best toaster oven I have had

Author's Rating:

Pros: extremely fast heat up of elements, true broiler, toast, convection cuts cooking time in half

Cons: door not attached to rack to pull out

The Bottom Line: 
Quick heatup of elements and quick cooking,toasting time make this a keeper.

Author's Review
I have had three Delonghi's and an Oster in the last 5 years.

The first two Delonghi's suffered the same fate--the knobs wore out, lost their grip and could no longer do anything but turn round and round. The 3rd one had the lower elements warp and twist, and soon the upper elements did the same thing.

All three malfunctioned about 1-2 months after the warranty expired.

All three were purchased through Costco which took them all back for full credit.

I then purchased a less expensive Oster from Costco. No real problems but it takes about 8 minutes for my toast to finish. Baking potato cubes to crisp takes at least an hour at 400 degrees.

Now comes this amazing Krups.
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The main problems noted in other reviews were (1) the 5 beeps signaling the end of the cycle are too loud (not loud to me and kind of a sweet tone), (2) poor quality control with uneven legs and chipped non stick coating on the broiler pan (my unit is in perfect, level condition), (3) the oven exterior is much too hot when in use (normal exterior heat to my touch so no problem here and (4) resetting time and temp from the default is tedious (only takes seconds to do this and very intuitive as well).

Using the 6 setting for toast, the cycle lasts about 3 1/2 minutes, less than half the time as my previous oven. The top of the toast is perfect with the bottom a bit unevenly toasted. I remember that my Delonghi's sometimes didn't toast the bottom at all.

The convection oven also cooks in half the time. I do not use any prepared frozen food, making everything from scratch.

Breaded eggplant slices come out crisp on top and bottom without turning when convection baked at 400 degrees for 30 minutes. Then each round is topped with fresh basil, dried tomato and mozzarella cheese. The pan is removed, the rack put in shelf 3 position and then broiled on Low for 3 minutes. Perfectly melted cheese while the eggplant remains crisp. (I always had to turn the eggplant to crisp both sides with all of my other toaster ovens.)

Update: This also applies to making oven fried chicken, using veg spray. Using the convection feature, and increasing the heat to 400 degrees and decreasing time to 25 minutes, an entire pan of chicken crisped on top and bottom without turning. Fantastic!

Raw potatoes, either cubed or sliced, and seasoned, get crisp on both sides also when convection baked for 30 minutes at 400 degrees. Notice that I increase the temperature from the default 350 degrees.

The broiler grilled my fresh salmon after about 3 minutes per side.

The elements heat up almost instantly, and things cook very quickly. Lots of room inside, takes up about as much counter space as my previous ovens. Auto shut off and easy access crumb tray. Wonderful green light around the start/stop button.

Although the door is not attached to the rack to pull it out when opening the door (my other ovens had this feature), you can pull out the rack almost completely without it falling from the unit.

It actually broils whereas my other ovens did a more baking job than broiling even when under the broiler.

What would I change? I would have the oven door hook on to the rack to extend it out a bit when its opened. Other than that, it's the best toaster oven I have used because of its very quick response time and versatility.

Very handsome to look at as well.

Shelly