Best Toaster Ovens of 2018

Why Trust Us? 

Top Ten Reviews has been testing, researching, and ranking kitchen appliances since 2010. After we research a wide range of products within a category and learn as much as we can about the products, we narrow the field. We then test several of the products in our test lab using our own methodology and keep careful notes. After that, we score them using a proprietary system that helps determine which products to include in our list and what their ranking should be.

How We Tested 

We spent 80 hours testing, researching and evaluating toaster ovens for performance, design, safety and convenience features. Among other things, we tested for temperature precision and ranges, as well as evenness, since that makes an enormous difference in how certain foods turn out. We tested how hot these countertop devices got on the outside since low temperatures guard against accidental burns. We checked how easy it was to program the timers and displays and noted whether they had manual dials or touchpad controls.

To gauge accuracy, we set all the toaster ovens to 350 degrees and measured how long it took to reach that temperature and tested whether the interior temperature matched our setting. These temperatures varied by 5 to 10 degrees on half the models we tested, and on the other half we sometimes found a dismaying difference of 50 degrees or more. We gave the highest marks to toaster ovens that stayed close to the temperatures we set.

Of course, with toaster ovens we cooked a number of foods. To check how evenly heat was distributed, we put bread slices along the entire rack in each oven and made toast. We found that most of the ovens toasted the bread to the desired shade and that each piece cooked the same amount, indicating that almost every toaster oven cooks evenly.

We also tested three different types of food to see how each toaster oven managed with raw, frozen and reheated foods. For raw food, we made cookies. There was some variation on how well done the cookies were. The low-priced models tended to bake the cookies far more than our standards and taste buds required, while the high-priced units baked cookies to our satisfaction. We tested burritos and pizzas for the frozen and reheated foods. All of the toaster ovens performed similarly, making thoroughly cooked dishes with good texture and flavor.

Things to Look for in a Toaster Oven 

Performance
To help you make the best choice for your household, we tested ovens extensively to see how quickly they preheated, how they performed at 350 degrees Fahrenheit, how hot the interior and exterior got, and how well they cooked a variety of foods. Great performance involves consistent temperatures, even heating, a reasonably cool exterior and, most important of all, properly cooked food.

Design
To decide which toaster oven is best for you, consider the type of cooking you do and the size of your countertop. Some people love dial controls, but others might prefer touchpad controls. Most of the toaster ovens we tested can fit six slices of bread inside, while a few can only handle four slices. The larger toaster ovens can handle a medium pizza, while the four-slice toaster ovens can only cook a small pizza. Depending on how you like to cook, you might want to look for other useful features including the number and type of preset cook functions, built-in timers and adjustable racks.

Safety
If you have older children and teens using the toaster oven, safety features are especially important. Only a handful of toaster ovens have automatic rack ejection, which helps prevent burned fingertips and hands, because you don't have to reach into a small, hot oven to slide the rack out. Other things that can play a big part in your choice are the presence of an automatic shut-off function, how well the toaster oven retains heat and the exterior temperature.