If you have decided a regular toaster is not what your kitchen needs then perhaps a toaster oven will fit the bill.
By the nature of how these appliances work, perfect toast is usually not the case when making regular toasted bread products. They will produce adequate toasted bread but their capacity to cook other things is the key to the usefulness of the toaster oven.
When looking at these appliances consider just what they will do. If you plan on cooking meat in your toaster oven make sure it has a broiler option. Also if you want the oven to cook fast, then any unit you look at should use convection cooking, which will speed roasting and baking or infrared heating which will speed up toasting.
Touch pad controls are nice and a porcelain interior is an absolute necessity if you plan on using your oven to broil meats or cook items that are greasy or splatter. Ovens without the porcelain liner are extremely hard to clean splattered grease from.
Consider the general size of the oven, is it big enough to hold the items you plan on cooking?
There is no one perfect unit but there are a number of ovens that do a pretty good job baking, broiling and toasting.
Below are several brands of Toaster Ovens that are good buys and easily found in many department stores.
Kenmore model KTES8 retails around $80 is a good buy
Toastmaster TLWTOB6 is also an excellent buy at &70
DeLonghi XR640 is another unit that at $130 is one to consider. It has the porcelain interior, as well as an interior light, which lets you know when the oven is on.
There are a number of other brands on the market so research any other unit that you may be interested in. Compare options and prices.
Many ovens have very shiny surfaces which fingerprints easily. This can result in more upkeep and cleaning chores. In my house this would be a big problem, because every minute counts.
The proper Toaster Oven can be a real asset to many kitchens, it is quick, handy and can do many small cooking jobs efficiently.
