Review on 🍞 Panasonic FlashXpress Toaster Oven: Double Infrared Heating, Removable 9-Inch Inner Tray - Silver, 12 x 13 x 10.25 by Josh Montgomery

I've really looked around to find a replacement for my old and dying Cuisinart toaster. I wanted something really small to toast 4 slices of bread. I wanted something that is easy to clean. The high tech of this toaster has turned my head. infrared heating. Automatic settings. Excellent reviews. I liked the relatively small area. The easily accessible crumb tray from below was also an important decision criterion for me. What I took for granted and found to my dismay is that this toaster does not brown on top! There is no tweak or hack to do this. It bakes, toasts, and there are separate settings for frozen pancakes, frozen pizza, and frozen waffles, but the damn thing doesn't brown. If you want to make open-faced melted cheese, you'll need to place it on the included baking sheet and heat the top and bottom in either toast or roast mode. The cheese will melt but not brown properly. Which brings me to my biggest complaint: for some reason (infrared heating elements?) the outer perimeter of what is being fried or heated cooks sooner than the center. This means the toasted bread will be lighter in the center than around the edges. Trying to darken the center will burn the edges. As you try to melt the cheese, the edges before the middle will soften and darken. If you toast two types of bread at the same time, one will brown faster and differently than the other. I have never experienced such a big difference in a regular toaster. The corn muffin burns and the raisin bun is barely toasted. To get decent toast, I learned not to mix bread types, but to bake them separately. The crumb tray accessible from below is very practical, but crumbs get caught on the edge directly under the door hinge and have to be cleaned with a silicone brush. I miss my old toaster. It was easier to use even on the last puffs, and the grilled cheese turned out just fine.