Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

We used to have a Cuisinart toaster over with digital controls that we got for our wedding. That unit was $150 or so brand new, so after 6 years of frequent use, the panel wore out on it. We absolutely loved that unit and used it several times a week for everything from chicken and potatoes to cookies. We were looking to get a more cost effective replacement unit, so we got this Black and Decker unit. Big, big mistake. At about half the cost, it's trash. Now that I've had it, I can't wait to get rid of it and wouldn't take it if it was free as a gift. Some notable problems: 1)The entire unit, including parts of the door handle get extremely hot and poses an extreme burn hazard for adults, and especially children. It's a countertop unit. The likelihood that you'll accidentally brush up against it, put your hand on it, or put something else on it that could get hot, then grab that item, not thinking.... It's not worth the safety risk!! 2)The unit has the most annoying shrill beep with every button press that can not be turned off. If your kitchen is anywhere near sleeping quarters, be prepared to wake people up who are still asleep. 3)The buttons are hard to press, so setting the temperature requires repeated button presses to achieve the right number. And you can't easily keep the buttons pressed down to keep it going up/down (you can, but it's not easy), so pressing them over and over again creates the shrill beep over and over and over again with every button press. 4)The numbers on the display are hard to read, except in the brightest lighting, so you have to lean in close to see what temperature you are setting and what timer time is set. 5)The timer has to be used and is not optional. If you don't set it, it automatically sets itself to 30 minutes. Why 30? Most things we cook in this little over, like fries, chicken strips, cookies, all range in the 10-15 minutes on average. So there is never a time where 30 minutes is appropriate. Once the timer is done counting down to zero (from whatever time you set to), it automatically shuts off the oven too. So this feature doesn't work very well for scenarios where I need to set the timer for X minutes first, then turn the food or add something to it and then continue cooking it for another Y minutes. In these cases I either have to set a separate second timer to remind me to do the middle step, or use the oven's timer and then restart the oven by resetting the temperature all over again, waiting for it to preheat to full temperature, and then reset the timer. 6)You can't start the timer until the over preheated to the full preset temperature. Sometimes if I set it to 450F and I see it's at 420 already, I want to throw in the food and start the timer, but I can't. I have to stand there and wait because the control panel locks out anything but cancel/off until it is preheated. Some good things about the unit: - it is slightly larger than the Cuisinart we had previously, with a little half-round indentation in the back wall that allows smaller frozen pizzas to fit into it. - looks nice (but looking nice doesn't matter if it doesn't function nicely - see above) - affordable price Bottom line: don't waste your money. Spend a little more and get something safer for the whole family, which is easier to use and doesn't make you frustrated at what should be some of the most simple tasks.