Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Breville Smart Oven Air This week I’ve been testing the new Breville Smart Oven Air. It has exceeded my expectations in every way and so far I absolutely love it. Not only does this oven look great on the counter, it doesn’t take up too much space, and the versatility of this oven is amazing. And the new industrial design is timeless and will fit in with any style. A true oven, I think people who bought the slightly smaller Smart Oven Pro like I did, found that it can actually replace their large oven for cooking a lot of items. This is really a true oven that can cook anything that your main oven can, even a 14lb turkey, but with more efficiency. The interior of this oven is huge, measuring 16 inches wide by 12 inches deep, and 7 inches high, giving you more room for tall loafs of bread or cooking roasts without grazing the top elements. There’s one extra element on top, making 6 quartz elements in total. The 8 rack positions offer a range of heights for cooking a variety of different sized foods, and will easily fit a large dutch oven. The range of functions on this model makes it much more versatile than the Smart Oven Pro, now with 13 different modes. In addition to the 10 modes found on the Pro, the Air adds nifty features such as a proofing mode, giving you a proper way to rise dough for perfect baking results. They’ve also added a dehydration feature, letting you dehydrate a variety of foods such as fruit snacks or beef jerky, and lets you dehydrate up to four trays at a time. The new Super Convection mode boosts the fan speed enabling crisper results and faster cooking speed than ever before, and I’ve had nothing but good results so far. Most interesting is the Air Frying mode. Not only does this eliminate the need for a separate appliance, this is a great way to cook frozen snack foods like fries and onion rings, evenly browning and crisping perfectly. Baking in this oven is precise and yields consistent results. Cookies came out evenly browned all around. I roasted a chicken that came out amazing, using the new phase cook feature. Phase Cook allows you to set two back-to-back cooking functions, so you can for example quickly crisp and brown the outside of a roast and automatically switch to a lower, slower cooking method for the remainder of the time. This is one of my favourite features, and makes it possible to achieve incredible results with little effort. Also new, is a Rotate reminder, that alerts you half way through to turn the pan around for the best most even results. I really found that helpful, especially for times when I’m using two racks at once. With all the baking and roasting this oven does, it’s easy to forget that it also functions as a 9 slice toaster! This oven puts heat exactly where it’s needed, providing the most even toasting I’ve seen. Bagels were browned on top while the bottoms remained soft and lightly toasted. And if you just finished toasting a bagel or making toast and the oven is still hot, the it’s smart enough to adjust the cooking time if you want to make more, so your toast is always the same colour whether you start with a cold or hot oven. A bagel took about 6 minutes with a cold oven, and when I wanted to toast another it took just over 3 minutes. This oven does take slightly longer to toast than the smart oven pro, but only about a minute longer. Some of the negative reviews for the Smart Oven Pro were regarding the control panel failing… so they’ve added a cooling fan inside the Air’s control panel to keep the sensitive electronics safe from overheating and prolonging the life of the oven, and they’ve upped the warranty to two years instead of one. Although the fan is annoying, if it helps keep the oven working longer, I can live with it. In our house, this oven gets used several times per day and it never let us down. But I could go on forever about this oven, so I’ll just list the things I liked and disliked the most. Things I liked most about this oven: -Light comes on when you open the door -Timer pauses when door is opened -Beeping sound level is adjustable and can be silenced completely -Seal on door wraps all around to keep more heat in, increasing efficiency -Oven Door stays open 1 to 4 inches without the need to prop it open -the thick, high-quality racks -Broiling feature works better than the Pro -Auto-eject for the toast and air fry levels -New magnetic rack-puller design -New fan design moves more air -Big, bright display is easy to read and interpret -2 racks instead of one -fits a 11lb roast turkey comfortably and gives amazing results -Bakes two pies at once or two sheets of cookies, and reminds you to rotate half way -Heats to within 10 degrees of set temperature -Proofing feature is a huge convenience -Phase Cook for combining two cooking cycles into one Dislikes -Convection Fan is incredibly loud especially in super mode -Front panel fan is loud and comes on any time the oven is activated, even in toast mode where the fan isn't really necessary. -I wish oven light would stay on until I turn it off -Takes longer to reach temperature, 20 minutes to reach 400F -No recipe book - I wish there was a book of recipes designed for this specific oven that take advantage of the Phase Cook feature , dehydration and other features -Rack edges rub on the glass in the 3rd or 4th rack position when opening and closing the door -Oven Size may be a bit large for smaller tasks Who’s it for? I think this oven is for serious cooking, a bit overkill for a college student for example. It is really a real oven that can be used as a toaster oven. If you think you will need a second oven at times, this is a great option. Actually, this oven would make the ultimate wedding gift for newlyweds. Recommended? Yes! Although slightly on the pricey side, if you’re looking for a countertop oven that can replace your range and can double as a toaster, the versatility, the convenience and features of this model will exceed your expectations as it did mine. With all the performance and capability of a large range oven, you’ll absolutely love the top-of-the-line smart oven Air. Did you find this review helpful? Vote yes down below!