The hamilton beach counter oven knob has a Min setting which can act as Keep Warm and maintain the oven at around 100°F. Inside the packaging are the Hamilton Beach oven, a baking rack, a baking pan, a removable crumb tray, and a simple user manual. Our resulting test dishes were also mostly lacking in color, except for the toast. 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 and twee impracticalities (the easy-to-lose steam cup), and ultimately, we found it to be just a snazzy-looking prototype at best.
Not to mention, they come in handy when your full-hamilton beach toaster ovend oven is maxed out when hosting—or when you’re cooking for just a few people. “A good toaster oven can reheat casseroles, turn out a whole chicken and bake a pizza with a crispy crust,” says Tara Casaregola, the CR test engineer who oversees our toaster oven tests. With one simple change, you can bake potatoes that are fluffy and ready for topping in just 30 to 35 minutes without having to use your microwave.
The hamilton beach toaster oven’s exterior and interior were easy to clean following the steps of our toaster oven cleaning guide. Due to the chicken touching the upper safeguard during cooking, there were some caramelized bits stuck to it. Nonetheless, they were easy to remove with just dish soap and a sponge.
The heating element speeds up the cook times and makes for a highly effective broiler. We love that the tray is removable for easy crumb pickup and has an accessible back panel when it’s time to give it a deeper clean. She’s been testing kitchen appliances professionally since 2013 and lends her experience working at kitchen appliance companies where she helped develop popular air fryers and such recipes. Her knowledge extends to this roundup, in which Nicole conducted the testing, analyzed the data and rounded up the best toaster oven picks. In the Good Housekeeping Institute Kitchen Appliances and Innovation Lab, we’ve tested about 60 toaster ovens in the past 10 years.
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. 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 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.
A microwave heats water molecules using electromagnetic waves, cooking food from the inside out. While this doesn’t in a browning effect like a toaster oven, it is often faster. Ultimately, both perform very different functions and create different results because of how they operate. Hamilton Beach’s Easy Reach Toaster Oven has a roomy interior, making it especially well-suited for warming up multiple snacks or cooking pizzas . Its convection heating makes for evenly browned bagels or muffins. It fits easily on any countertop, with a long cord that increases your options for placement.