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375 of 380 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great for all Kitchens... a must have for small kitchens, December 23, 2008
This review is from: Breville BOV800XL The Smart Oven 1800-Watt Convection Toaster Oven with Element IQ (Kitchen)
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
Length:: 5:36 Mins
The Breville Smart Oven is a must-have kitchen appliance. In many/most cases it can serve as a replacement for it larger cousin the conventional oven/range. However, the Smart Oven is much more energy efficient (using roughly 50% less electricity) and can fit into the smallest of kitchens
Things that we enjoy
+ Depending on the setting (Broil/Bake/Toast) you have the ability to manage the temperature zones in the oven. This helps to ensure perfect cooking depending on you individual requirements.
+ The magnetic door helps to prevent any burns (see video)
+ Door seals nicely - reducing energy waste and the unneeded heating of your home.
+ 9 programmable settings - HOWEVER - you also have the ability to tailor the settings to your individual needs.
+ Nice Stainless steel finish will look nice in all kitchens.
+ Despite being stainless steel the surface of the oven does not show too many fingerprints.
+ Three pans included - Pizza - Baking - Broiling
+ Great operating manual
+ Not just a standard toaster oven - this is also a convection oven!
+ AS A OVEN IT WORKS GREAT
Areas to improve
- The cord is a little short (less than 3 feet) - while many people may appreciate a short cord it does mean that you have to have outlet near a space where you plan to use the oven.
- You may not be able to operate other appliances on your electrical circuit - At full heat the Smart Oven will pull between 15-20 amps - make sure that you have at least a 20amp breaker on the plug that you are using.
Final Verdict.... this is an easy 5 stars - purchase with confidence.
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254 of 257 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Beauty and Function - What more can you ask for?, December 30, 2008
This review is from: Breville BOV800XL The Smart Oven 1800-Watt Convection Toaster Oven with Element IQ (Kitchen)
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
I love this product - it is a pleasure to use, functions beautifully, and is beautifully designed.
The other reviewers have already said much of what I would have written. The 'Out of Box Experience' is superb. As another reviewer noted, the packaging is quite a bit like Apple's (see photos) - attractive graphics on an inner box protected in an outer, recyclable box. The oven itself, when compared to the Cuisinart TOB-165 that we have been using (or even the stainless steel TOB-195 model), is like comparing an Apple Mac to a Dell: visually more stylish and appealing, better engineered 'guts', and once operated, functionally very well thought out.
A few years ago, our old toaster oven died and we migrated to the Cuisinart which, like this Breville BOV800XL, is a convection oven / toaster / broiler. We liked it so much, that we gifted several more to friends and family. Ah, if only this Breville had ben available then...
The Breville is so vastly superior in every way - function, capacity, ease of use, and ease of cleaning. I cannot recommend it highly enough.
The timer on the Breville turns the oven off at the end of any kind of cycle as you would expect - toast, bagel, bake, broil, pizza, etc.This is hugely wonderful compared to the Cuisinart unit which only turns itself off after toasting - you have to remember to turn it off when in any other mode. (The Cuisinart's timer is 'dumb' - just a beeper.) Also, each Breville cycle has smart default settings, and can remember your own settings for temperature and time, or slices (toast) and darkness, etc.
The BOV800XL accomodates a 13" pizza pan (included). We made two pizzas tonight to test the oven, one fresh (deli) the other frozen. I dialed the 'pizza' setting, dropped the default 450 temperature to 425, accepted convection mode, and accepted the default 12" size for the fresh pizza and pressed the on button. Once preheated, the oven beeped for the pizza to be inserted. At the end of the timed cycle, the oven turned off and beeped again: perfect pizza!
I then did a 9" frozen Amy's pizza. Similar procedure as above, but dialed the size knob down to 9" and pressed the 'frozen food' button. Again, perfect at the end of the cycle.
Toast setting works great - up to 6 pieces of toast, as does the bagel setting, which toasts the top at a higher temp then the bottom to make the top crispy and the bottom warm but still soft. Frozen waffles come out great - crunchy outside and moist inside, instead of all dried out.
For baking, a 13" x 9" baking pan easily fits inside as does, of course, the larger pan that comes with the unit, loaf pans and small muffin pans.
The glass door conveniently labels the three rack positions for broil, toast/cookie/bagel/pizza, and bake/roast/reheat/warm.
The crystalline-looking heating elements (three on top, two on the bottom) seem to heat faster, and more evenly, than the metallic elements in other counter-top ovens. Depending on the mode/cycle, the oven enables or disables certain elements, and changes the wattage of others.
The crumb tray in the front answer another of my big complaints about the Cuininart. No effort to pull the tray out at any time to brush off crumbs, or wash off accidental spills. (The Cuinsart's crumb tray slides out of the rear of that unit, requiring minor gymnastics - enough to put it off until it is really gross.)
The stainless finish and assembly is of high quality, and the oversized handle and control knobs give a feel of quality as well (and match current upper to high end major appliances).
No doubt I'll have more comments after we use the Breville BOV800XL for a few months, but for now, I can only sing its praises.
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Boring details:
Dimension Comparison to Cuisinart TOB-165/195:
The Breville being slightly larger permits it to be used for items that otherwise would have to go into a regular oven. The interior of the Breville is 13 1/2" x 11 1/2" x 5" high (to clear the elements), with a curved recess in the back so that a nearly 13" pizza pan fits. The Cuisinart is 11 1/2" x 9 3/4" x 5" which cannot accommodate pizza, nor a 13 x 9 pan and toasts only 4 pieces of bread.
The small increase in interior space which results in so much greater versatility is at the expense of only an inch of counter space required. The Breville exterior is roughly 18 1/2" wide x 16" deep x 10 3/4" high compared to the Cuisinart 17 1/2" wide x 14" deep x 10" high.
Electrical Notes:
As others note, the oven uses a maximum of 1800 watts, which is basically all that a 15 amp circuit has to offer (most home kitchens will have either 15 or 20 amp circuits). So, you shouldn't use other power hungry appliances on the same circuit as the BOV800XL. As noted in the owner's manual, you must have a grounded 3-prong outlet, which any modern home will have. Even though my kitchen is 20 years old, I'm fortunate that the electrician had included three circuits for appliances so no problems here.
With regard to those concerned about the short cord: do note that electrical codes require that outlets on kitchen counters be serviced by a minimum of two separate circuits and be no more than 2 feet from one another (4 feet at a corner). Even under older codes that permit outlets up to 6' apart, the 3' cord is adequate.
Installation note:
This is a countertop oven. When operating, nothing should be within 4" of any side. Because some people are accustomed to GE/Black and Decker toaster ovens that mount under cabinets, do note that that is NOT an option here because of the high heat and clearances required. You really do need to have enough counter space to accommodate the unit.
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168 of 173 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Like a full-size convection range in a little package -- A+++, December 19, 2008
This review is from: Breville BOV800XL The Smart Oven 1800-Watt Convection Toaster Oven with Element IQ (Kitchen)
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
I am totally in love with this toaster oven! It is a heavy, quality appliance, with numerous handy, smart features. I just got it today, and I will update my review later if needed. I cooked some *perfect* cupcakes in it a little while ago, so I'm going on that experience.
1. The instruction book (with about 30 recipes & ideas) is very easy to understand and follow. We had it up and going in minutes, doing the initial heating for 15 minutes to rid the heating elements of a protective coating. There was some odor (no smoke) with this process, but not that bad, and I just opened a window slightly. After this, there was no smell at all when I cooked.
2. The oven door has magnetized areas that pull the oven rack about half way out when you open the door. It's a great concept, and guess what? -- it works! Makes it so handy to get your food out without reaching in and risking a burn.
3. The interior has .8 cubic feet of space. A 12" x 12" enamel baking pan, with broil rack, and a 13" non-stick pizza pan are included, and fit snugly inside -- a pan any bigger wouldn't fit. I made 12 cupcakes at a time on the pizza pan (using silicone muffin cups) and had plenty of room. (The pizza pan didn't buckle or warp, so it's obviously a sturdy piece.) My 1/4 sheet pan and several other pieces I have fit nicely inside, which I'm so pleased about. This thing fits 6 pieces of toast! (I want to mention that they don't advise using glass baking dishes in the oven. I'm scared of breakage that I've read about, so I don't use glass anymore anyway.)
3. The glass door has markings on it to tell you which position to put the rack in (bottom, middle or top), depending on what you're cooking.
4. The LCD display is very easy to read (esp for someone who needs reading glasses like me). The temperature, function, and time controls are knobs -- similar to stereo control knobs -- and I like that you don't have to keep incessantly punching a button to go up or down; you simply twist to get where you want, and you can go slowly or quickly. Also, there are a minimum of icons (there are 3 buttons for frozen food, convection, & temperature conversion) on the controls -- most functions are spelled out so that you don't have to use a "cheat sheet" to figure out what picture stands for what!
5. The convection feature is very quiet with this oven and you can barely hear it. Some settings such as "bake" are programmed to switch on the convection feature, which keeps down the need to fiddle with several controls to get what you want. I made cupcakes today on bake, and they were done a full 3-4 minutes quicker.
6. The large door handle is easy to grab and open, and stays cool to the touch.
7. The top of the oven gets hot during cooking, so you can keep food warm on a ceramic plate(s) on top while other food cooks. There is also a "cutting board and tray" that can be used on the top but I was unable to find it on Breville's website so I will call them later. (You can also get a pizza stone and pizza crisper.)
8. The crumb tray fits snugly into the front of the unit, and not in the back like other toaster ovens I've had, so removal and cleaning is easy.
The only suggestion that I would have is that a small interior light would be helpful.
As I have always liked about toaster ovens, you don't have to heat up your large oven to bake or cook a meal. And I don't think most of us have convection ranges, so having this feature on a toaster oven is great. I really do have to give this oven 5 stars because it is designed so incredibly well. I may never use my stove again -- except for a full-sized turkey!
UPDATE 12-27-2008: I received an email back from Breville, and they say the accessories for this oven (see#7 above) will be available April 2009. I have been using my Breville daily for a little over a week now, and I can see myself years from now doing the same. Still extremely impressed with this work horse!
UPDATE 3-29-09: According to the Breville website, a pizza stone and a pizza crisper for the Breville Smart Oven will be available for sale 5-9-09. The cutting board and tray that fit on top of the oven has a "TBA" availability date. And I am still considering this toaster oven one of the best I've ever come across!
UPDATE 6-08-09: *Another* delay from Breville for the cutting board/tray and the pizza stone -- those will be available at the BrevilleUSA website (and here at Amazon, I suppose) this month (June 2009), unless they change the date once again. A pizza crisper will be available in July 2009. I continue to use my SmartOven daily, and it has a prominent place in my kitchen.
UPDATE 12-21-09: Looks like all the accessories mentioned are now available at the Breville site. Hope they are soon available on Amazon and available with Prime shipping!
UPDATE: 5-23-10: I see that the accessories for this oven are now available on Amazon. I must say that the prices seem outrageous, and similar accessories at lower prices are made by other manufacturers, which I would explore if I needed/wanted them. I have the Petite Broil and Roast pan by Chicago Metallic (one of my favorite brands of bakeware) and it works wonderfully in this oven. C.M. also makes a whole toaster oven set, including a muffin tin.
It's 1 1/2 years later, and I still use my Breville almost every day -- still love it and not one hint of problems. Crumb tray in the front is SO very easy to pull out and to keep clean.
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