I Tested and Ranked The Best Toaster Ovens in 2023

After countless hours of review and trials of a wide range of products, the Best Toaster Oven in 2023 is Breville Mini Smart Oven. This is because it is a compact toaster oven, easy to use and produced the best consistent result in our test kitchen.

Whether you’re planning on roasting a full chicken or you just want to reheat a slice of last night’s pizza, the best toaster oven should be able to cook food the way you want it without requiring too much of your time or energy.

Our Top Picks

• Best overall: Breville BOV450XL Mini Smart Oven.
• Most affordable and cheap: Hamilton Beach 6-Slice Easy Reach Countertop Toaster Oven with Convection.
• Best large toaster oven: Cuisinart Chef’s Convection Toaster Oven.

What is a toaster oven?

A toaster oven is an electrical kitchen appliance designed like a small oven, used for toasting bread, reheating pizza and for broiling or baking small quantities of various other foods.

How we tested and picked

To find the best small, large, countertop and convection toaster ovens, we baked cookies, toasted bread, made fresh pizza, and reheated leftovers in 12 of the top-rated models on the market. In the end, we found three excellent toaster ovens for different budgets and cooking needs. Including a small toaster oven that cooks well, a compact toaster oven that is cheap and a large toaster oven that can handle all your cooking needs, and great for pizza.

Some of the best toaster oven brands include: Breville, Cuisinart, Hamilton Beach, Oster and Kitchen Aid. In this toaster oven reviews, consumer reports, ratings and buying guide, you will know which small and large toaster oven is best, after rigorous testing, and learn how to choose the best toaster oven for your kitchen needs.

Reviews of The Best Toaster Ovens

Here then is a detailed reviewed list of the best toaster ovens:

Best toaster oven overall: Breville BOV450XL Mini Smart Oven

Why we picked it

Consistent and impressive cooking results.

The Breville has the same 1800-watt power as toaster ovens that cost $100 more. Before we started testing, we were skeptical of the Breville’s “Element IQ” heating, which the manufacturer claims to be “for the cook who desires a countertop oven that bakes the perfect pizza, delicious cookies and toasts evenly”.

In our test, however, we found out for ourselves that it’s not just marketing. The Breville mini smart oven delivers amazing results by targeting its heating elements according to your chosen presets.

Its eight customized settings include “Cookies,” “Toast,” and “Pizza.” We were unsure how well these presets would work, but the results spoke for themselves: The Mini Smart Oven made chocolate chip cookies with crunchy edges and a gooey interior, and it produced the best batch of toast of any model we tested.

Easy to use.

Through all of our tests, the Breville was the most enjoyable to use. You won’t be constantly forced to consult the manual or second-guess what you’re doing. It guides you through every step to help you get the best results.

For instance, if you choose the toast setting, the Breville prompts you to pick a shade from a seven-point scale, then how many slices you’re making. It also tells you when it’s preheating and when it’s ready – which can be an essential feature for those doing a lot of baking.

Stylish and compact design.

With a sleek stainless-steel finish and minimalist control panel, the Breville is elegant to look at. The only thing that truly separates the Breville Mini from pricier toaster ovens is its size. It’s a little smaller than most other models in its price range.

If you’re not looking for a kitchen centerpiece, but instead in search of a small toaster oven, you’ll appreciate how little room the Breville Mini Smart Oven takes up on the counter.

What you should know and points to consider

It’s a small capacity mini oven.

Unlike the Cuisinart convection toaster oven, it’d be hard to replace your conventional oven with something this small. We actually appreciated how snugly the Breville fit on the counter, obviously because you won’t have to rearrange your whole kitchen just to accommodate it.

With that in mind, if you’re looking to roast a whole chicken in your toaster oven, you’re better off opting for a large capacity toaster oven, like the Cuisinart convection toaster oven.

Most affordable and cheap: Hamilton Beach 6-Slice Easy Reach Countertop Toaster Oven with Convection

This toaster oven from Hamilton is an easy to use, budget friendly, affordable and a great compact toaster oven for most home cooks.

Why we picked it

Great for the basics and beginners.

The Hamilton Beach Easy Reach Oven is a sturdy, no-frills compact size machine. It has settings for baking, broiling, toasting, and convection baking. This gave us more cooking modes than any other budget option we looked at. And it’s designed to do the basics really well.

In our toast tests, it toasted bread and reheated leftovers better than other toasters in its price range, producing results that were even and consistent.

Thoughtfully designed.

What really won us over was the Easy Reach Oven’s door design. Unlike every other model we tested, the Hamilton Beach Easy Reach Toaster Oven has a door that rolls up instead of folding down. It may seem like a pretty trivial detail, but it makes a huge difference in how often you have to clean.

When you pull the rack out on most toaster ovens, it sits directly above the glass door. That means most oven doors become a repository for crumbs and oozing pizza cheese. Hamilton Beach remained pristine throughout all of our tests.

It felt safer to use.

During our test, we noticed instead of reaching above a scorching piece of glass to pull out your food, the door stays safely up out of the way.

Large capacity.

As soon as we took the Hamilton Beach Easy Reach Oven out of the box, it felt more impressive than other budget options. It was by far the largest we tested in its category of performance and use circumstances, with an internal capacity usually reserved for models twice its price.

What you should know, possible drawbacks and points to consider

It’s less versatile.

Not everything cooks perfectly in the Hamilto Beach Easy Reach. In our toast test, the middle pieces were noticeably darker than the edges of the outer slices. But that’s basically par for the course, even with larger toaster ovens costing over $200. If you’re going to be cooking four or fewer slices at a time, it’ll do the job.

Not well-suited for dishes with long cooking times.

The timer only goes up to 30 minutes, a good measure of what you should expect out of a toaster oven for this price. If you’re planning on using it for dishes that take longer than that, it’s worth upgrading to the Breville Mini Smart Oven or the Cuisinart Convection Toaster Oven.

Best large toaster oven: Cuisinart Chef’s Convection Toaster Oven

If you are in the market for a good toaster oven for pizza, this is it. Cuisinart Chef’s Convection Toaster Oven produced the best tasting pizza in our tests.

Why we chose Cuisinart Chef’s Convection Toaster Oven as the best large capacity toaster oven

Large capacity.

The spacious Cuisinart Chef’s Convection Toaster Oven can seemingly do everything a full-sized oven can: roast an entire chicken, cook a 13″ fresh pizza (it produced the best pizza we tasted during testing), and bake a fresh batch of cookies. While other toaster ovens only have room for four-to-six slices of toast, the Cuisinart managed to fit nine, leaving plenty of space for more ambitious meals.

Consistent performance.

Similar to the Breville Mini Smart Oven, we didn’t have much to complain about with the Cuisinart’s cooking. Granted, every slice of toast wasn’t perfectly even, but we saw that problem with every bigger toaster oven, and it was still the best of our most expensive tier.
Consumer Reports came to the same conclusion, declaring, “There were no discernible flaws in its performance.”

Easy to use.

For as much functionality as the Cuisinart gave us, it was also one of the easiest to use. There was a thoughtfulness in features like the +30 second button and the interior light that the other models just didn’t match.

It has 12 preset cooking modes, more than the other high-end models we tested. And while more isn’t necessarily better, it was nice not having to think too much about getting the settings just right. Whatever we could imagine cooking in an oven, the Cuisinart had an option for. Even better: it guided us through it.

Thoughtful extras.

Additional, unmatched details separate Cuisinart from the rest of the pack. It comes with a 13” pizza stone, as well as separate pans for baking and broiling. Cuisinart also offers a three-year-limited warranty, where others – including the Breville – are only valid for one year.

What you should know and points to consider

Take up counter space.

Its dimensions are about 21” x 17” x 12” – a necessity in accommodating its roomy internal capacity. It all comes down to what you want out of a toaster oven. The Cuisinart will take up a ton of room on your counter, but you may never have to turn on your oven again.

Methodology: How we tested, reviewed and compared toaster ovens to find the best

Brand Reputation, consumer reports and critics

We only looked at toaster ovens that had received high scores from sites like Consumer Reports and America’s Test Kitchen. Unfortunately, these sites focused almost exclusively on the priciest toaster ovens available. Knowing that not everyone wants to spend half-a-grand on a toaster oven, we also included best buys toaster ovens – bestselling and popular toaster ovens with great user reviews from retailers like Amazon and Bed Bath & Beyond.

Power and precision

Popular toaster ovens range in price from $30 to $550. Depending on what you pay, there are certain capabilities you should expect:

• Budget ovens: Every toaster oven should evenly toast a tray of bread and reheat leftovers better than a microwave.

• Mid-range ovens: Toaster ovens that cost $80+ typically use convection technology that should yield consistent, accurate heating and tackle more nuanced tasks.

• High-end ovens: Bigger internal capacities and more cooking modes shouldn’t be all talk – they should expand your cooking capabilities and potentially give you an oven replacement.

Ease of use

No matter the price range, a toaster oven shouldn’t be a pain to use; but that’s not always the case. We looked for details like a distinct dial for desired toast shade and a clear way to tell if an oven is preheated. The less babysitting and guesswork involved, the better.

The quality of an oven’s presets is an indicator of ease-of-use, too. While presets aren’t a guarantee of quality, some are much more useful than others. Hassle-free presets make adjusting settings simple.

Ovens got extra points for including intuitive options, like those that let us choose the number of bread slices to toast, and specific go-to settings for common toaster-oven fare, like cookies and pizza.

Buying Guide: Toaster Ovens

What you need to consider before you buy a toaster oven

Brand: What is the best toaster oven brand?

Some of the best toaster oven brands on the market include: Breville, Cuisinart, Hamilton Beach, Oster and Kitchen Aid.

Our top pick is the Breville BOV450XL Mini Smart Oven. This is because it’s the perfect size for most homes, and strikes a balance between price and quality. If you, however, need a much larger size toaster oven for large cooking, Cuisinart Chef’s Convection Toaster Oven is the largest toaster on the market.

Types: What are the different types of toaster ovens?

There are two types of toaster ovens namely: Countertop toaster ovens (models that entail a trade-off between counter space and capacity), and Convection toaster ovens (models that mount underneath a cabinet).

Consider your kitchen size and type

If it’s going to be a convenient tool (that you actually use), a toaster oven needs to fit seamlessly into your life. Important factors to consider include: the finish of your other appliances, the depth of your countertops, and how much space you’re willing to give up to a new appliance.

Pay attention to your cooking habits

What will you cook in your toaster oven most often? The answer to that question will determine how much money you can get away with saving. If you know you need to cook a fresh pizza with bubbly cheese and crispy crust, you’ll need to spend more than someone who only wants golden toast and evenly cooked leftovers.

Decide on a budget

If you know your space and cooking habits, you can figure out what you’ll need to spend for a toaster oven that meets your needs. Each of our top picks is best-in-class for its budget level.

Toaster Oven Prices

How much do toaster ovens cost?

Toaster ovens typically cost anywhere from $25 to $1,000. While the cheap ones can cost under $100, they usually lack many of the accessories needed to cook any type of food. The mid-size compact option ranges from $100 – $250, and strikes the balance between performance and price. The higher priced models ranging from $250 and above, give you everything you need in a toaster oven.

Frequently Asked Questions