Toaster Oven Review - Buying a Cheap Toaster Oven

So I recently moved into a new apartment and I had a big space available for a full size oven. Unfortunately I didn't have the budget to buy a big oven! I had a look for an interim solution to buying an oven and found that a good option would be buying a cheap toaster oven that sits on the counter top.

These counter top ovens are usually a lot cheaper than buying a full size oven and, as long as you do not have a large family to feed, toaster ovens are ideal whether as a full-time or interim solution. In fact, even if you do have a big family they could be a great addition to your kitchen particularly if you have to cook different meals for different members of your family so you need more oven space!

Well the main difference between buying a toaster oven and having a real oven really is the size (and of course the price!). You can get different capacity toaster ovens and obviously the larger you get the more you pay. The Black & Decker Toaster Oven that I bought is a small one with a 9 litre capacity but I can easily cook a couple of pieces of fish or chicken in the oven even though it is a relatively small toaster oven.

When I was first buying the toaster oven I thought that it looked so small and flimsy that it surely wouldn't cook like a real oven so the first thing I cooked in it (a nice piece of salmon), I set the temperature slightly higher than I would normally and left it a bit longer. More fool me as the salmon was then overcooked! So next time I tried it I cooking it for the right time on the right temperature and it came out perfectly!

You can buy a cheap toaster oven from as little as $30 so there are affordable options for everyone. They are pretty compact so could be a good option if you are looking to buy an oven for your trailer or a holiday home too.

The toaster ovens work on pretty standard temperature ranges and mine goes up to 250 degrees C which is good enough to cook anything that I want to. As the oven is so small it heats up quickly and another advantage is that I can set the timer for as long as I want it to cook and it will turn itself off when the time is up.

Advantages of a Toaster Oven:

• They are cheap
• They don't take up much space
• They are quick to heat up
• They cook perfectly
• They are light and portable
• They use less electricity than a conventional oven 

Disadvantages of a Toaster Oven:

• The capacity is smaller than a normal oven