Customer Reviews

DeLonghi DO400 1400-Watt Digital Control 4-Slice Toaster Oven

5 star:		(34)
4 star:		(33)
3 star:		(14)
2 star:		(23)
1 star:		(31)

 

 

I used to have a much larger toaster oven, but having subsequently bought my first microwave, when the big toaster oven died, I looked for a smaller toaster oven to free up some counter space. I've had this for about a month, and I think it's quite good for what it is, but for what it is, it's overpriced. If it were cheaper I'd rate it higher. It broils beautifully. The oven heats very quickly, which is great. By my measurements, it's about 50 degrees above the requested temperature in middle ranges, as has been noted by others. But small toaster ovens are always unreliable on precise temperature. That's why all those frozen foods that come in microwave containers say don't cook them in a toaster oven (which you can do just fine, by the way, if you know how far off the temperature is). I prefer toast a little lighter than it makes toast at T-1, but it's okay. I miss features like the hook pull-outs, which not only pull the shelf out when you open the door but keep the door from crashing up and down, and the pull-out, rather than drop-down, crumb drawer. It's a perfectly adequate small toaster oven, but it should be either a little better or a little cheaper.

I was in the market for a toaster oven, and I prefer my appliances digital. I believe this is the cheapest digital toaster oven you will find. The style of the oven is pretty nice. It certainly looks more expensive than it is.

Being digital has some neat advantages. First, when you toast something, you see a countdown timer based on your setting. And, very important, the oven will readjust the time if it's already hot! When you are baking or broiling the counter will count down from the time you choose.

Another poster commented on a different toaster oven how superfluous it is for a toaster oven to have a clock (as in time of day). This one does too. There's no need for it besides keeping the LEDs entertained while you're not using the oven. However, the digits are very clear, bright, and easy to read. I find it rather amusing that I have four appliance clocks in my kitchen and I find myself using the toaster oven's the most!

Toasting bread: The oven comes with six settings for non-frozen bread and six settings for frozen bread. I'll usually set the average analog toaster a little under the half-way mark and I had heard toaster ovens don't toast as well as regular toasters, so I chose the 't3' setting (middle) the first time around. The bread came out burnt. Then I tried 't2'. The bread came out slightly darker than I'd like. So now I'm always using 't1'. Unless you're eating a Flintstone's-size piece of bread, stay away from the higher settings! The overall toast result is very consistent though. Maybe it's the square heating elements.

I haven't used the bake functionality. I'd imagine it to be much like an oven. I referred to the manual before using the broil functionality to cook breakfast links. They took a fraction of the recommendation for a similar meat.

Downsides: I'd like to have more realistic toaster controls than not burnt vs. five levels of burnt. Also, the racks don't slide forward by themselves when you open the door. Instead, they are a very tight manual fit. Thus, you always find yourself using a spatula.

I've used a DeLonghi toaster oven for the past six years, and I got that from my mother who used it for about a year before she gave it to me. About three months ago, it gave up the ghost with a *pop* and a slight smell of burnt toaster innards.

I thought it would be a simple thing to find a decent replacement, but when I logged on to read the reviews of various toaster ovens, including this one, I was quickly confused. Ratings veered wildly from one star to five stars. A large number of buyers wrote that this toaster oven burnt toast on the lowest setting, others said it was a great piece of equipment. I found the same discrepacy in the reviews for every other toaster oven I checked out.

Finally, I decided I'd never find a toaster oven based on reviews. I was tired of not having a toaster oven, and since the DeLonghi brand worked for me before, I figured I might as well try it again. If it didn't work, I'd return it.

Well, it works fine. In fact, it's great. The default setting for toast is T-4, which is right in the middle of the 7 possible settings. I make my own bread, and it toasts beautifully on setting T-3. I've also used this little oven to heat up frozen veggie burgers and do some other general toast-oven-type tasks and I'm very pleased with it.

This toaster oven is a great improvement over my previous one: it's evenly cooked everything I've put in it, every piece of toast I've made has come out just fine, and it looks great. Some reviewers hate the beeping noise it makes when buttons are pushed, but I don't find the sound to be any more irritating than the noise made when I'm setting the temperature or timer on my full-size oven. The oven rack doesn't pull out automatically when the door opens, but this isn't a problem for me. The glass is tinted, and that makes it a little more difficult to look inside at what is cooking, but that doesn't bother me. I can always open the door for a quick peek if necessary.

So, I'm adding my positive review to the mix. If anything happens to change my mind, I'll update this review.

Length:: 2:42 Mins

When my 10+ yr old basic toaster oven kicked the bucket, I went looking for a replacement. I consider a toaster oven a versatile toaster. It can make toast, but also warm, heat, and cook other small items that you either don't want to nuke, or don't need to fire up a full sized oven for. But first and foremost, it should make toast; I mean that's its raison d'etre.

Most of the inexpensive (<$50) toaster ovens I looked at seemed to be of really cheap or poor quality: very thin sheet metal, cheap looking plastic controls and finish, door hinges that looked ridiculously weak, etc.

The next tier of toaster ovens start much closer to $100 and go up from there. They have a lot of features I don't care about, like rotisseries or convection fans.

When I finally ran across this model it looked promising. It was more expensive than the real cheapos and it included unneeded features like a digital clock (something else to continuously suck energy when not in use), but the build quality looked notably better than many other ovens in its class.

Tried out a bagel on its maiden voyage. The oven has 7 settings for toast darkness, so I started with the middle setting of 4. The bagel was smoldering before it was done. After that failure, I tried another on the lightest setting, 1. Again, before it was even done it was very dark and beginning to burn.

I see from other reviews here that this is not uncommon so it's unlikely that I just got a lemon. I find it hard to believe the manufacturer ever actually tested this appliance for its intended purpose.

I am really happy with this toaster oven.
Pros:
- Toasts, bakes and broils evenly
- Warms up quickly
- Includes broiler pan
- Nice looking
- Doesn't take up a lot of space
- Oven rack has two positions (high or low)
- Roomy inside (4 slices of pizza fit well)
- It has a clock
- Tray can sit on top of oven when you're not using it

Cons:
- Must toast at lowest level (T1) which is not the default (T4 is, and I've never used it)
- Can't set machine defaults
- Beeping noise oven makes when pressing buttons is unnecessary and kind of loud; no option to turn sound off

Bought this to replace a Black & Decker toaster oven. What a difference. This thing is great. Takes up very little counter space yet is quite ample inside. Bakes, toasts, and broils everything to perfection. Will certainly buy Delonghi products in the future.

This is a worthless toaster! The toast is burnt even on the lowest setting. It is ok as an oven or broiler but they should not even call it a toaster. I gave it one star because I could not give it less than that.
Update:
It stopped working after 13 months! What a piece of garbage!

This toaster oven is great if you're looking for one that doesn't take up too much space and want fast cooking and toasting especially when trying to get out in the morning without waiting forever for a slice of toast or engligh muffin. Amazon price was the lowest, especially with the free shipping.

Initially I was a little disappointed in the small size. I agree that it was my fault for not researching things better. The 2nd issue is that this oven burns bread and bagels even on the lowest setting. The final and worst problem is that it started failing after less than 2 months while displaying "err". This happens repeatedly even after unplugging and reconnecting the oven. It works for a little while and then fails again. Seems like a lemon to me!