Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I read all the reviews carefully and decided to roll the dice on this little toaster oven. (I have limited counterspace so the small footprint was a factor.) So far, I’ve used it to bake frozen mozzarella sticks and egg rolls, and to reheat pizza. It performed as expected, but I did notice if the solid tray is too far forward (closer to the door), all the heat rises from the back of the oven resulting in uneven heating. The first time I baked eggrolls, the rear sides were super dark brown & the fronts were barely golden. So, the next time I baked egg rolls, I pushed the solid tray a little further back from the door so that heat from the bottom element could rise evenly around it (both front & back), and it made a huge difference in the unit’s ability to cook evenly. (Now I suspect this may have been part of the issue with some of the other reviewers who mentioned an issue with uneven heating.) I’ve also used it to bake mozzarella sticks a handful of times, and they came out great. I’ve reheated leftover pizza several times, and it was consistently perfect. I personally dislike microwaving pizza to reheat it because it makes the crust so soggy, so I’ve always done it in the oven. Usually from a cold conventional oven at 350°, it takes about 15 minutes to reheat pizza to my liking. With this little unit, it only took about 9 minutes at 350° from a cold oven to achieve the same effect. In fact, I would even say this toaster oven did a slightly better job because the crust didn’t dry out quite as much as it does in a conventional oven. Happy about that. This being my first time with a toaster oven, I did notice some things worth emphasizing… Because it’s so small and heats up much faster than a large conventional oven—and the heat is so confined in such a small space, I found all the items I used to bake or reheat in my regular oven cooked much much faster in this little toaster oven—without exception. I took nothing for granted and kept a close eye on everything the first several times I used it, making careful note that the cooking times were vastly shorter than my conventional oven. If I had set it for the same time as it used to take in my regular oven, there’s no doubt in my mind everything I made would’ve been burnt to a crisp. So, it’s worth the extra time to keep a close eye on everything the first several uses and make some tweaks in your tray and rack placement until you figure out what works. I also discovered that you can turn the wire rack upside down from its default position and insert it on the same level just above the solid tray (see photos)—and that made a perfect configuration for all my uses so far. Being a newbie to toaster ovens, I never expected the trays to automatically pop out when I opened the door, nor would I ever think about retrieving items from an oven (especially one that small) without using a heat-safe spatula, tongs, or an oven mitt. So personally I would not add those to my list of complaints like other reviewers have. *Note: Minus one star because it’s so tiny inside I’m not able to buy standard toaster oven muffin pans and such for it. I’ll have to take some careful measurements and keep an eye out for accessories that are small enough to fit, but it’s fine for what I’m using it for thus far. I haven’t tried broiling yet, but if I do—or if I experience a problem with the unit—I will come back and update this review. After about a month of regular use, I will say so far, so good.