Customer Reviews

Black & Decker TO1006SC Convection Countertop Oven with Dual-Position Rack Slots

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Baking:
Preheat the oven for 8-10 minutes before baking. This oven bakes using convection only which uses an internal fan to distribute heat evenly. (I don't find the fan noisy) I was expecting this convection oven to bake faster than a regular oven. However, the instruction manual states it's not necessary to alter the recipe's baking time, but check the food being cooked at the minimum time to prevent overcooking. Both casseroles I baked were finished at the minimum time. Both were evenly baked & both were delicious too. The inside baking area measures exactly 13" (length); of course, it's wide enough for a 12" pizza. My 9x13 pans don't fit because of either the handles, or the rolled edges. Be sure the baking dish or food does not come within 1 1/2" of the top heating elements. The included bake/broil pan can also be used for baking.

Toasting:
I'm a toast lover...yep, I have toast almost every day. You're instructed to set the darkness level at medium the first time & then adjust it the next time, lighter or darker to your preference. The first time my toast was too dark. The next time I thought it was a little dry. It's going to take more experimenting for me to get the perfect piece of toast. Right now, I think using a toaster is easier. I'll use this toaster over when I need to make 3 - 6 slices of toast at a time. This toaster oven will toast one side of a bagel & warm the other side, my bagel was toasted perfectly. There's a crumb tray that fits under the bottom heating elements. The slide-out, removable tray catches the crumbs & is easy to remove & empty when the oven is cool. It also makes cleaning the oven much easier.

Broiling:
I love broiled food...but I hate cleaning up the mess that broiling usually makes so I won't be broiling anything.

Keep Warm:
This will come in handy. This feature will keep already cooked foods warm for short periods of time.

Cookware:
Metal, ovenproof glass & ceramic bake ware without lids can be used. If a lid is needed, cover the food with aluminum foil.

This oven has a 60 minute timer with the option of turning the oven off when cooking is finished or a stay-on feature for longer baking times or monitoring the baking yourself. Included is one rack which has 2 slide rack positions (the rack can be inverted for 2 additional positions), a slide-out crumb tray, and a broil/bake pan which can be slid under the rack when necessary; it can also be used for baking & broiling. The oven gets very hot & takes a while to cool down. You will want to be very careful while it's in use until it cools down. I've been experimenting with different ideas to alert my family when it's cooling down...right now, I leave the door open; I'm thinking about throwing a heavy towel over it. A blue light indicates when it's in use.

This oven gets hot when in use, always use oven mitts or potholders when touching any outer or inner surface; turn each knob off as instructed in the manual & unplug the oven when it's not in use.

I will continue to update my review with any new findings.

UPDATE:
I didn't want to heat my oven to bake fries so I decided to try using the toaster oven for 4 servings of sweet potato fries. 3 servings will fit fine, but 4 is stretching it. I decided to use the rack with the bake/broil pan under it. I put most of the fries in a single layer on the rack. I decided to leave the ones on the baking pan that fell through the rack. Then I got another idea and started leaning some of the fries. I stood them up (the fries stood on the pan, & leaned on a rack). So I had a few fries in the baking pan, these are the ones that fell through, fries on the rack and fries standing on the baking pan & leaning on a rack. I was able to bake 4 servings of fries this way. I think I could've baked 5 servings using this method. The fries turned out perfectly & were crispy on the outside.

UPDATE: I've been using this toaster oven 4 1/2 months now & noticed that some items seem to be taking longer to bake. I put an oven thermometer inside to check the temperature & was surprised how quickly the preheated temp goes down when I add the food. It takes a long time for the temp to get back up to the original setting. When it's taking too long for the temperature to rise back to the original setting of 350 or 375, I set it for 400 or 450 and keep an eye on the food. In some cases my casseroles, etc, are taking much longer to finish. I still like this oven. For now, I won't change my original rating. I plan on contacting Black & Decker's customer service to ask a few questions. Also, I'm finding it much easier to use a separate timer.

UPDATE: I called Black & Decker to report the temperature problem. I was told that it's not normal for the oven to take 20-30 minutes to get back up to temp. I was asked if it only happened while using 'bake'. I always use bake so I couldn't answer. They will replace the oven for me. I will send them the plug (it has to be cut off), a check for $7.50 for shipping & handling & a note explaining the problem I experienced. I had a good customer service experience.

I spent A LOT of time searching for a toaster/convection oven that would toast, bake, and did NOT have non-stick interior. There are very few models that don't have the non-stick. I ended up having to call Black & Decker and get transferred around a bit in order to find out if it had the non-stick or not, because it didn't say anywhere. The research department ended up calling me back and informing me that B&D has done away with non-stick interiors in their toaster/convection ovens! YAY! We have been using this for a couple weeks now and LOVE it. We haven't touched our microwave since getting it. What we love about it:

- Stainless steel interior & exterior (no non-stick coating)
- Comes with drip tray for broiling, and easily removable crumb tray (removes from the front)
- Simple bell when timer is up (I have heard of models making horrible long buzzing - not this one)
- I love that it is knobs instead of digital - it's faster and easier to use
- Very self-explanatory use
- We ran it for 20 minutes after getting it set-up per instructions and there was no smoke or odor
- Roomy interior can hold a lot
- Not a large footprint on our counter - smaller than our microwave!
- Comes with a booklet that has information on cooking times/temps (which is great if you are new to convection ovens)

Overall, we are thrilled with our purchase and have recommended it to many others. Even though there is no interior light, we have never had a problem seeing what's inside. This is probably the most inexpensive convection oven you can get without the non-stick interior, but it does a great job.

UPDATE: Just toasted some bread for the first time. It toasted evenly on both sides, and I was able to see the shade through the door. Tips for toasting: 1. Put rack in lower position to be more centered between heating elements 2. Don't have the broiling pan in the oven or the bottom won't toast 3. Place bread centrally on rack for even toasting

UPDATE 2: We have been using this convection oven for almost 3 months now. We sold our microwave and use this all the time! We have reheated pizza, stews, pasta, veggies; toasted bagels and bread; baked chicken, tater tots, and Morningstar ribs; broiled the most amazing garlic bread last night! We have had no issues whatsoever and we use it at least twice a day everyday for multiple purposes. We heat most things using pyrex and have not had an issue with the pyrex when using it in the convection oven. We can fit enough containers to re-heat 2 meals, a side, and a small meal for our toddler all at the same time. I hope this continues to perform so well for a long time to come...so far, so good!

I really like this B&D convection toaster oven. First of all, it feels & appears to be fairly well-made. The knobs have that "quality" feel when turning them, rather than feeling like they are going to break off in your hand. Second, it is attractive in our kitchen. Third, thanks to its convection baking, it bakes my "biscuits from a can" perfectly! This was a big problem with my 20 year old, no-name toaster oven that was not convection. It did a horrible job baking - in fact, I no longer used it to bake; only to toast sliced bread or bagels or to broil. This oven, on the other hand, evenly bakes my biscuits beautifully. It toasts sliced bread, bagels & English muffins very capably, too, but, like pretty much any toaster oven, it is slower to get them all nice & toasty compared to a slot-loading toaster, because of the increased distance from the heat coil. Broiling works well, too.

I only have two faults with this toaster oven (hence my rating of 4 instead of 5 stars). One, the back of the oven (which is curved due to the curved interior that accommodates a pizza) gets VERY HOT when the oven is in use. Like, burn your fingers hot. There is a 1" long rubber "bumper" sticking out of the back at the peak of the curve to keep it away from a wall. We have ours on a little hightop table / wine rack that sits against a wallpapered wall, and the 1" of clearance is sufficient to prevent damage to the wall (sa far), but it seems to me the manufacturer could have insulated the back a little bit to keep it from getting so sizzling hot. Since we have it in an out of the way place such that we do not have to move it around on a countertop & potentially burn ourselves, it is not a big issue for us. Just be careful!

Second, at this oven's mid-range price, I expected it to come with a decent baking pan w/ a matching broiling rack (like many other toaster ovens), maybe even a pizza pan as well, but it didn't. All it came with was a flimsy aluminum pan (w/ no matching broiling rack to fit on top of it) that I suppose is intended to be multi-purpose. You can bake on it (it is about 1" deep) on top of the oven's rack, and that works fine. And, based on the fact that this flimsy pan slides into a pair of wire holders under the oven's rack, I suppose the manufacturer intends for the user to broil items directly on the oven's wire middle rack, using this pan hanging underneath to catch the grease drippings. Sorry, but I didn't want to get the oven rack itself dirty & have to clean it (or have it smoke the next time I used the oven), so I purchased a nice, 10" x 10" enameled broiling pan & rack (they fit in this oven easily) elsewhere & use it in lieu of the flimsy aluminum pan that came with the oven.

Despite these minor "flaws", I am very happy with this toaster oven & would recommend it highly...

We got this to replace an ancient toaster oven, and so far it has worked great. We've made bagels, pizza and BLTs in it, mainly. The dials make it look more complicated than it really is; it is actually quite easy to use. A 12 inch pizza fits inside with no problem, and it's easy to clean.

I have found that things are done more quickly than in my old toaster oven; if something says "bake for 22-27 minutes" be sure to check it at 22...it is probably done! I have loved cooking frozen convenience meals in this instead of the microwave; they taste so much better. I've always felt guilty heating up the big oven for a tiny Howard Johnson's mac and cheese, but this countertop oven in perfect for those types of meals. This has beengreat if my husband is out of town and I'm cooking for one.

As other reviewers have mentioned, it's nice to use this in the summer instead of a regular oven because it doesn't heat up the kitchen. It looks great on our countertop next to the Kitchenaide. A great product, built to last.

I have enjoyed the convenience of these kinds of counter-top ovens for 10+ years. I have people ask me all the time if I really find them useful enough to use the counter space for one. I use one of these far more than a traditional oven. Once you discover the convenience of these, you never want to go back to only having a traditional large oven again.

Prior to this, I had a Cooke Essentials K29965 for 3 years, which is significantly larger (taller). What's been a pleasant surprise is even though this B&D TO10065C is about 1/3 smaller in size, I am still able to cook the same amount of food in it as I did with my previous unit. So I'm getting the same usage while taking up even less space.

Don't let the picture showing multiple knobs and settings concern you that it's designed overly complicated. Right out of the box it's ready to go and very simple to work. It handles foods well and the shorter height (versus my last taller oven) allows all the food to cook perfectly evenly because the heat sources are closer to the food.

French fries, pizza pockets, frozen meals and baked foods come out hot, evenly cooked and with using much less electricity than the traditional large oven. This is also a life saver to cook with on hot summer days, because it doesn't heat up the whole kitchen like my full size oven does.

This Black and Decker gets used every single day and has cooked all kinds of foods, since our family of 4 all eat different things. It has stood up to what seems like constant use since we got it about a month ago. Being well made, I feel it will last for many years to come.

We've only had this toaster oven for a few days, but I wanted to leave a review in case there are others out there looking for a toaster oven without a lingering 'chemical odor'. We have tried a few other toasters and toaster ovens over the past year and until getting this one from Black & Decker we've ended up returning them all because the other products had a lingering chemical smell, that persisted after many cycles of heating, cleaning, etc. (From what I understand, at least part of the issue is that a non-stick coating is applied to most of these types of products these days.)

We tried this product because we read a few reviews stating that this B&D toaster oven doesn't have a non-stick coating. We're very happy to be able to report that there is no ongoing 'unhealthy odor issue' with this toaster oven. We wiped the interior when we first opened it, did the 20 minute bake cycle that is recommended in the manual for first time use, and wiped the interior a 2nd time (once the oven cooled). As expected, the unit did smoke a small amount and give off some odor during the first 5 minutes of the initial cycle, but since we finished with this initial routine, we are very pleased that there has been no unnatural odor and foods cooked in the oven taste good (no 'unusual' or 'chemical' taste or smell to them).

I hope this will help others who have had similar concerns about other products.

My wife and I never bothered to get a toaster oven before now for a simple reason - we thought we didn't need one. After all, leftover can always be heated up in the microwave, and when we're cooking, a toaster oven would be too small. After owning this toaster for about a month it has quickly found a niche for itself. It has a lot of different settings, and can function as a real (albeit small) oven or as a toaster. It is surprisingly large, and can fit a lot. It's a lot easier to make small-ish things like quesadillas or fish sticks in the toaster oven than to heat up the big oven (and they come out soggy from the microwave). Things that used to come out of the freezer and go into the microwave now go in here.

One of my memories of the toaster oven we had when I was a kid is that every so often food would fall on the burner and start a small fire. (I recall at least one phone conversation with my mother cut short by "gotta go - toaster is on fire"). I was happy to see that those days are over. This toaster comes with an insert which covers the heating element, and prevents those sorts of events.

This is the first Countertop Oven I've owned. I've been thinking for a while that it would be nice to have one and -- low and behold -- my wish was granted.

This oven has 5 settings: Bake, Broil, Toast, Bagel, and Keep Warm. Bake and broil are the only ones I care about (being the owner of a perfectly good toaster) and they are reason enough to own this appliance. In the past I would heat up my entire oven in order to warm up some mozzarella sticks, but now I just pop them in this baby, and not only are they done quicker and more evenly, but I didn't have to heat up an entire oven for a pie-tin worth of food! The timer goes up to 60 minutes and the temperature up to 450ºF.

So how does it compare to other countertop ovens? At my workplace I have access to a countertop oven that I use frequently for lunch. It is a 10-year-old $30 oven. It is ugly, but it works. It is the only comparison I have... and this oven is so much better. This oven is slick. This oven is good-looking. And most importantly, this oven kicks butt. It heats up quickly and evenly. It has a large interior without being huge and taking up tons of precious counter space. What more do you need?

Let me preface this that I am now living alone and, the majority of the time, cooking for only one person. I hate heating up an entire oven to basically make a small dish of something (with the cost of natural gas in my area, it really is cheaper to send out sometimes than to be baking on a large scale). I also really don't like using microwaves unless when I really have something fast to warm up (I hate really cooking with microwaves as foods come out rubbery and unevenly heated).When I first saw the Black and Decker convection oven, I knew it was a name I could trust (having purchased B&D appliances in the past, most recently a food processor). I absolutely love this new oven and haven't used my full size oven in well over a month now. The size (20 x 17 x 12) is large enough for baking most casseroles. The oven heats up quickly and the food cooks evenly and thoroughly. Although I have only used the broiler once since I received this, I found again the cooking to be flawless and the cleanup a lot easier than I had anticipated. The unit is a good size for my countertop (not to big, not too small) and with the black and stainless steel body, blends in well with the rest of the appliances in my kitchen. I think this unit (at under $80) is perfect for apartment dwellers, singles, small families or senior citizens (think a great Christmas gift for your aging parents). I normally don't ramble on like this with most products in review, but I really love this countertop oven and I highly recommend this appliance.

If all you want to do is make toast--whether bread or bagel--then this is not the product you need.

The Black & Decker Convection Countertop Oven is exactly that: an oven--and, as with most ovens, a broiler is conveniently included.

This is a big device. Bigger than a breadbox? Well, about the size of the breadboxes I remember from my youth. It bakes extremely well. And, yes, it does bake a 12-inch pizza rather comfortably and rather well. It broils, too. We've broiled fish, chicken sausages, and hot dogs quickly and with great, tasty results.

Is it a toaster-oven? Well...there is a toast function, but I have to say it really doesn't work that well. Even if you find the perfect setting for toast the way you like it--dark, light, in-between--you can't lock it there and just turn on the toaster the next morning to get the same results. The setting is built into the timer, which you have to turn on to the time setting you need each time you start it up. So it's difficult to find the exact spot that you liked the previous day.

There's also a "bagel" setting that's pretty neat in concept, but in actual usage it really doesn't do anything for me. It toasts/broils from the top and uses very low heat on the bottom so that the crust of the bagel doesn't really toast. That's right, it doesn't get crispy the way I like it--just soft and a little warm. You may like it that way, so it might be good for you. Personal preference, I guess.

Also, I think the sides and top are stainless steel. Whatever the material, please be advised that this device gets very hot! Don't leave anything on top that might melt during cooking, and be careful not to let the power cord touch any part of the device during operation. I had to rearrange my countertop to allow plenty of room around the oven and enough stretch in the cord to keep it taut and away from the back or side of the device.

All that being said, I have another one almost exactly like this model at my summer cabin! I like it, just not for toast. If I had enough counter space, I'd probably buy just a regular toaster to complement this device. But I don't, so I make do with using this as a toaster/over/broiler.

Finally, as other reviewers said, don't underestimate the cooking power of this baby. You can burn things very easily if you set the timer too high. Keep an eye on it till you get used to it or you'll have a lot of blackened pizza, burnt toast, and smoke alarms going off all over the house. Stay with it, respect it, treat it well, and it'll be good to you! ;-)