Review on LUBY Large Toaster Oven Countertop for Baking & Roasting - French Door Design, 55L Capacity, Fits 18 Slices, 14'' Pizza, 20lb Turkey - Silver by Chris Weber

This thing is a beast... which is good because we want to save on the stove. After getting burned many times when the drop down door took up the available countertop space and constantly struggling to get a tray or pot out of our Waring Pro WTO450, it's time for a change. We figured if it wasted worktop space it might as well be for a larger oven than the hinged door, which was annoying. The capacity of this oven is huge compared to a standard sized toaster and with the extra power we can do more with it and less with our electric range... which literally just burned out another heating element. We didn't need convection, a pop-up door, an electronic touchpad, or a $200 board, so it was a limited field and it fit our search criteria. It was a somewhat reluctant purchase and the convection heated Oster was an alternative but we are at high altitude so convection isn't really required and that leaves few options with French doors and no convection. It's a meter hog but as the doors swing open it's a bit of an issue but my main concern is that the timer has to be on for it to work, although the picture shows the timer dial set to 'Stay On' set is what we do' don't have. To use it, the noisy timer must be on, and if the timer fails, the oven will not work. I will most likely set an on/off toggle switch to bypass the timer because I doubt returning it for that reason would replace the timer feature I thought I was getting. Anyway, the big plus for us is that the doors open outwards (and we can only open one at a time) and the top and bottom elements have their own temperature settings...or you can just use whichever you prefer. The handle for the grill and pan is a nice touch, eliminating the need to reach for the lid to grab something with bulky gloves and then struggle to pull it out like we did with the Waring... what took our patience and that it led to burns. It's fairly light for its size, and we tried it on our island with a Formica top, but it slid so easily I could see the dinner tumble from the side onto the floor with a slight tug. I build a small stand to hold it in place and add some rubber feet to hold it in place. It's hard to please everyone with one unit, but it was relatively cheap compared to most alternatives, and ours has a removable sheet on the bottom that collects crumbs, which is why I call it the crumb tray. The dials are difficult to read as the pointer is just a pointer of the same color as the dial. As usual, the instructions are vague or vague (e.g. put the grate in the middle position when there are only 4 options so there isn't one in the middle) and there is no mention of whether it's best to go with the Top and bottom to bake elements for more even baking. It also doesn't heat/bake evenly, but our oven does the same, but the preheat time is much faster. It gets too hot to put your hand on the top but the sides aren't too bad and it's fairly similar on most other countertop ovens/toasters we've had before. At 400 degrees, ours reads 375 degrees on two different oven thermometers, but that's close enough, and since the doors have a gap in the middle and don't close tightly, they're probably there to keep the glass from overheating. It's really not a very good toaster, although it will get the job done, it takes a long time to heat up to the point where it actually toasts something. What annoys me the most is that the timer dial controls the on/off process and should actually be included in Element dials as it lacks the "Stay On" feature. Once it's on the counter, there's very little space in front of it, and what's left is pretty much useless. The doors stay open, but the handles don't close flush. Though nothing on it says "Roast" which could be accomplished with just the top elements; and we have a crumb tray (I'm still not sure what all those no crumb tray reviews meant...whether they were expecting a separate bowl or no lower inner panel) so the bad reviews are trimmed. I don't like it, but I'm sticking with 5 stars despite my issues with the timer that acts as an on/off switch. So far we've cooked bread, toast, bagels, English muffins and fruit tarts in it and have no complaints about the finished product. A large cast iron skillet is not only hard, but it is difficult not to burn your glove on the top element, so the process becomes much easier and the entire oven does not lose all the heat required to preheat for 30 minutes. reach. After all the money I've spent on home appliances over the last 60 years I'm glad if in a few years it will still work and relieve my stovetop which has limited use but still the appliance pushes out every time. some years. It would have been nice if it had an on/off switch and an interior light, but it is, and no reason to give stars for it.