Hamilton Beach Set & Forget Toaster Oven with Convection Cooking

I've had this oven now for a full two years and let me tell you, I LOVE IT. It is awesome in every way. It keeps the kitchen cool in summer. Never fails to cook my dishes to perfection. The probe feature is the most awesome of all because I never have to guess anymore if my meat is done or keep pulling it out of the oven periodically like I used to have to do to push a digital thermometer in it and check for doneness. Nope. Just stick the probe in, set up the correct internal temp, and when the dish is done -- whether a pork tenderloin, or simply a dish you are reheating -- presto. When done, the probe knows it, and the oven just shuts itself off and signals you with a bell. No guesswork so everything comes out perfectly. Another feature I appreciate is that Hamilton Beach has printed permanently on the front glass the correct internal temperatures for all foods. Really helpful. And lastly, a " feature" that isn't advertised but which I love to utilize is to place my other dishes I'm serving on top of the hot oven to keep them warm while I wait for the main dish to finish cooking in the oven. The manufacturer actually warns you with an imprinted message on top "HOT SURFACE" -- which of course it is, but I use it to advantage. If you are vacillating as to whether to get this oven or not, just do it. After two years of fail-proof performance, I can attest that you will not be sorry. Oh. One disclaimer: if you're looking primarily for a way to get 2 ovens in one, i.e., a toaster and an oven, this might not be your winning option, as toast takes forever. It does a good job of toasting once done, it's just a long wait. Not so great, but hey, we just wait vs having a separate toaster taking up space on our counter.

I'm a big time foodie and love to cook, so I tend to have high expectations whether it's the quality of my ingredients, my cookware or my appliances. I'm a single guy and cook for myself from scratch every night, so I was mostly looking for a small oven to replace my regular oven to bake, roast or broil whatever protein I'm cooking that evening. I've only had it 2-3 weeks now, but so far, no complaints. The size is goldilocks for my counter top, but obviously, this all depends on your layout. The controls are very intuitive and after reading through the easy to understand manual, I was up and running within a few minutes. Although at this point in my life I'm pretty good at not overcooking food, I have to say that the probe is pretty awesome. I've cooked pork tenderloin, boneless/skinless chicken breasts and salmon, setting all to the desired temp and the results were pretty impressive. I haven't taken the time to compare the final food temp with my pricey and super-accurate Thermopen, but my guess is that you could probably nail it perfectly by setting the desired food temp five degrees below what you actually want it to be. I don't toast very often, but I ran a quick test on one English Muffin set to Medium+ setting and it came out exactly like I wanted it to. I was considering the very expensive $250 Breville recommended by Cook's Illustrated, but I just couldn't justify the cost. What sold me on this model was the positive reviews and the price and at least in the short term, I'm really satisfied and have nothing bad to say. If anything strange happens, I'll update this review. UPDATE 6/27/15. I've had the oven ten months now and everything is still working fine, with no problems. My only wish is that the desired final temp when cooking with the probe could be lower than 140 degrees. I eat a lot of fish and if I cooked it to 140, it'd be completely dried out. 120 degrees would be a better number and I'm not sure why they designed 140 as the bottom. Since you can see the internal temp displayed as it's cooking, my workaround is to set it to 140 and keep checking it every 5 minutes or so. When it gets within 10 degrees of the desired temp, I don't leave it unattended as I've noticed the internal temp rises much faster at that point. Other than this one annoyance, I'm still happy with the oven

This toaster oven has an easy to read display orange LED display (looks a bit 80's) that tells you when it preheated. I've found baking temperatures to be very accurate, and the probe matched two expensive digital thermometers. I've made burgers and other smaller items and the probe works fine, you just insert into the center and try to bury as much of the probe as possible. Toast is a bit uneven but you have many settings to adjust how brown it is. It is great for English Muffins. You are limited to 12" wide pans. The convection feature works well. Temps are adjustable in 25 degree increments, that may be an issue for some. The probe can be used in "forget mode" and as a regular temperature probe if you elect to use the timer. I don't like how the probe headphone jack connection is recessed and you may be tempted to pull on the bare wire to remove the probe. Take the bit extra effort to remove it by the strain relief and do not pull directly on the wire, or you will be replacing it. Unfortunately, the plastic overlay unpasted and makes a creaky sound when you touch the buttons. It was like that from the start a bit but got much worse. Hamilton Beach does not stock this unit, so warranty option was a new oven that was lesser in value (the warranty book actually says you get one greater in value, but I never wrote them back). The replacement oven is $30 less on Amazon, and you have to pay shipping. Since I want the digital oven and the replacement (even the more expensive one) is a dial, I glued the overlay back, it seems to work well. It is a total shame that the company wanted me to destroy the oven over a 10c piece of plastic. I could see even the CPU failing and not having a part, but you shouldn't sell an item that will have to throw away after the warranty period for something very trivial. Most people would probably not glue it back and throw out a good oven. They do sell replacement probes. I have a Frigidaire 5-burner gas stove (which is amazing btw) and I bought a new overlay for $6. Most toaster ovens are a perfect example of a disposable society. It is not worth to have a service center, just make them in China cheap and send a replacement during the warranty period. In the early-mid 80s Farberware sold a large digital convection oven(probably 50% or more larger) than this one. The amazing thing is that it was digital and featured a probe just as this one does. It was expensive at the time (around $299). I'm surprised no one sells an oven like that today, it would probably be a big seller. I asked my parents for it but they never bought the item. I remember the probe had a large Hi-fi audio jack connection, this oven has a standard 3.5 headphone jack connection.