Michael, I've never had that concerned about any of the toaster ovens I've owned. I have had a Cuisinart Convection toaster over for over four years. I bought it basically for toast, and it came in handy when Matthew still lived it at home. He used it to heat up frozen foods. I occasionally will bake a small casserole in it, or bake potatoes. It sits pretty close to the wall. But it has little brackets for lack of a better word, on the the back as a safety feature to prevent it from being any closer than about one inch from the wall.

Ann

I'm still researching, and that's one of the things I'm trying to figure out, too. Epinions.com had some comments about the external heat factor (and I put a LOT more stock in those ratings than Amazon), but I still want to do some hands-on looking...kick the tires, so to speak.)

Just to throw more wood on this fire, here is a thread from a while ago. cpovey and joe_blowe recommend counter-top models that are a few notches above the department store brands. I looked into them but got the Cuisinart instead; I'll be looking at these again.

Here is a link that might be useful: More grist for your mill

I really like my toaster oven. People always comment on it when they see my new kitchen, which surprises me. What I like about it is that it is compact,about 12 inches square give or take an inch, makes 4 slices of good crisp toast, cleans up easily, doesn't get hot to the touch. It can be set to temperture like an oven or to toast. It has settings for how dark you want the toast and has a separate setting for toasting frozen bread. It has a read-out for how many minutes are left til the toast is done and it has a nice little chime when the toast is finished. I like its looks too, but the selling point for me was that it makes reliably good, CRISP toast! It is a Panasonic NB G100P with an infrared element. I researched a long time before settling on this one. It cost about $100.

Michael: I have an inexpensive Black, GE Toaster oven. It has a round front glass door that rolls up and back.
I just tried it out. The top get hot, the back gets warm and
the sides stay cool. I have a wooden shelf 2 in. above the oven.
I never had the problem of burning or setting things on fire.
LOU

Jessy - FYI, I'm noticing the dates on that thread you linked to. That's a little after Krups was bought (yet again) and right about the time their coffee makers, grinders and several other small appliances went so far down in quality that I refused to carry the line anymore. I'd sworn by Krups for 20 years, but I've lost all faith in the brand and the company.

Bean: not surprised. I've always said any of these units were a couple of thin pieces of sheet metal wrapped around heating elements. I was directing the conversation towards the Cadco and Toastmaster, BUT I don't know how hot they get on the outside, which is Michael's concern.

Sigh...Krups and Maytag, down the drain.

you can add solis Maestro to that list. Once they had a fantastic little conical burr grinder that ground to commercial specs but alas they were bought by another company and the grinde doesn't do it anymore- I had to send it back.

Jess, I wrote Colin (cpovey) about the toastmaster model (his link to the site was dead) and when I learn what model he was recommending I'll digg into that a bit. He's a very trustworthy source and I value his judgement. he helped in my decision to go Bluestar a couple years ago.

michaelp

Timely discussion. I had better check the external heat on my Cuisinart because just today, I sent up my new FoodSaver (the flip up model) next to the toaster oven.

Good luck with Colin. You might find more info about his model, if I remember correctly, he had other posts.

In the meantime, to amuse you while you research and wait, I took this {{!gwi}} for you.

Jessy, How do you keep your oven so clean?? That's the one thing that I am challenged with. I regularly vacuum the crumbs out but the bottom is nasty. It's hard to clean with the elements, can they be taken out?

toaster oven heaven...

jessy, it's tru you are evil

Yep, Solis is dead. And I'm just about ready to add KitchenAid to that list.

Well, my first trip out wasn't too fruitful. I ran out of time to get to the other two stores that carry small appliances.

So far I've eliminated EuroPro, Black and Decker, Oster (never seriously considered it, but it was sitting right there), Kitchen Aid, Totastmaster, Waring and Salton. One place was out of Cuisanarts except one really small one and no one had Delonghi or Sanyo. I have my doubts about the Sanyo except that I had such good luck with the little one we had. And I'm probably not going to bother to even look at Krups for the reason I've already stated.

Onward!

Hey really, try the Panasonic model. Its really a nice little machine that does just what its supposed to do. Do the research on comsumeresearch.com. They compare the reviewers and give good basic info about any number of things you might be thinking about buying. - M

Mimsic, I read reviews about that one and it really does shine in peoples opinions. One person talked about how hot it gets but how fast it cools down, the company warns about heat. You mentioned that it doesn't get hot, I'm confused. If you have it on for 8 or so minutes, can you lay your hands on all sides including the back without blisters? I'm very paranoid about fires and I have scorched walls and melted wiresfrom my existing cute but deadly Oster.

Also have you had it long enough to evaluate the life of the bulbs?

michael p

I agree with Mimsic above. When moms toaster oven died about a year ago last fall I bought her the Panasonic. It's also called the Panasonic Flash Express. It is an excellent toaster oven and it makes better more even toast faster and easier than any regular 2 or 4 slice toaster on the market. Which is saying alot because most toaster ovens don't do toast very well and take forever. It also cooks frozen foods very quickly mainly because it doesn't need to pre-heat, you put the food in and it's cooking instantly with those infra red A & B light tubes. Plus it's not that big which is something as most toaster ovens these days are competing with microvwaves in the size department. Moms 83 and she's not "into" gadgetry but she does like the Panasonic and uses it.

PK, do you remember where you got it? I haven't seen it at any of the stores around here, and I'm hesitant to mail order appliances. (I make an exception and do order gadgets sometimes from Pleasant Hill Grain, but they don't sell toaster ovens.)

Apparently, the Panasonic is loved by all but no longer made. It's all but impossible to find although cartdiscounts.com has some for 91 plus tax.

I've had mine for about 6 months. I haven't left it on for more than 5 or so minutes, which is how long it takes to toast frozen bread. Non-frozen bread toasts in 2 minutes. I have it at the end of the counter, back and one side are about an inch from walls. There's no heat problem that I can discern. I'll try heating it up longer to see what happens.

As for availability, you may need to contact Panasonic but I found it in 2 stores, one in Manhattan and a small, neighborhood store where I live in Brooklyn. I bought it locally because I like to support the little stores as much as possible. It was $100 and worth every penny.

Panasonic doesn't even advertise it anymore and six months is a l,ong time for a discontinued model. If it's something ya want you need to move fast where you find them online- not many left...

ebay has the panasonics but there is the obvious problems of no returns, no customer support etc.

I just checked the Panasonic site and my model is still there. Go to Panasonic and put toaster oven in the search box. You can put your zip code in to find a dealer near you.

Well, I stand corrected, I must have been looking at panasonic Japan or something else last night. My closest dealer is 400 miles away.

I bought it locally at Future Shop here in Canada and it cost at the time about $120. Back in August, the last time I was in there they had some up front with the back to school stuff for around $79... so it may be that they were getting rid of them.

Well, I'm having no luck. It's giving me service centers, but not retailers. And the nearest service center is about 200 miles away. There are probably some on Ebay, but I won't buy anything on there anymore. Too many scams.

But I know what to keep my eyes open for in places like Tuesday Morning and such now. :)

OK, here's what I got back from Panasonic when I emailed asking about their toaster ovens:

_______________________________
Thank you for your interest in Panasonic products.

We apologize but we have currently discontinued manufacturing and selling Panasonic Toaster Oven for the US market at this time. However, you may still check from local dealers if they still have the unit in stock or
independent dealers online. You may check Walmart, Best Buy, Sears, Costco or Home Depot if they still carry it.

We hope this information is helpful to you.

Thank You,
Panasonic Consumer Support
____________________________

Walmart, huh? Well, that's a sure sign the company's about to go to hades in a handbasket.