I need a new non-exploding toaster oven
November 7, 2021 12:42 PM Subscribe
I need a new toaster oven, but I keep finding reviews of toaster ovens where the glass door has exploded, or they have dubious eye safety issues (flash xpress). What is the toaster oven of my dreams?
I need my future toaster oven to fit these criteria:
-Non exploding
-Non infrared (i.e. no quartz elements)
-Metal heating element
-Fits four rectangular bread slices (like Pepperidge Farm or Arnold)
-Removable crumb tray
When I last shopped for toaster ovens over a decade ago almost all toaster ovens had these criteria. Now, explosive glass and/or eye-damaging infrared with quartz elements that explode when they get oil on them seem to be the only options. Whether it's the glass or heating elements, I would like to avoid kitchen explosions and searing my family's eyes (which I've read could be a problem with infrared).
Simple is fine, as long as it can toast and bake up to 450.
I need my future toaster oven to fit these criteria:
-Non exploding
-Non infrared (i.e. no quartz elements)
-Metal heating element
-Fits four rectangular bread slices (like Pepperidge Farm or Arnold)
-Removable crumb tray
When I last shopped for toaster ovens over a decade ago almost all toaster ovens had these criteria. Now, explosive glass and/or eye-damaging infrared with quartz elements that explode when they get oil on them seem to be the only options. Whether it's the glass or heating elements, I would like to avoid kitchen explosions and searing my family's eyes (which I've read could be a problem with infrared).
Simple is fine, as long as it can toast and bake up to 450.
(Tangent, you may want to read this older question. The infrared energy coming off a toaster oven cannot possibly damage your eyes in any kind of reasonable timeframe unless they are literally using lasers. The Panasonic warning is along the same lines as California Prop65 warnings -- which, incidentally, your toaster oven will also have, noting that if you bake things you may produce acrylamides which are known to the state of California to cause cancer. This is why the bakery near me has a Prop65 warning on the front door. Because they bake things. Roasted asparagus should also, technically, carry a Prop65 warning. Also coffee. And prune juice.)
posted by aramaic at 1:04 PM on November 7, 2021 [6 favorites]
posted by aramaic at 1:04 PM on November 7, 2021 [6 favorites]
In case you're not already a reader, the NY Times subsite Wirecutter does reviews of exactly this type of thing, and IMO they do them fairly well: The Best Toaster Oven.
posted by tiamat at 1:04 PM on November 7, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by tiamat at 1:04 PM on November 7, 2021 [1 favorite]
We have had a Breville Smart Oven for many years (it's reviewed in that Wirecutter article). It's a nice appliance, and we do a lot more cooking with it than with our full-size gas oven.
The only problem is that the first one we bought died rather abruptly, for no discernible reason, after a few years (it was out of warranty at that point). It was a peaceful death, tho -- no explosion! It just... stopped heating one day.
I vainly attempted to repair it following online guidance, but couldn't get it working. We ended up just buying another of the same model. So far, so good.
posted by Artifice_Eternity at 1:50 PM on November 7, 2021 [1 favorite]
The only problem is that the first one we bought died rather abruptly, for no discernible reason, after a few years (it was out of warranty at that point). It was a peaceful death, tho -- no explosion! It just... stopped heating one day.
I vainly attempted to repair it following online guidance, but couldn't get it working. We ended up just buying another of the same model. So far, so good.
posted by Artifice_Eternity at 1:50 PM on November 7, 2021 [1 favorite]
> -Non exploding
Every toaster oven has a glass front. That glass front is tempered glass. That tempered glass has a tiny, non-zero chance of 'exploding', spontaneously shattering into hundreds of fairly safe little blocks, in a way that has an extremely low chance of hurting you. (With normal glass, which isn't available, it'd be unsafe shards.)
Unless there's some brand that does a crap job of it, it's basically random, and there's no way to avoid it.
I mean, your existing kitchen oven's glass has that same .0001% chance of spontaneously shattering, and you've been fine all this time.
Just get one with a good timer. Unlike the one I've got.
----------------------
That's toaster ovens.
I've never used one, but there's a commercial kitchen thing called a 'salamander', basically a stand-alone broiler. "Other names for a salamander are an overhead broiler, finishing oven, or hotel broiler"
defn, defn 2, random opinining, crappy example which is filed in amazon's " Industrial & Scientific › Food Service Equipment & Supplies › Restaurant Appliances & Equipment › Commercial Cooking Equipment › Commercial Broilers" section.
posted by sebastienbailard at 3:17 PM on November 7, 2021 [1 favorite]
Every toaster oven has a glass front. That glass front is tempered glass. That tempered glass has a tiny, non-zero chance of 'exploding', spontaneously shattering into hundreds of fairly safe little blocks, in a way that has an extremely low chance of hurting you. (With normal glass, which isn't available, it'd be unsafe shards.)
Unless there's some brand that does a crap job of it, it's basically random, and there's no way to avoid it.
I mean, your existing kitchen oven's glass has that same .0001% chance of spontaneously shattering, and you've been fine all this time.
Just get one with a good timer. Unlike the one I've got.
----------------------
That's toaster ovens.
I've never used one, but there's a commercial kitchen thing called a 'salamander', basically a stand-alone broiler. "Other names for a salamander are an overhead broiler, finishing oven, or hotel broiler"
defn, defn 2, random opinining, crappy example which is filed in amazon's " Industrial & Scientific › Food Service Equipment & Supplies › Restaurant Appliances & Equipment › Commercial Cooking Equipment › Commercial Broilers" section.
posted by sebastienbailard at 3:17 PM on November 7, 2021 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Please remember to answer the question rather than trying to emphasize that the multiple photo reviews I've seen with shattered toaster glass just don't exist.
posted by Luminiferous Ether at 4:01 PM on November 7, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by Luminiferous Ether at 4:01 PM on November 7, 2021 [1 favorite]
Best answer: We have been using this Hamilton Beach toaster oven which fulfills all of your criteria, with one big bonus: the interior does NOT have a non-stick coating, which can be toxic at high temperatures. It’s quite difficult to find a toaster oven without that needless junk coating, which, if you have pet birds, can be fatal!
This oven has been on our counter for about two months, I guess. My main criterion was that it be available in red. (Oh, yeah; I’m a real gourmand.) It has some negatives: the (non-quartz) heating elements aren’t covered in any way, and there are only two rack positons. Also, I wish it had an internal light. But it’s red!
We bought it directly through the Hamilton Beach website so as not to give RocketMan money.
posted by BostonTerrier at 4:50 PM on November 7, 2021 [2 favorites]
This oven has been on our counter for about two months, I guess. My main criterion was that it be available in red. (Oh, yeah; I’m a real gourmand.) It has some negatives: the (non-quartz) heating elements aren’t covered in any way, and there are only two rack positons. Also, I wish it had an internal light. But it’s red!
We bought it directly through the Hamilton Beach website so as not to give RocketMan money.
posted by BostonTerrier at 4:50 PM on November 7, 2021 [2 favorites]
We have a Bleck & Decker Toast'R'Oven. It's probably the cheapest option. It does make good toast, but only 2 slices at a time. We don't trust the timer, and we don't use it as an oven very often.
The useful thing that I came in to say is that my daughter had a countertop oven/toaster that was a good oven but a bad toaster, the reverse of our situation. Check reviews to be select the models that handle both tasks well.
posted by SemiSalt at 6:10 PM on November 7, 2021
The useful thing that I came in to say is that my daughter had a countertop oven/toaster that was a good oven but a bad toaster, the reverse of our situation. Check reviews to be select the models that handle both tasks well.
posted by SemiSalt at 6:10 PM on November 7, 2021
I'm adding another vote for the Breville Smart Oven. It meets all of your criteria. I've had mine for years and love it.
posted by mezzanayne at 8:23 PM on November 7, 2021
posted by mezzanayne at 8:23 PM on November 7, 2021
Unfortunately, the Breville Smart Oven is the one that the OP showed pictures of with shattered glass. I don't know if that oven has a preponderance of issues with the glass, but any toaster oven will have tempered glass in its door.
My only suggestion is that to avoid the glass issue you are worried about, you somehow have to prevent the glass from getting thermally shocked, and one way that might work is line the glass on the inside with layers of foil. How to securely attach foil in an oven is another issue - maybe metal clips or some sort of high-temp epoxy like JB Weld. Or just fold some foil over the door and use the pressure of the closed door to keep the foil in place.
posted by ShooBoo at 6:24 AM on November 8, 2021 [1 favorite]
My only suggestion is that to avoid the glass issue you are worried about, you somehow have to prevent the glass from getting thermally shocked, and one way that might work is line the glass on the inside with layers of foil. How to securely attach foil in an oven is another issue - maybe metal clips or some sort of high-temp epoxy like JB Weld. Or just fold some foil over the door and use the pressure of the closed door to keep the foil in place.
posted by ShooBoo at 6:24 AM on November 8, 2021 [1 favorite]
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posted by jonathanhughes at 1:03 PM on November 7, 2021