Cuisinart TOB-40N Custom Classic Toaster Oven Broi

The Goldilocks of Toaster Ovens
My more expensive, super fancy Krups toaster oven recently kicked the bucket after about 4-5 yrs of service, and it was time to replace it. While my Krups was a good toaster oven (before it died), it took up a lot of space on the counter, it was expensive to buy, and frankly it had a lot of features (convection) and interior space that I just don’t use and don’t think are necessary in a toaster oven. So when I shopped for a replacement, I decided to go downmarket a bit.Problem is, the toaster oven market is bifurcated towards two extremes and IMO neither is ideal. On the low end, are super cheap pieces of junk. On the higher end, are expensive behemoths that take up all your counter space and have a lot of features that most of us will never use. Now I’ll admit, for someone who lives in say a small apartment and doesn’t have a regular oven, the second type may make sense. But I live in a house with a regular kitchen and I have a regular oven and a cooktop, as well as a gas grill and a big green egg. What this means is, I’m not going to be roasting a whole chicken or searing steaks or baking any cakes or cooking thanksgiving dinner in my toaster oven. What I mostly use my toaster oven for is 1) toast! and 2) heating up things like leftover pizza or empanadas or really anything else that will get soggy in the microwave but you don’t want to wait for the regular oven to preheat when alls you want to do is heat up a single item, and 3) odd things like maybe an open faced sammich or something. So really, anything small that you want to heat up quickly yet still have it be crispy. I have a hunch a large percent of toaster oven owners use them pretty much like I do and want a quality product but don’t want a $300 large convection toaster oven taking up all our counter space, but also don’t want to trust the $20 hunk of junk that looks like it will die in 2 weeks and can’t toast evenly.This toaster oven is a good choice because:1) It’s simple – toast, bagel, bake, broil. The analog controls are simple to use, and unlike a digital keypad it “remembers” what your last setting was (for say toast darkness or oven temp), which you are likely to use repeatedly. Some reviews complained the controls are hard to read, and I don’t find this to be a problem although I do have good near-sight vision. The crum tray is easy to remove, clean, and replace.2) It works – nice even toasting. Heats up quickly for reheating items. I was surprised at how light it was out of the box, but it works well so this doesn’t appear to be a problem.3) It’s a fair price – way cheaper than the expensive convection ovens, but not so cheap as to be garbage4) Small footprint – doesn’t take up much counter space yet still big enough for everything I want a toaster oven to do. Honestly if something can’t fit in this thing I have no problem firing up the regular oven.Now, there seem to be 2 basic complaints on this model and I don’t find either to be a problem:1) No timer – who cares? I’m only using it for toast (which does shut off when it reaches desired darkness) and to heat up small stuff that only takes a few minutes, I can hang around and keep an eye on it. Again, this seems like more of a problem for people who want to bake a cake or something and I don’t know why you’d want to use a toaster oven to do that.2) A lot of people complain that the toast comes out too dark – I’m puzzled by these complaints as I find it extremely easy to set the toaster to desired darkness. The medium setting comes out pretty much what I’d expect medium toast to be, and more importantly you have infinite adjustability with the analog controls so it shouldn’t take you much experimenting to figure out how you want it. One person even complained they had this for over a month and couldn’t get toast that wasn’t burned – I’d say this person either got a defective unit, or they are severely challenged when it comes to the operation of small electronics and/or employing the trial and error method.Overall – there should be more toaster ovens in this segment. If you don’t routinely roast whole prime ribs or do hard core baking in your toaster oven, this should suit your needs well.Edit: Well, 3 1/2 years later, one of the coils was coming apart and my girlfriend threw the Cuisinart away because she claims that’s a fire hazard! Replacement is a Kitchenaid unit purchased from Costco (which also doesn’t have a lot of unnecessary bells and whistles, although it’s a bit bigger). The new Kitchenaid definitely does not toast as quickly or evenly as the trusty old Cuisinart! I wish we’d just bought another as it’s replacement. 3 1/2 years isn’t too bad for a toaster oven that was used fairly often and not really taken care of, rarely cleaned etc. I stand by my old 5 star review.

Worked great until it didn’t, but we’d do it again.
We bought this exact model in June of 2013, and it worked perfectly for just over 4 years, until it didn’t. That said, we’ll do it again, and here’s why.What we loved about it – small, compact size that still included reasonably effective baking features. Both bake and toast features came to temperature very quickly (no long waits for either). Baking and toasting were fairly uniform and reliable. Toasting sensitivity variance was decent; if you turn it down for a lighter browning, you get it (although an analog knob is admittedly not as swanky as a digital display, it did the job). We also liked the clean, simple design; one reviewer praised that it didn’t look like a rocket ship, and we agreed. It coordinated well with our stainless appliances without shouting “Look at me!” Knobs and handle were sturdy and held up well; crumb tray slides out easily for cleaning. Sides do not get too hot, and the rubber grip legs were an especially practical feature for keeping it from sliding around the counter when grabbing for the open door. We’ve knocked heavy items into the glass door multiple times (klutzes, all, in this family), and it’s withstood. The unit cleans easily with no hard-to-reach nooks.What we didn’t love – as I mentioned, at year 4, suddenly and mysteriously, all controls just stopped working. They appear to work; you can turn dials and push buttons, and timers go off, but they aren’t regulating anything. Essentially we are getting the coils heating up to the maximum temperature and just cooking the heck out of everything (or burning it), regardless of toast or bake or broil settings, until we unplug the toaster from the wall. My husband is a fairly handy individual with an engineering background, but even he doesn’t want to be bothered with figuring out what’s happening here.Despite that annoyance, I actually think we’re likely to invest in the same or similar model. Toaster ovens are notoriously finicky and unreliable. In our 17 year marriage we have gone through countless brands and models, and this was one of the better (sad to say, at only a 4 year lifespan). I’ve observed models with a longer shelf life, but they’ve ironically been the cheaper types that take 20 minutes to toast your wheat slice, and I don’t have that kind of time. The simplicity of this model also eliminates all the digital displays going amok, which has happened in the overly fancy models. This one lands in the middle-of-the-road, not-too-huge, fairly aesthetically please, reasonably priced and “good enough” category.Hence, we’ll do it again.

El mejor hornito

This oven is a bit bigger and fancier than my old Betty Crocker one. It has multiple functions which I have tried and work great. It’s extra large for bigger meals and has a nice look. I don’t like the black exterior but looking at the stainless steel one, it would have cost $30+ more for a stainless steel one and more functions/features I probably wouldn’t use. I normally just bake in my oven.I am curious about that metal piece in the oven on the left hand side. I find it gets in the way when you are baking at the middle level. Does anyone know what this is for? I love the fact that the crumb tray is a removable tray vs the hinged one from my old oven. If you’re looking for durable, affordable, and stylish, this oven fits the criteria.Pros:StylishMulti functionsPull out crumb trayLarge cooking surfaceCons:Black exteriorNo timer