However, for the best results, we’d still recommend waiting a couple of minutes for the unit to preheat. Some toaster ovens, like our budget pick, hamilton beach juicer are equipped with only two heating elements. But fewer heating elements aren’t necessarily an indication of poor toasting performance.
The Balmuda’s controls and capacity are also limited compared to our top picks. It offers just three temperature settings—350 °F, 400 °F, and 450 °F—plus four presets, and it can only fit two pieces of bread. The Balmuda has other design flaws (a flap on the door) and twee impracticalities (the easy-to-lose steam cup), and ultimately, we hamilton beach toaster oven found it to be just a snazzy-looking prototype at best. The KitchenAid KCO211BM Digital Countertop Toaster Oven didn’t toast as evenly as our picks, and several slices of bread were burned in patches on the bottom. The Cuisinart TOB-40 Custom Classic Toaster Oven Broiler is easy to use, but on its medium setting, bread became too dark.
But in all our research and testing, we didn’t see consistent correlations between element type and either price or performance. For instance, our budget pick, the Hamilton Beach, has the same quartz elements as the Cuisinart Chef’s Convection Toaster Oven, which costs hamilton beach toaster more than $200. And the Wolf Gourmet Countertop Oven we tested, which normally costs over $700, uses Calrod elements, which are typically found in cheaper models. So, it’s not always worth paying more for certain elements, as performance varies with every oven.
The Toastation had a long life and served us well, so I didn’t feel like it owed me anything. However, they did have a new version of a mini-oven and toaster combo. I was worried it wouldn’t live up to the standards of my beloved Toastation, but I’m happy to report that Hamilton Beach’s newest toaster and oven combo lives up to its predecessor. While the Hamilton Beach Air Fryer Sure Crisp Toaster Oven has a contemporary brushed chrome housing, it pretty much has the same design as toaster ovens from decades ago. It has a glass door with a small handle on top that opens downward and three dials that serve as controls. At just 9 x 18 x 14 inches, it easily fits under a cabinet and doesn’t take up excess countertop space.
But we haven’t yet tested one where the features feel worth the investment for most people. As in other toaster oven air fryers, a shallow basket is provided for air frying food in a single layer. We were very happy with the browning and crisping on breaded chicken breasts. Brussels sprouts and frozen crinkle fries came out lightly browned and crisped.