Breville Toaster Oven Review by Wyatt
Just purchased this product from a national box retailer to replace an aging DeLonghi toaster oven. I would give it 5-stars, but am deducting 1-star for manufacturing quality control issues. Upon unboxing the unit and trying it for the first time, the convection oven sounded unusually noisy — as if the fan blades had faulty bearings or were hitting part of the internal assembly. Upon closer inspection, I could tell that the front door was cockeyed by several degrees. It appears that the unit was built this way. The parts were clearly out of alignment. I tried to squeeze both ends of the oven together to force the door to align better. It helped very slightly — but it was still noticeably off. I decided to return the unit and noticed that the display unit at the store showed the same alignment issue — yet the photograph on the box showed perfect alignment. Clearly, there was some kind of quality control issue — possibly for this batch — that wasn’t caught at the factory. Fortunately, there was one unopened box left — and it was readily exchanged for the defective one. Upon inspecting this unit at the store before loading it in my car, it appeared to be considerably better than the other two — so I took the new one home.
With that behind me now, as frustrating as it was to receive a product that was improperly assembled, I’m pleased overall with the toaster oven. While larger than a typical toaster oven, the unit is very intuitive — and the backlit blue LCD display is bright and easy to read. Like most Breville products, the stainless steel exterior and overall styling are contemporary and clean. With enough room for six slices of bread or a 12″ pizza, this will come in handy when you don’t want to heat up the whole oven to cook a simple dish or reheat leftovers. With 1800 watts of power, this sucks up a full circuit - so be sure you have a 20-A kitchen circuit, which most modern kitchens have these days. But you may not be able to run two appliances on the same circuit (such as a microwave) while this is on. Make sure you put any other large appliance on a separate circuit from the Breville toaster oven.
Other than the manufacturing issues noted above, my only recommended improvement is the feel of the knobs. They look nice — but they feel like cheap plastic. For a toaster oven this expensive, a couple of heavy-duty metal or heat-resistant silicone-type knobs would add a touch of class to an otherwise functional product. I realize it all comes down to costs — but the knobs are something you use constantly — and they cheapen the feel of the product.
A nice touch is the recessed magnetic dimples on the inside of the door panel that pull the slide-out tray towards you upon opening the door. This causes the rack to slide out part way, making it easy to place your items — and remove them without burning your hand on the top heating elements. Such a simple idea, but very convenient. Nice touch!
If you buy this product and discover that your door is out of alignment — or if you hear a clanking noise when the convection fan turns on, then you have a defective unit. Now that I’ve exchanged mine, the fan is very quiet — just a purr — as you’d expect.
Overall nice product, but like many appliance manufacturers these days, the QC in some Chinese factories can be inconsistent, as we found with the batch at our local retailer. Assuming you get a good one — which I expect most are OK — you’ll be pleased with the ease of use, styling, and overall utility of this accessory.
by Arden
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