Two years ago, I could have written your message. What I did first was to test drive one by buy one for $10 at Goodwill. I gave it a month to decide if it was for me. Then thanks to guidance from the CF members I made an informed choice about the Cuisinart Convection TO. I have a smaller wall oven and a huge under counter oven; both are rarely used now. Of course it's only DH and me.

For Christmas I have asked for and given myself permission to buy a Breville TO--just because. With tape measure in hand, I went to visit it last week. I am waiting for B,B, & B to send out the next 20% off coupons in hopes that the fine print doesn't exclude Breville products.

Here is a link that might be useful: Breville TO

You are preachin' to many choir members here, tropicals! I bought my Cuisinart TO after seeing others owned by members of this forum. SharonCb uses her TO for a lot of her delicious looking meals. I've made everything from pizza on clay tiles to cornbread in my cute cast iron skillet to roasted vegetables and one-dish dinners. I love my TO and could not go one day without it.

I thought I couoldn't live without one....And have had one for about 15 years....I use it daily for my morning toast....but never for anything else.
When the grand kids come they melt cheese on top of toast ro a bagel....but nothing else.
I don 't cook frozen foods in plastic trays, mever those heat and eat things...If I am going to bake a potato for just me....I'll do it in the micro....and perhaps crisp it up in the toaster oven....but usually I say "good enough for just me".
I'm not sure why i have the thing...I need to dump it and drag out the old toaster.
Linda C

Mustang - I'm glad you got permission (from yourself! LOL), but why is it so much better? It is usually only my husband and I also.

Teresa - I already feel like I couldn't do without it! I have two loaves of banana bread in there right now, after making lasagna for dinner. The bb is a new recipe that scares me though, batter tasted bitter to me. Unfortunately, I tasted it after putting it in the oven. Darn.

If I lived in a cold climate, I would probably use the regular oven more often, but since it's pleasant here almost all of the year, I prefer to use the toaster oven whenever possible, so that I don't overheat the kitchen. However, I only make pizza in the regular oven because I want a temperature of 600° (or as close to it as possible) to keep the crust from being soggy. Lasagne, enchiladas, crêpes, eggplant Parmigiano, chicken Parmigiano, stuffing, etc. all get made in the toaster oven, and pretty much everything that will fit. If I'm making a roast chicken, I tend to make that on the barbeque, and that also helps keep the kitchen cool. If we get some cool days in the winter, I will use the regular oven - otherwise I avoid it whenever possible. It's been very warm lately, but then September is our warmest month. I'm in a slightly warmer neighborhood now than I was last year, as I'm now almost 4 miles from the beach, and I used to be only a few blocks from the nearest beach.

I tend to make pizza only in the winter, and so I'm looking forward to some cooler weather for that.

Lars

My favorite pan to use is a 9" square, very heavy cake pan I got from Publix. I think it's about 2" deep. I can put 4 big chicken breasts in it, casseroles, meatloaf, almost anything.

Lars - so 600 is the magic temp for pizza crust? Does that work for frozen pizzas too? They are never crispy enough!

I have the Breville toaster oven. I love it. I love all the digital settings; they are almost all perfect.

Lars, you should try your pizza cooked on your grill! Lots of tips and recipes on the 'net. I think you brush the dough with olive oil, slap it on the grill, turn when one side is cooked, top the cooked side with minimal toppings, then shut the lid on the grill to warm the toppings and melt the cheese.

Teresa

The three things I use most in my kitchen are the microwave, the coffee maker and the toaster oven. I just love the TO. Since I am mostly cooking for myself, I can bake fish in there and heat up anything frozen. Really, anything that I can fit in there gets cooked there.

My Black & Decker works fine but is getting grungey looking so it is soon time for a new one. I'll have to look into the Breville. One thing I really dislike about my B&D is that it doesn't ding when the toast is done. Very annoying.

I hadn't had a TO in about 30 years, but I got one when I remodeled the kitchen 5 years ago and I use it every day now. Since it's just me it's much more sensible to use instead of the big oven. My Cuisinart is big enough to use as a second oven when I have company and need to bake the crescent rolls while the roast or turkey is in the oven.

Enjoy

I have a cheapo black and decker that I use daily. It is on a tray and I put it back in the cabinet when I'm through with it. It looks gross as all my toaster ovens eventually do.

I like to butter bread particularly english muffins, before toasting and I like cheese toast (bruschettas's if you will) but that's about all I use it for. Maybe frozen eggrolls once in a blue moon.
I have not had a pop up toaster in 25 years.

10 years ago I bought one - and it sat for 10 freaking years, unused and clean as a whistle - right on the counter. THEN about a year ago, I had a cheese,mayo,garlic, shrimp mix over focaccia bread at a street fair - and my world immediately changed, as did my relationship w/ my little toaster oven. Whew - what an eye opener!!!! I still use toaster to make toast - but for bagels w/ cream cheese and yummies like that, this is a perfect piece of equipment - long owned and paid for!!!!!

I use mine all the time too. It's great for smaller things and doesn't heat up the house as much as the big oven. However, I use a toaster for toast...lol. Don't care for toast out of my toaster oven.

David

I bought a convection toaster oven at B, B & B several years ago to make apple dumplings in our food concession trailer, but never got to use it. When we bought our RV last year, I put it in there. I will not light the gas oven in the RV and its better to use the toaster oven in warmer climates while travelling. Never have used it. Every time I've planned to bake something in the RV, the DH lights the gas oven before I remember to tell him not to.

Yes, I use it a lot too! I made some hot pocket like things, and used a cooked filling so I could leave the dough raw and cook it in the toaster oven at work. It smells really good, like baking bread. I roasted some tomatillos in it once, when it was too hot to crank up the oven. It's an excellent thing! I think it even turns out respectable chocolate chip cookies, as long as you wait until the coils stop being orange before putting them in.

600 degrees?! Does my oven go that high??

Yes as Teresa mentioned I use mine nearly every day, but I have to add that it is more of a countertop oven than just a toaster since it has space for cooking on

It's made by Toshiba and for many years they haven't made these ovens so I can't replace it with a similar one the same size for my tiny kitchen. The enamel temperature numbers have long since worn off, so I just point the dial in the approximate direction LOL. It counts down and turns itself off so I'm still wondering how it can all last so long and still work as it did when it was new! I use my big main oven only for the Christmas turkey.

SharonCb

I won't use anything else but the toaster oven! I used it for everything, until I got my Turbo Wave oven, now I use that for frozen fried chicken. I'll never be without my toaster oven though. I bake french fries in it. Mine's even rusted, lol.

I'm seriously laughing at the comment about it even making great toast! Lol, that's one of the main functions! (laughing with you, not against you. :) )

I use mine all the time.

The main reason I like to use it is that it uses much less energy than the big oven. We all need to do our part, so I urge those of you who rarely use your toaster ovens or only use them for toasting to consider using the little oven more often. I happen to love mine, anyway -- it does heat very quickly and bakes and toasts great. No bending, either!

And I can unplug it when I'm not using it -- can't do that with the big oven. I was shocked to see how much energy gets "leached" by plugged-in appliances even when they aren't turned on. I thought that was only true of the ones with clocks, lights, etc., but apparently not. So I turned off the clock feature on all the appliances that will let me do that (there are plenty of clocks already in view in my kitchen) and I unplug the toaster oven, blender, food processor, computer, phone and Ipod chargers, etc., when I'm not using them; only the coffee pot (because of the set-ahead timer) and the microwave (because the outlet is hard to reach, right behind it) stay plugged in on the counters. It only took a day to get used to it.

You can also put all the appliances on power strips or "smart strips" and just flip the switch on when you want to use one.

The chargers are particularly bad "vampires" -- up to 95% waste if you leave them plugged in all the time.

http://creativecitizen.com/solutions/36-Unplug-your-chargers-appliances-when-not-in-use
http://www.terrapass.com/blog/posts/energy-tip-10-remove-wall-warts-and-slay-electricity-vampir
http://www1.eere.energy.gov/consumer/tips/home_office.html

95% of what?

Wow, a lot of people love those toaster ovens. I don't have one and have never used one and I sure don't have room in my kitchen to buy one. That's a darned good thing, I think.

I do have an old countertop convection oven, about 20 years old, I use it sometimes in the summertime when it's hot because I don't have air conditioning, but I put it on the deck in back and plug it in there.

Because I have an old house, I don't have a lot of outlets, so nearly everything gets unplugged because I have to move it from it's "storage spot" to plug it into one of the two outlets I have in the kitchen. My toaster, coffeepot, lamps, phone chargers are always unplugged. I never unplug my television or computer, though, it just messes things up with my internet and my satellite TV and I still have my old waterbed and that stays plugged in so it stays warm!

Annie

I couldn't have made it through my kitchen remodel without one. Before that, I never really utilized it. I cooked main courses and desserts. I used it so much during that remodel that it was literally falling apart so had to get a new one. I still haven't found one as good as the old one.
Clare

95% of the energy used by the charger, if you leave it in all the time, according to that source. I imagine it must be an average, depending on how often you charge your phone.