs about $25 more than the Calrod version (at the time of this publishing), but there wasn’t a huge difference in performance between the two. The underside of the toast we made was very uneven and patchy in the GE Quartz, while the GE Calrod toasted a bit more evenly. The cheese topping on Bagel Bites didn’t melt as evenly in these models as our picks, and the bottoms were burned. Also, the wide gaps on either side of the oven racks allowed bread to slip through the slots and onto the bottom of the oven cavity.

The Cuisinart TOB-135 toasted bread unevenly, and its temperature control was less consistent, so we dismissed it.

Balmuda’s The Toaster is a $300 appliance that’s different from most other toaster ovens because it steams bread while it toasts. In theory, it’s supposed to help keep the “inner moisture and flavor from escaping,” but we’re not convinced it makes a difference. In fact, we weighed white sandwich bread and rustic sourdough bread before and after toasting to see how much moisture the bread retained. On average, plain white sandwich bread actually retained less moisture when toasted in the Balmuda than when toasted in our top pick, the Cuisinart.

The Balmuda’s controls and capacity are also limited compared to our top picks. It offers just three temperature settings—350 °F, 400 °F, and 450 °F—plus four presets, and it can only fit two pieces of bread. The Balmuda has other design flaws (a flap on the door) and twee impracticalities (the easy-to-lose steam cup), and ultimately, we found it to be just a snazzy-looking prototype at best.

The Calphalon Quartz Heat Countertop Toaster Oven didn’t toast as well as our picks and it didn’t evenly melt the cheese on bagel bites. It also had a very noisy convection fan that sounded like it was struggling to operate with every rotation.

The June Oven is a smart countertop model with an internal camera, a built-in probe thermometer (which estimates when your food will be cooked through), and several pre-programmed cooking functions. The HD camera can recognize certain ingredients, automatically prompting the interface to recommend corresponding cooking programs. Plus, a Wi-Fi connection allows you to use an app to monitor your food with the camera and control the oven from anywhere in your home—or even miles away. Despite all these features, we were disappointed with the June’s performance, especially given its high price. We wish it had additional cooking programs and that the recipes were more enticing and better written. The camera is fun to use, but it doesn’t make cooking easier. And although the June is larger than most toaster ovens, its capacity is still limited compared with that of a full-size oven, especially if you plan to prepare food for four or more people.

The De’Longhi Livenza Digital Convection Oven did not toast evenly in our tests. It also had a difficult time maintaining its internal temperature (which fluctuated between 322 °F and 369 °F when set to 350 °F).

The Breville Smart Oven Air is very similar to our upgrade pick, the Breville Smart Oven Air Fryer Pro, except it has fewer programmed settings (11 instead of the Pro’s 14), and it has a smaller oven capacity. If you need a slightly smaller machine, we think you’ll be happier with the Cuisinart—it performed just as well and it’s also more affordable. But if you have the space and still want a dedicated air fryer setting (plus some additional settings), we’d recommend getting our upgrade pick, the Breville Pro. It performed better overall than the Smart Oven Air.

We appreciated the compact size of the Breville Compact Smart Oven (BOV650XL), but it didn’t do well in many of our tests. It also costs more than the Panasonic FlashXpress, which we like better overall.

The Breville Smart Oven Pro is nearly identical to the Breville Smart Oven. The Pro does add a couple of minor features, like a slow-cook mode and an internal light. But the Bagel Bites we toasted between the door and the front of the oven’s rack were noticeably paler than those toasted in the middle and back of the oven.

The exorbitantly priced Wolf Gourmet Countertop Oven produced the most evenly browned toast of any model we tested. That said, it took about 7 minutes to get those unparalleled results. To be fair, it’s a countertop oven, not a toaster oven, so a slower cooking time is to be expected. But the Wolf was also slower to preheat than our picks. It took up a lot of counter space and beeped loudly as well. We think it’s best for people who don’t have space for a full-size oven in their home, or for those who have a lot of counter space and need an additional oven.

This article was edited by Marilyn Ong and Marguerite Preston.

Toaster Oven Reviews, Good Housekeeping

Toaster Ovens, America’s Test Kitchen (subscription required), August 19, 2019

Ry Crist, Don’t call them toasters: We test out high-end toaster ovens, CNET, September 8, 2013

Martha Rose Shulman, chef and author of The Simple Art of Vegetarian Cooking, interview

Sal Vaglika, The Best Toaster Ovens Under $250, Serious Eats, December 6, 2017

Toaster Ovens (PDF), Energy Star Market & Industry Scoping Report, November 2011

Michael Sullivan

Michael Sullivan has been a staff writer on the kitchen team at Wirecutter since 2016. Previously, he was an editor at the International Culinary Center in New York. He has worked in various facets of the food and restaurant industry for over a decade.

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