Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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159 of 159 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Five Thumbs Up. Best toaster oven I have ever owned!, October 28, 2006
This is my first ever online product review but I am so impressed with this product I want to share my positive experience with others.
Having owned cheaper toaster ovens over the years, I was always disappointed with the product quality, reliability and performance. While they all did an OK job of toasting a bagel or reheating a slice of pizza their use was limited, poorly constructed, flimsy and lacking features.
This time I was determined to purchase a quality high end, well constructed unit that not only offered more features but superior performance.
After much research on the web, reading customer/product reviews and doing in-store comparisions between various toaster ovens, I narrowed it down between the Krups FBC2 or FBC4 and the Cuisinart TOB-175C convection taster oven. In the end I decided to purchase and try out the Krups FBC2 toaster oven for the following reasons:
1 - The overall design, sleek appearance and most importantly, solid high quality contruction. Just compare product weight. The Krups appears to be more solid and better built, which may account for its added weight.
2 - The illuminated LCD digital controls are very intuitive and easy to use. The temperature adjusts in 25 degree increments proving to be a very fast and convenient feature. While some people might prefer 1 degree adjustments, I don't miss not being able to set it to odd settings such as 314 or 438 degress. 275, 300, 325, 350, 400, 425, 450 etc work fine for me.
3 - The offset grille provides more heating positions for more accurate heating and cooking.
4 - Even with its compact design, it has a slightly larger interior cooking area.
5 - Last and definately not least, I read only positive reviews about the quartz convection heating eliments, and having now used it, I can see why. This oven seems like it heats up almost instantanously with nice and even heat distribution. What an incredible improvement over the much cheaper units I have owned in the past.
I was so impressed with the Krups KBC2 toaster oven, I decided to return it and purchase the more expensive FBC4 model from Amazon because it offered even more features. Believe me, I am not disappointed. While the Krups FBC2 is an equally excellent product, the FBC4 also has:
1 - A stainless steel exterior finish which I really like because of its quality, appearance and durability, especially after reading reviews indicating there were issues with the Cuisinart exterior finish flaking.
2 - The convection oven feature significantly reduces cooking/reheating time.
3 - It has a Bagel toasting setting not available on the FB2 where it toasts bagels on the sliced side while only heating up the crust side. Like other units on the market, the FB2 toasts both sides. While this does a decent job of toasting bagels, the FB4 Bagel toasting feature results in a perfectly toasted bagel every time.
4 - While I have not yet used the defrost feature, I am looking forward to using it since I am not a big fan of microwaves.
In conclusion, I could not be happier with my decision to purchase a Krups toaster oven. The FB4 has definately exceeded my expectations and I look forward to using it for many years to come.
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30 of 30 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Glad I bought it., December 1, 2006
Obviously a high quality and attractive appliance. The quartz elements seem to heat almost instantly and evenly. The digital controls are very easy to use, with an illuminated display. The oven is simple to clean, with a pull-out crumb tray. An audible beep signals that cooking time is done. However the rear panel gets so hot that I pull it out from the wall several inches to protect the wallpaper. The soft rubber "feet" sometimes come out of their sockets when lifting the oven. (my counters are clean) The pre-programmed toast setting is 4, but must be raised to 6 in order to toast properly. It toasts very well, but takes approx. 4 minutes to do the job because of large size of the oven. Being large though, it will cook items that wouldn't fit in a lesser oven. Made in China, but well built.
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75 of 83 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Problems right out of the box, December 28, 2006
**UPDATE***
I did get a replacement as described below. My review remains unchanged. We have used this oven for 3 years now, and it has functioned adequately-- but I didn't pay over $200 for "adequate." Here are some of the problems.
1> The pans included are of the cheapest quality. After only a month or so, the non-stick coating began to wear off, and now tiny bits of the coating flake off after each use. Not healthy. And, yes, I am a professional chef and know how to clean and handle non-stick surfaces properly.
2> The buttons for adjusting Time and Temperature have worn out. I have to press a button 3-4 times for the digital display to accept the input. A very minor additional complaint is that the paint labels on the buttons completely disappeared after about 1 year of use.
3> The oven heats unevenly, especially when the convection bake is turned on. The back right corner gets a lot hotter than the rest of the oven. So, anything in that corner overcooks or burns, while every other area in the oven is done or undercooked.
4> My other complaints in the previous review are still valid.
5> You'll be hard-pressed to actually get 6 slices of bread in this oven.
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When I opened this appliance, I was initially impressed. The digital display is clear and easy to read, the controls are simple, the design is sharp, and the construction seemed to be decent.
The directions say that before using the oven for food, you should first turn it on and heat it at 450 degrees for 15 minutes to burn of any manufacturing residue. I did this. It took over an hour (not the 15 minutes described), but it now finally heats up without making the entire house smell like a paint and chemical factory.
I heated it in increments. After the first 15 minutes the door was melted shut. Seriously. I heated it for 15 minutes on 450 degrees, and I could not open the door because it stuck to the oven along the metal strip on the top of the door. There was no film or anything on it to cause this--it looks like it's the black paint. I had to wait for the oven to cool completely before the door would open. In addition, the burned off residue ended up on the interior glass of the door. Lots of elbow grease and windex were required to make the glass clear again.
After repeated efforts of "burning off the manufacturing residue", the door did stop sticking as hard--but it still sticks, and the paint along the top metal edge of the oven and the door has peeled away.
Other gripes: The exterior surface gets extremely hot--it's not insulated at all, and WILL burn you if you touch it. Not safe if you have children (or clumsy adults).
The rubber feet will mark up your counter top.
The door handle is flimsy.
Over all, I'm not impressed. For $200, I expected much, much more. I'll give Krups a chance to replace this oven with another one. After I do that, I'll update this review, pending the outcome.
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