Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I’m not of the culinary inclination, but the economy has led me gently down the path of less restaurant dining, and more home cooking. When my niece, who has worked in fine restaurants for years, mentioned that she hardly uses her standard oven any more since getting a countertop convection oven, I decided to try it. The initial impediments were frustrating. Right out of the box, you need to check the unit carefully – there was a strip of packing tape on the underside of the oven, for no apparent reason. You also need to wash the two racks and the tray. And it is BIG. (Did I mention that it’s big? From the description, I thought I would be getting a toaster oven, but this unit is bigger than my microwave.) And then, the cord! Sheesh, the cord! If you have the outlet on the right-hand side of the unit, you’ll be OK, but if your outlet has the misfortune of being on the left side of the unit, the cord will extend only a couple of inches past the unit itself. The manual says the short cord is on purpose – “a short power-supply cord is provided to reduce the risk resulting from becoming entangled in or tripping over a longer cord” – guys, the unit is 21” wide, and the cord is only 26” long. Unless you have it on the counter but are plugging it in at the FLOOR, you are NOT going to trip over this ridiculously short cord. So, while most of us will need an extension cord, the manual gives only generic instructions about using “properly rated” extension cords. After irritated inquiries and digging around, I was able to determine that one needs an extension cord that can handle 1500 watts. (Now you know everything electrical that I know.) We ended up using a power strip that my husband had lying around. Finally, after washing everything, removing the cardboard inserts and random tape, and finding a proper extension cord, the next night I was finally ready to cook something. I used the “convection” setting to cook a pork roast and red potatoes in a “V” rack over the tray. I rubbed the roast with a spice mix, baked it, then drizzled with a sweet sauce for the finish. Payoff! I hadn’t browned the pork roast, but it came out like a pre-seasoned ham (as I said, I’m no great cook). The next night, I used the tray to bake breaded fish. Suddenly, I see what my niece meant. Why heat up the whole kitchen with gas heat, when this efficient unit can bake and broil through the miracle of electricity? There’s no number keypad, so the “bake” and “timer” functions start with presets (350º and 30 minutes, respectively), and you use an arrow key to increase or reduce the temperature and time. In fact, to “preheat,” you just heat the unit for 7 minutes; however, this is not a huge annoyance for an affordable unit such as this. There’s no inside light, but on the countertop, it wasn't difficult to check the progress of the meal. So, all that griping aside, I’m happy with my first foray into convection-oven cooking.