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 black decker toasters 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. The new and improved Cosori 5.8-Quart Air Fryer now has a smart app and the original bells and whistles.
If you want to get really fancy with your homespun versions of Great British Bakeoff concoctions, the oven has a 30-minute timer so it stays on for longer cooking times. 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.
There’s five different cooking functions that you can choose from, and cleanup is a breeze as there’s a removable crumb tray along with dishwasher safe parts. Additional features include two rack positions, accessories, a 60-minute timer and a dedicated toast timer. Inside, there’s just one rack that fits in just one place in the oven. For toasting, baking, and air frying, a small baking pan and an air fryer basket are included.
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only. 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. Companies displayed may pay us to be Authorized or when you click a link, call a number or fill a form on our site.
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. 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.
These days, basket-style air fryers can range from $50 to $350, and toaster ovens with air-frying capabilities generally run from $100 to $400. Air fryers don’t generally need to be flashy to be efficient, and the prices reflect that as well. If it’s a countertop oven that doubles as an air fryer you seek, this Ninja model is likely the best toaster oven for you. When we reheated day-old pizza slices, they came out very evenly toasted without being burned. The bread was crisp, but not hard and the cheese and pepperoni were warmed without being overdone. We measured the interior temperature of the unit to see how accurate it was.
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, black decker toaster oven 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.
I toasted four slices of white bread on medium to test how evenly each toaster cooks and the calibration of its doneness setting. If you don’t have a real oven or you just really don’t like using it, this big fella can take on a lot of the tasks of a full-size oven. Ensure that no food has fallen onto or near the heating element of your toaster oven after each usage.