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. 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.
If you’ve ever looked inside your toaster while it’s working and noticed glowing, red hot wires around your slice of bread, those are the filaments doing their job. One sliceWe toasted just one slice of large white bread in each model, aiming for medium brown toast. We toasted just one slice of large white bread in each model, aiming for medium brown toast. Brushed stainless steel toaster automatically shuts off at the end of the toasting cycle even if toast gets jammed. Toast Boost feature on the bread toaster lets you lift small breads, waffles and English muffins so they’re easier to retrieve after toasting. The toaster also allows you to push its lever up to raise the slots, which made it significantly easier to grab smaller items without the risk of burning your fingers.
It has a basic control panel with three knobs that are easy to operate and a small footprint that’s still large enough to fit a 12-inch frozen pizza. In our tests, it was one of the few that was able to bake an evenly melted pizza in addition to making evenly colored toast. Wings and fries also crisped up quickly, nicely and evenly in our air fryer tests.
The Hamilton Beach 2-Slice Toaster is pretty average as appliances go. It doesn’t have any awe-inspiring features, but it toasts bread well, and that’s what counts. Some ovens print which level to use right on the oven for ease of use. Some ovens have the information in the manual, and a few left us guessing.
The hamilton beach counter ovenasonic was the only toaster we tested in this price range that could create an evenly golden brown chicken thigh with a crispy skin. 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. With Sure-Toast™ technology on this slim-design bread toaster, you get perfectly toasted bread, with balanced color and texture on both sides, even when toasting a single slice. The Toast Boost feature on the bread toaster lifts smaller breads like English muffins and gluten-free bread slices so they’re easier to retrieve after toasting. The 2-in-1 combination oven and toaster allows you to do more in less space.
If you like the hamilton beach toasterality of an old-school toaster but also want a mini oven for heating up leftovers and cooking smaller items, the 2-in-1 is perfect for that. I have teenagers, so the oven gets used a lot for cooking frozen pizza and entrees as well as breakfast fare like cinnamon bread and frozen waffles. The oven operates on a timer that you have to set past 10 minutes for it to start and it automatically shuts off after 60 minutes. This seemed odd to me at first, but with kids in the house, I’m glad to have the auto-shutoff safety feature.
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. Most of the frozen items we heated came out a little undercooked after the recommended cooking time.
The manual also notes that when toasting a single slice of bread, there may be variation in color from side to side. A toaster that has extra-wide slots is best for accommodating heartier bread, while other toasters may have a special setting for bagels and frozen bread. When your bread has reached the desired toast level you selected, the toaster either turns off automatically with a timer or pops your bread up with a spring-loaded tray.
We simply had to wait a little longer than the directions suggested. The hamilton beach counter oven Reach did not perform well in our temperature accuracy tests. The crumb tray does an excellent job at keeping small pieces in check. The control lever , can also be pushed upwards, which makes it easier to remove smaller items.