Black & Decker CTO7100B Toaster Oven with Convection Cooking

We recently purchased this Black and Decker convection toaster oven from a local liquidation outlet for a mere $22. Factory serviced and renewed to the same standards as a regular retail model, it seemed like an absolute steal for a model that sells for $99 to this day at WalMart.

Unpacking was straightforward. Very little is included aside from an operating manual and the 2 interior racks/trays.

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Plugging the unit in it immediately sprang to life - no issues.
Anxious to try it out, later that evening we made a few servings of fish and chips for our children. Unfortunately, at this point it became evident why there is a glut of these units available on the liquidation/refurbished market - it can be complicated to operate.

The root of the complication lies with how the control panel operates. Many of the buttons are only designated with small images, not actual words. You must refer to the operating manual to understand exactly what each option accomplishes, as most are "preset" buttons that lock the unit into a preset time and temperature. In my opinion, almost all of these options, with the exception of the toast and bagel settings, are useless - rarely do products follow a specific or even generic time, instead requiring manual settings.

However, after referring to the manual we noticed that selecting the "Cake" option put the oven into a fully manual mode that allows you to select time, temperature, and cooking mode fully manually. We opted for that, and have used it almost exclusively since.

The second matter of complication is that you only have a maximum of five second between key presses, otherwise the unit cancels all selections made and returns to the standby state. For many, this could be infuriating. I know of many elderly family members who may never even be able to get the oven to turn on, much less cook anything in it as a result of these "hurry up" requirements. Why Black and Decker decided to program the unit this way is beyond me, and this alone has probably contributed to many returns.

Additionally, one of the biggest features of this oven (and one we specifically wanted) was the convection option - a small fan inside the oven (when activated) circulates the air inside the oven making for much more even and faster cooking. Unfortunately, and surely to the confusion of some, the convection option only works on the "Cake"(or manual Bake mode) option, and further to that you must press yet another button to activate the option.

Once you understand these quirks, the oven itself is spectacular - it cooks evenly, FAST, and thoroughly.

This evening we decided to use the rotisserie option to cook a whole chicken, and I discovered another massive problem - the rotisserie spit is improperly designed and is not long enough to properly engage both sides of the mounting points properly. What happens is that the spit "slips out" of the gears that actually drive the spit to turn, and as a result, your meat simply stops turning despite the fact that the rotisserie motor continues to turn.

At this point, all of these issues combined have surely caused many people to shove this oven back in it's box and return it for their $100 (or more) refund.

However, in light of the small price I paid, and our desire to have this specific model due to the convection feature, I opted to fix the rotisserie problem myself. The fix is quite simple - simply remove the two Philips head screws mounting the bracket (that the spit rests in on the left side) and add 4 washers behind it. You will need longer screws since the originals are far too short to cover this new distance once the washers are installed. With the longer screws and 4 washers (on each end) installed, this bracket now sits out significantly further then it does originally, and the spit properly engages the rotisserie motor. Our chicken has now been happily rotating inside the oven for over an hour as I type this and is looking absolutely delectable.

Some other options that we have tried is the bagel and toast options. The bagel option turns on only the top elements so that you can toast the open (cut) side of the bagel while leaving the exterior simply to warm instead.
The toast option uses both the top and bottom elements to use the oven as a makeshift toaster. Contrary to the other reviewer I had no problem fitting 6 regular sized slices of toast in the oven, although when making toasted BLT's we were only able to fit 4 slices of the (admittedly much larger slices) sourdough bread we used. The toaster option is expectedly very slow compared to a regular toaster, but did the job.

Despite our fairly signifigant use since we purchased the oven the front glass has stayed clean, a problem with many smaller ovens we have owned in the past.

Overall, we will keep the oven, however in my opinion it's inexcusable for Black and Decker to release this product to market with such massive issues as the rotisserie spit not fitting properly, resulting in it simply not working. A simple addition of a quarter inch to the length of the spit and it would fit (and work) just fine, so this is clearly a manufacturing defect.

Add to that the somewhat complicated operating requirements for the control panel, and It's clear to me why some people are frustrated.

If you never plan on using the rotisserie function, the issues with it may be irrelevant, and once you adjust to the operating requirements of the control panel it is fairlystraightforward, so don't let either of these items be the deciding factor if you otherwise want a great little toaster oven with an otherwise great amount of potential.

Edit: November, 2011:  The toaster oven continues to perform perfectly.  Despite my initial misgivings regarding the button confusion we have grown acustomed to it and I have upgraded my star ratings accordingly.