9 out of 9 people found this review helpful.
Lousy
Date of Review: Apr 22, 2007
The Bottom Line: Poor quality for the money. Doesn't toast or bake. Poorly designed. I like my Mom's $30 unit much better, it does what it says it will do.
The convection setting cooks one side of the food much quicker, so you have to rotate pizza or whatever you're cooking frequently to prevent burning on one side and coolness on the other side -particularly annoying with pizza. The design of this unit has a circular extension in back to accommodate a regular size pizza, which is one of the reasons I bought it, though it takes up more counter space. Even though the convection fan is quite loud, for some reason it does not distribute the heat adequately.
The toaster part is awful. It always was slow, but soon the bottom elements stopped turning on and I have to turn the bread.
The oven temperature setting is inconsistent, so you never really know what temperature it is, unless you buy a thermometer. So baking is pretty much out of the question, unless you only want to bake at general settings, like low, medium or high.
It is very clumsy getting food out, as the bottom (main) tray has an automatic stop that pulls the tray out only about 2 inches, so you have to reach in to get the food with a spatula, and it sometimes falls off the back of the shelf, leaving quite a mess. This happens freqently, even though I've tried to devise ways around it. If you can pull the food out with a tongs (like breadsticks, etc.), it's ok.
The broiler does work well. The unit comes with a second shelf, has 4 rack positions, and comes with a nice broiler pan.
