Enjoy cooking entire meals for your family in this 6-slice counter top convection oven that can hold a 12-inch pizza. The stainless steel oven features a digital display with soft touch buttons, electronic toast controls for consistent toasting, power indicator, 120 minute auto-off bake timer, non-stick interior and slide-out crumb tray for easy cleaning. The maximum bake temperature of 450 degrees accommodates a wide variety of foods and the oven rack can be mounted in two positions.
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Buy Black & Decker CTO6301 6-Slice Convection Toast-R-Oven, Stainless Steel at Amazon
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April 30th, 2010 at 5:48 am
After my horrible experiences with the Black & Decker TRO700S 4-Slice Toast-R-Oven, Stainless Steel, I swore I wouldn’t buy another Black & Decker toaster oven. But when I was checking out several toaster ovens at Bed Bath & Beyond, low and behold there was this particular model available. Compared to the other models around, this one had the best combination of features and size for the price. The Krups convection oven felt cheaply made, unwarranted for the price. The other oven I considered, a Kitchen Aid convection oven, was very well made and looked great, except it did not have a convection feature and the elements were poorly exposed. I wanted to check out the Sanyo SK-VF7S Digital Convection Oven, Stainless Steel Finish that has been getting great reviews, but unfortunately this store didn’t carry it. So, I decided to take a chance on “fool me thrice, shame on me”. At least I could take it back to the local store if it didn’t work out.
This Black & Decker oven is much better made than the TRO700S. It’s also a bit bigger and has more solid feeling controls. It’s also digital, so you don’t have an annoying ticking sound while cooking. It also seems more robust than the Sanyo, potentially delivering more value for the money.
The Good: Excellent design, versatile tray system, non-stick inner surface, decent crumb guards over the heating elements, great capacity (it’ll even accommodate a 12″ pizza), wide viewing area, and even cooking. There are a lot of nice functions, including “bagel”–the bottom heats at half the top temperature, so it doesn’t crisp the bottom of the bagel too much (nice). The exterior does get hot, like most toaster ovens, and its even worse with a brushed steel surface; however, the right side (where the convection fan is located) tends not to get scalding hot. The BROIL mode works well, despite not having the convection feature functioning. And although the toasting function takes long to work, it does brown the toast evenly.
The Not-so-good: The digital controls are confusing and take some time to figure out. The directions are OK, not great–but you definitely need to read them. The display does not have a clock, as one usually finds on digital appliances, but this is OK–once you realize it. The unit beeps at you when you select a cooking function, and it’s rather loud. The convection feature only works in BAKE mode, not BROIL–I found this strange and disappointing. When you use it, there is no count-down indication of toasting progress (unlike with timed cooking/baking); you just have to trust that it will stop at the right time. Lastly, this product is designed more as an oven than a toaster–a single piece of toast takes about 50% longer to toast than in a conventional toaster. However, the workaround is to move the shelf to the upper position and then just flip the toast once it has browned on one side. Only a minor inconvenience. Also, there is no backlight to the LCD display, so if you’re cooking at night in low light it’s a little difficult to see the display details.
Overall, I give this unit a thumbs up… for now. I trust that since I didn’t find any initial defects, it should operate well going forward. It is not a perfect oven, but then it seems NO company out there is bothering to perfect the convection/toaster oven. Sometimes I think I should go into product design, as I see so many flaws that can be easily avoided. Anyway, you won’t go wrong getting this oven. :-)
NOTE: I really recommend seeing a toaster oven in person before buying it. This way you can get a sense of how it looks, feels, and operates. It’s that tangible experience you just can’t get on-line. Also, you can save more buying it in person (I paid $67 with tax, at BB&B with a 20% off coupon). However, if you aren’t able to get to a store that has the appliances you’re interested in, then you have to rely on what you see on-line. I hope my review helps you in your decision.
April 30th, 2010 at 7:59 am
Replaces a similar four year old Black & Decker: Just fits Calphalon 9×13 cake pan - straight up sides, no lip or hand grip! The interior is deeper by 1+ inch and slightly taller (~6in.to element) than old - I think it’s great. It’s 1500 watts (1200 watt, not enough for me) with digital heat setting and timer; my first test 430 deg. 60 min. If using bake settings, adjust time & temp, then turn on convection. The heating elements are quick and responsive; 2 top and 2 bottom can run simultaneously (bake) and with convection, this thing cooks! Typical meals; pizza, chicken (10 lb, 1-cut @ backbone-lay flat in pan), fish etc., never tried toast. Why not 5 stars? Digital controls require coordination and decent eyesight (also must read instructions) - so not for very young or old. Also requires experimentation to get right i.e timer only begins when initial temperature setting achieved. Surfaces hot: front door is one layer glass (hot!). Warm/hot surfaces are not unusual in this category - for me it’s not a problem. For $100 or less, there are not many 1500-watt convection ovens that can fit 13×9″ pans (remember no lip grip!), even if just barely. If you have the counter space, OK with digital controls, read instructions, don’t mind adapting and experimenting, no issues with very young or old, it may be just what you need. I am very happy with my purchase of this convection oven.