Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I have owned 3 previous models of Black and Decker's SpaceSaver oven, each has lasted 10 years with intense use, and been sorry to see them pack in. This is my 4th spacesaver one, and the 4th model I've lived with. I hate to have to say it, but this model is a huge step background from the previous 3 models. I hope that for the 5th model, they will go back to the previous designs. If you owned one of the previous models, I'd advise you to hunt for a used one on ebay or something. Here are the problems: - the rack is way too high up and therefore too close to the top heating bar; it never used to be, who on earth thought this would be a good idea? It burns nearly everything it bakes now. Attached is a photo of two breakfast croissants gently heated at 250 F for 4 minutes - ruined. - we used to bake potatoes in this rather than firing up the big oven but some malevolent soul at Black and Decker decided too many people were baking potatoes in it, apparently, and so, raised that rack so you can't really fit a potato in there anymore. - the "all done" beep is so faint you have to have your ear pressed next to the glass door to hear it. What on earth was wrong with the very loud ding it used to make, surely there weren't people complaining about that? - if you leave it plugged in, it uses more electricity than the previous models did because it will run the constant display. I can't imagine anyone was asking for yet another slow drain sucking on their electricity bills. - the dial controls were easy at a glance to understand. Turn dial, press GO button. This new digital interface is so complex that it requires reaching for the manual each time. You don't end up memorizing it because each step is so different from the others and so complex for what something your mind tells you should be a no brainer - the buttons are confusing and not intuitive at all. - interface guidance (writing etc) on the previous models was bold and clear. For this model, you need several blaring search lights pointed at it to try to make it all out. - new interface requires 3 or 4 (or 5) clicks for what used to be a "2 click" operation at most. It's like, I just wanted to heat up a slice of leftover pizza, not send it into orbit. - why is the oven time limit 30 minutes now, for pete's sake? The previous models had a dial that was capable of 60 minutes; this is progress? - once you had the setting you liked set for toast on the previous models, it stayed there. It was a slider bar, independent of electricity. To make toast, you put bread in, closed the door, pressed go. Now, it's 5 or 6 complicated steps for a piece of toast (if you don't like the default setting it always reverts to) so you better make sure you've had a coffee first and started to wake up - the display is very, very hard to read - heats unevenly - the previous models were actually useful as mini ovens to actually cook in, this one is not because of the malevolent pixies that played with the design in the workshop - I wasn't thrilled that owing to the different size, we had to install an all new mounting mechanism. I suspect loyal, repeat customers who'd been through the misery of installing the mounting mechanism would have just appreciated a replacement model that would have glided right in, and you're done. Why oh why did you decide that making loyal repeat customers go through the mounting misery all over again was a good idea? - does not come with a baking tray. Thankfully we had the foresight to hang on the previous baking tray. - does not come with a pull out crumb tray, only one that drops down on a back hinge dumping the contents all over the counter Black and Decker, this iteration of your space saver oven is a lemon; it's the Windows Millennium and Windows Vista of this product line, a dud. For the next iteration, I hope you are racing back to the previous features -- dials are fine! they work and retain settings when electricity goes off. You don't need to hunt for a manual. AND they are more green friendly as they are not wasting electricity for an LCD display that frankly no one can really see anyway. What I should have done, in hindsight, was put this money instead towards getting version 3 repaired. Sigh.