Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

ADDED TO REVIEW ON 4/29/18: Some problems with the oven after a few months of use. First, the door hinge got stuck several times causing the door not to close. This issue has been reported in other Amazon reviews of this product. Next, the timer stopped working as well. I contacted Breville and they will be replacing the oven, but I am a little suspicious of quality control after now paying attention to a few negative reviews on this page. ------------------ This was not my first choice All I wanted was an air fryer. I was intrigued by the fact that there were appliances that could fry foods without the need for oil. I spent countless hours pouring over reviews of leading air fryer models. I was set on purchasing the most expensive one by Philips at nearly $300. I then read a comment somewhere that if I was going to spend $300 on an air fryer, I might as well spend an extra $100 on the Breville Smart Oven as I would essentially be getting a full-service oven with high-capacity air frying capability. I decided to take the chance on that option despite a few reviews saying that dedicated air fryer appliances did a slightly better job air frying than this particular oven. This was an expensive purchase, no doubt. However, I had an aging Toastmaster oven that was nearly 30 years old but still kickin' butt! There really was no need to replace it, but you could just imagine what a huge upgrade in modernization this Breville presented. At first, the Breville Smart Oven seems intimidating. There is an elaborate selection screen and lots of dials and buttons. However, just experimenting for several minutes, I was able to quickly figure out the basics. The oven already has temperature and time presets for just about any cooking need you may have. From that point, the dials simply alter heating temperatures and cooking times. Here are some things you should be aware of.... There is a design flaw in this oven that puts one at a huge disadvantage if placed on a higher shelf, which I initially did, above my microwave. The door opens top to bottom. This puts a huge strain on anyone placing and removing food from the oven as the door blocks arm movement. It would have been a far better choice for Breville to make a door that swings open from the side. Additionally, if placed on a higher shelf, you cannot read the menu screen. I have read many complaints in Amazon reviews that the screen is unreadable. It is unreadable if placed on a shelf. If you place it on a counter at eye level or below, there is no issue reading the screen. So, the big point here is that you should plan to place this on a counter, not a shelf. The oven works very well in all the cooking tests I put it through. One of the things I am not fond of is that everything starts with a preheat. However, once the preheat is done (and you will get several beeps indicating such), the cooking time begins counting down. This is a pain-in-the-neck because it takes about a minute to grab your food and place it in the oven. At that point, you have to turn the dial back to the proper cooking time that the oven initially sets for you. The best thing Breville could have done is to "freeze" the cooking time once preheat is done and then let the user push the button again to start the actual cooking countdown. So, let me talk about the essential aspect of this oven which is its air frying capability.... The Breville includes a large air frying tray that allows air to circulate through its screen door design. It allows an ample amount of french fries to be placed on it. The best advice I can give is to ignore the instructions given on the package of french fries. Use the actual recommended time that Breville programs into its Air Fryer menu selection. You really want to cook it at a slightly lower temperature for a longer period of time. Breville does an excellent job with its preset temperature and time. I tried air frying both Nathans french fries and Orida Tater Tots. The french fries came out very good -- crisp on the outside and tender on the inside. However, something about it just didn't scream "fried" to me. At best, the results were slightly better than just baking it in the oven. They really tasted more like baked fries rather than those fried in oil. The Tater Tots came out better. Those were really crisp on the outside and comparable to those I would cook in a pan with a little bit of oil. I think, overall, the problem with the Breville air fryer function is that you are frying without oil. That can be a good thing, but at the same time, you aren't getting that flavor which oil provides. If you actually fried french fries in oil and placed them in a blind taste next to the air fryer version, I would bet anyone would instantly pick the fried version as the better tasting product. I haven't been able to compare the Breville to one of the dedicated Air Fryer appliances, and perhaps they really do a more phenomenal job. The best I can say is that the Breville does a great job at coming close to producing actual fried results, but it won't pass a blind test against the real thing. Another issue I have is the lack of support from Breville themselves. Before purchasing this oven, I wrote their customer support an email asking how much distance this oven needed to be placed from the back wall. Breville never answered me. That is a bit concerning when this is customer support you may need to rely on should something go wrong with this oven. To answer my question, there are nubs on the back of the oven that gives you proper back wall placement. People have complained that the oven does smoke. I have experienced this with every item I have cooked. For me, it's no big deal. As long as the oven is working as expected, I don't care if it gives off a small amount of smoke. I would recommend purchasing and placing baking matts in the bottom grill tray as it can be a chore cleaning without it. You can purchase these matts for dirt cheap on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06XKJDYL1/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o05_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1 Overall, this is a terrific oven, though with some really bad design choices that force one to not be able to mount it on a higher shelf. Please do take note of this when considering a purchase.