Customer Reviews

Sanyo SK-VF7S Stainless-Steel Digital Convection Oven

5 star:		(123)
4 star:		(72)
3 star:		(23)
2 star:		(27)
1 star:		(23)

 

 

I wanted to get a toaster oven for years after our previous one gave up the spirit a few years ago. But I just could not justify spending $30-40 for the usual low budget half-made-of-plastic affairs that are designed to fall apart in a year. This one seemed to be better made, and the convection feature appeared to make sense, so I took a chance. I never owned any kitchen appliances made by Sanyo before.

I was afraid the stainless steel finish would not be very convincing, but this device actually looks quite stylish, much better than the run of the mill white appliances in my kitchen. It is compact, both inside and out. You will not be roasting a whole chicken in this one. Two cornish hens would be about the max you could stuff in it.

It does make good toasts, and since all it takes is to push a button, the process is very simple. It is great for baking smaller amounts of food, like fish sticks, chicken breast fillets, french fries etc. without having to resort to our full size oven. Coupled with the fact that it heats up a lot faster also, you can save about 30-35 percent off the cooking time, which is nice.

I was somewhat confused by the controls at first, because they advertise this as a digitally controlled oven, and yet there is a prominent "timer wheel" on the control panel. This almost made me not order it, because I have had plenty of negative experiences with clock mechanism based timers that were difficult to set, would make a constant annoying ticking sound, and would be almost impossible to reset or stop before the time was up. They also tended to break fairly easily. This oven does have a digital control, only it does not consist of the usual timer display. You set the timer wheel to the length of time desired, and then push the start button. The timer will begin counting down, and small led lights will start to count down the time remaining around the timing wheel, but the wheel itself does not move. It is a very ingenious system. I love it. If you need to stop it you can just hit cancel and it is off immediately. Cooking temperatures can be changed on the fly, and you get 5 choices: 180F, 250F, 320F, 400F, 470F. These seem like a restriction, but in fact are perfectly appropriate for my purposes.

This oven is also quite quiet. I expected that the convection fan will make it somewhat noisy, as I read about that problem in several other brand's toaster reviews. This one is only making a very discreet humming sound, just barely alerting you that it is on and working. Quality of design and fit and finish is very satisfactory. Read the reviews on Delonghi to find out about doors that won't close, warping heating elements etc. This puppy is a swiss watch compared to most of what's out there. It was easily worth the $50 spent.

Update 8-17-06: After over a year and a half of intense use, the Sanyo is working almost as good as ever. The right hand side of the heaters seems to heat better than the left, but the difference is really minor.This is one excellent kitchen appliance.

After 15 years our old Delongi toaster oven gave up. We wanted something of higher quality and after much searching settled on the Sanyo SK-VF75. I searched to find one at $50 like some of the previous reviewers, but could not find one and ended up paying $79 plus shipping.

The unit we received had a factory assembly defect, the right side panel had not been properly installed. A bump or kink was clearly visible along the top right edge and the crimping to the back pannel was all mangled. In addition to that the left side of the door handle was pushed in causing a misalignmnet of the door which protruded about 1/8 inch above the top panel. Inspite of these problems my wife still liked the oven and we are returning it for an undamaged one.

Although I had seen some close-ups of this oven, there was one feature that was not discernible. About half way into the oven, the top inside surface breaks down at a 45 degree angle to accomodate some of the convection features. This will severely resrict what you can put in it and still close the door. True, a 10 inch pizza will fit, but if it is a deep dish pizza or any other dish that is more than 1/2 inch high at the back edge, it will bump into the slanted inside back panel and not allow you to close the door.

I recently purcahsed this oven...not from Amazon....but from an online auction website. This is a great toaster oven. It is not the biggest but is great if you need a space saver and want to toast something more than a slice of bread.

The instructions are easy to follow. Now when it says that the first time you use the oven smoke may appear and that the unit may emit an odor. I was expecting something huge but the odor was slight and no smoke appeared. And the odor did not fill up the entire kitchen.

The first thing I made was a Mrs Smith's small cobbler and it turned out great. It cooked about the time it said on the box and turned a nice golden brown. I like the door handle. It pulls down from the top and stays there. Its a nice way to let your food cool before taking it to the table, shelf, etc. The baking tray and rack are easy to take out. As for cleaning a little of the filling came out onto the tray and came off very easily.

I would recommend this oven to anyone who wants a quality oven thats not going to fall apart after the first use. Its stainless steel look is quite stylish and is better than any of the plastic ones I've seen in the stores.

All that being said, I got mine for $50. I wouldn't pay $89 for it but that's just me. For $89 I think it should be bigger.

We've owned this toaster oven for a year, and we use it as a real oven in a small office of gourmet cooks. We do everything from baking bread and muffins in it, to making casseroles, to frozen pizzas to bagels. It isn't perfect, but it's better than most.

Advantages: 1) it's insanely small. If you only have the amount of space it takes up, you won't be disappointed. Not only is it not very wide, it isn't very tall. So it will fit in some very tight spaces, which is a limitation we have; 2) it's well built 3) it has an automatic shutoff, so if someone is using it and forgets about it, it will shut itself off, which for us is a necessary safety feature; 4) it's very easy to use. Turn the timer knob, press the button until the desired temperature (it just cycles through the 5 available temps with each press of the button) shows up on the display and it starts and stops on its own; 5) the tray slides out when you open the door - for both convenience and safety; 6) It doesn't use much power: with only 1350 watts instead of the usual 1600, we can run the microwave and this oven on the same circuit and it never blows the breaker.

Now for the negatives: 1) the small size means it won't hold very much - a trade off we're willing to make, and it heats up relatively fast for the limited power it draws, again because if it's small size; 2) the diagonally down sloping top means it doesn't heat evenly - one side will burn while the other side is undercooked. You have to keep turning the food or put foil over the bread; 3) one way they got it so small was to not use very much insulation: it gets very hot, again, a trade off we are OK with; but 4) the highest temperature it gets to is 350. That's when we set it to 470 degrees and turn it on for ten minutes - after that much time, the temp stops rising. I used an oven thermometer that registers precisely what my professional range at home is set to, so I don't think it is the thermometer. I think a lot of toaster-sized ovens have this problem, but I wasn't expecting quite this difference in a mid-priced oven. I figured it would get to the lower 400s, not 350 when set to its highest temperature range of 470; 4) there is no control over the burners: either they both come on or they both are off. Most units have separate bake and broil settings that either use the lower or upper burner, but not this one, it's just on or its off; 5) there is only one single row burner on each of the top and bottom, which creates hot spots because the heat is not evenly distributed.

If I had the space, I'd go for the larger and far more expensive Krups FBC4-12 6-Slice Convection Digital Toaster Oven with Preset Cooking Functions, but in a small space, and in this price range, this is probably as good as it gets. I think we got a good value, but we certainly didn't get the best oven out there.

The Sanyo Sk-VF7S toaster oven is a great kitchen appliance. When my wife and I decided to throw out our old Black & Decker toaster oven, we had no idea how difficult it would be to find a good replacement. Our old toaster oven was ugly and utilitarian, but it had lasted years and made adequate toast. For a new toaster over, all we wanted was something that would look better and make decent toast (and also warm up a few pizza slices). But it turned out that finding a good toaster oven was truly awful. We ended up buying and returning three different toaster ovens, each of which was really disappointing in its own way. We also used the internet, searching for reviews thta might help. But we found from the reviews that most buyers had gripes about the toaster oven they had purchased and/or they just felt lukewarm about what they had gotten. The common complaints: uneven toasting, shattering glass doors,the timer ticking too loudly, too small, too big, too hot on the outside, too expensive, etc. We literally looked at dozens of websites and read way too many reviews that left me wondering if there really was a decent, simple toaster oven out there. Somehow, I eventually stumbled on two reviews on Amazon for the Sanyo. Both reviews were effusive and straight-forward. They both praised the Sanyo. Neither one had a disappointed tone to it. Thanks for that. We bought the Sanyo from Amazon for $49, with free shipping. We received it in three days. Right out of the box, we saw that the Sanyo was nicely designed and attractive in appearance. We found the Sanyo also was simple and easy to use. Push a button to start the toaster and adjust the doneness to your liking with a small dial. The Sanyo is digital, so there is no loud ticking. The convection oven is virtually silent. The oven temperature gauge is easy to set, as is the timer. Everything on the Sanyo has worked flawlessly for us. We love the looks: slightly retro, but sleek. In short, its a great machine. Easy to use, good form and function, and it seems to be substantial and well made. We recommend the Sanyo without reservation. You will not find anything at $49 that will match it. Even at $78, it is still not overpriced, compared to the other junk that is in the marketplace. If you can, wait a bit and try to get the Sanyo for $50 or less. Then you'll really feel like you got a terrific deal on a great kitchen appliance. Final thought: buy this toaster oven, you won't be sorry!

I bought this oven primarily for toast and light baking (potatos, frozen entres, etc.) but it has been deceptively versatile once you catch on to it's capabilities. Just about anything that can be baked or gratineed in a full size oven can be handled in smaller serving sizes in the Sanyo Convection Oven.

These appliances usually fall into two categories; simple and cheap (and cheaply made) or elaborate and expensive. The Sanyo appears to be a quality made product completely encased in stainless steel that matches just about any high end kitchen line. It's not a turkey roaster and you probably wouldn't want to open broil anything in it, but as an easy to use reliable toaster/baker I don't think you can beat it. And, in case you're interested, it makes excellent, evenly browned toast, surprisingly something not every "toaster" can do.

The only drawback as far as I can tell is that it gets HOT. Not a good idea to use if small children are present.

People expect different things from a toaster oven. I liked my large Oster convection oven for many things, but it made lousy toast. Here's my take on this one's features:
Small: Don't expect to roast a chicken. Still holds a 9" pizza or a couple of scallopini dishes though. The bigger ones might do a roast, but won't make toast. And they take up a lot more counter space.
Toast: Makes REALLY hot toast in about 2 minutes, crispy on the outside, without dehydrating it.
No 'Broiler': A deal breaker for some. It broils nicely, but bottom element still comes on. Many things can be broiled and still get heat from the bottom.
No 'Bake': Potential issue. I put foil loosely over anything I don't want burnt by the top element.
No Clock: Thank God! Who needs another clock in the kitchen?
Get's Hot: Yes it does. I warm my oil and vinegar on top while heating my garlic bread. Don't leave plasticware on it or near it.
Rack: Slides out automatically when you open door. A very nice feature.
Defrost feature: Works really well!
Bake: Strange controls, at first. Now that I've experimented, I can cook rolls, small pizzas, roast veggies, etc., without firing up the big oven. I did a scallops au gratin the other night. Just perfect for 2 or 3 people. Cover most things with foil until the end to prevent top burning. Also, generally start off at a lower temperature for dishes taking over 20 minutes, then turn up at the end to brown.
Roasting Pan: Functional but cheesy. I recommend getting a couple of non-stick mini-pans from Bed Bath & Beyond (not endorsing them, it's just the only place I've seen them).
Toast: Did I mention it make great, really hot toast?

I bought this as a replacement for my old DeLonghi convection which my daughter was taking off to college. It toasts fine, and I would have given it 5 stars xcept that Sanyo decided to call it digital. Yes, it has a touchpad for 1, 2, or more slices of toast, but what's that about???? This is not a microwave, so the toasting should not be quantity-dependent; why not just have us toast longer? There is also a touchpad for temperature which is calibrated not in 50 degree increments as are our reg ovens, etc, but instead at such odd temps as 180-250-320-400-470; maybe the boxes of frozen food say different things in Japan? That said, I think I will adapt and be able to use this oven just fine. It is exactly the right size for my counter, prettier than my other one, and the shelf is conveniently attached to the door so the food slides out toward you when you open the door, without burning yourself on the hot shelf!

I have had this oven about 4 months or so. I have used it to toast bread, rolls, bagels, frozen waffles and to cook pizza and use it nearly everyday. This oven is fabulous. It cooks very fast, takes up very little space, yet is very roomy inside. I was lucky to find this on the Friday Sale for a great bargain, but would pay full price now knowing how awesome this machine is. I wish I hadn't spent so much time shopping for the perfect oven and had ordered this one sooner. Stop your research now and buy this one. You won't be disappointed!

You can pay $40 and get a tinny sheet metal toaster box that is built just the way they've been building them for the last 30 years (but not built as well) or you can spend a bit more and buy this jewel of an appliance.

It's put our toaster completely out of business, and it's taken a lot of the load off our regular oven when it comes time for dinner. Not only that, but a lot of that stuff you want to cook fast in a microwave also gets cooked up fast in this thing (not quite as fast) but not soggy either.

A really powerful combination is to defrost in your microwave and then cook in this thing. Perfect corndogs! And without powering up the power hungry 5000 watt kitchen oven.

This is the first genuinly perfect toaster solution I've ever had in my life. Perfect waffles, hot sandwiches, fish sticks, chicken nuggets, french fries, etc.

We've had ours for almost a year and have had no problems at all, just one cooking success after another.