BREVILLE COUNTER TOP SMART TOASTER/CONVECTION OVEN

[lominator]

Has anyone had any experience with the Breville Smart Toaster/Convection oven? It seems to get favourable reviews. I want to finally ditch the microwave as I only use it rarely for reheating and don't think they are that safe health wise. I have a small kitchen and would love to mount the Breville under the cabinets, but don't think it can be done due to it getting to the oven getting too hot. I'd appreciate any information from other Chowhounders.

[PickyChicky]

We just bought the 800 model and it is so quiet! So quiet in fact that I'm wondering if the convection is working. No fan sound at all. Anyone have any thoughts on whether I should be able to hear the fan? Thanks!

[Googs]

There's a little low cycle hum, but its pretty quiet.

[PickyChicky]

Thanks - turns out the fan wasn't working. I returned it to Bed Bath & Beyond for a replacement. Super easy return and now I have convection! Yay!

[Klady]

Used smaller Smart Oven by Breville for the first time. The outside gets REALLY hot and the unit gives off a lot of heat. I have a small kitchen, and there was a noticeable difference in the room when I walked back in with the toaster oven having been on. The room was hotter. If someone touches it by accident, if they don't get burned, it's going to be one hot surprise, at the very least.

[flourgirl]

The unit does get hot. In fact, the manufacturer suggests that the top of the unit can be used a plate warmer.

But as for my kitchen heating up, this unit doesn't affect my kitchen temperature nearly as much as my full-sized range does. That's one of the pluses, imo, especially in the summer.

[sherrence]

We love ours! We use it all of the time. It can handle a 9x13 pan easily, preheats quickly and bakes evenly with the convection feature on. Also, it makes the best toast ever!

[Cynsa]

I love the Smart Oven BOV800XL for baking pie. It preheats quickly to 425°F - much faster than my stove's oven. The convection mode works well and very quietly. This morning I baked an apple pie at 425°F for 15 minutes, then finished it at 375°F for 35 minutes. Easy as pie.
Great results for both baking and roasting. I roasted radishes last night for 20 minutes at 375°F tossed in olive oil, lightly salted with freshly ground black pepper.
Not using it for toast, since we might only do one slice at a time or only English muffin halves; too much energy usage for a single slice and it toasts unevenly.
For the two of us in a small kitchen, this is the most happily used appliance after the KA mixer, the food processor, and my dishwasher.

[Breadcrumbs]

I'll have to try radishes in mine Cynsa...I love roasted radishes and for some reason I've never used the Breville. Did you use convection for the radishes or just bake?

[Cynsa]

with convection. I love these roasted radishes. Use the salt sparingly - too much salt on my last batch!

[gourmanda]

This discussion has me thinking of getting a Breville Smart Oven before the current toaster oven burns the house down. Can one of you that has one tell me how big it is? I see on Amazon and elsewhere dimensions of 18 1/2 x 16 1/4 x 11 1/4. What it doesn't say is what is length, width and height and I can't be totally sure from the picture. TIA

[goodeatsgal]

Hi Gourmanda - there are three sizes of the Breville Smart Oven. The smallest, the toaster oven size (I think they call it the Mini Oven) just came out a few months ago, and I think it's only being sold at Williams-Sonoma. That's the one we bought. It fits 4 slices of bread. We love it!

[BobB]

I have the full sized model, and it's about 18-1/2"W, 10-1/2"H, and 13-1/2"D (plus a handle that sticks out another two inches in front).

[gourmanda]

Thank you both!

[Googs]

You're going to love it. The day I used the toaster oven to make toast and it actually did it perfectly I think I cried a little. Good at all functions.

[gourmanda]

Thanks for the reports on the Breville. I purchased the Compact Smart Oven this weekend. Only used it a few times but so far I love it! Non-stick, easy to read, fabulous crumb tray. I'm thankful to all the posters that reported on their experiences with Breville.

[Breadcrumbs]

Just short of a year my Breville Smart Oven died. In the middle of making toast, its display went blank and it just stopped working. Fortunately the retailer we purchased it from took it back and replaced it.

Prior to this issue, we'd used the oven regularly (at least once per day) without incident and haven't hesitated to recommend it since it had risen to any challenge from roasting, baking, cooking pizza, broiling and toasting it out-performed any toaster oven we'd had previously.

I truly hope what happened was an isolated incident and that we'll enjoy our new oven for many years to come.

[flourgirl]

I'm bummed to hear this. I'm getting the feeling, based on some recent Amazon reviews, and posts like yours, that quality control of these appliances is suffering. I hope they get on the ball.

[Breadcrumbs]

Isn't that interesting flourgirl. I didn't even think to look on-line since it was less than a year old...we just returned it. Now I see this isn't an isolated incident and others are reporting the exact same issue. At this price point, I'd certainly expect to get more than a year's use out of a product. Very disappointing. Thanks for pointing this out...I'm glad I have a new receipt, hopefully if this one finds itself on its last legs, it does so before within the first year!!

[redbeanbun]

that is disappointing. we just got ours a few months ago and it's a serious amount of mulah for a toaster oven. thanks for the heads up - i'll be hanging on to our receipt.

[MelMM]

BC, the exact same thing happened to mine. I just emailed Breville customer service, and they sent me a shipping label. I sent it back on their dime, and they sent a new oven out very promptly. Whatever the problem was, I hope they have it resolved in the replacement. So far so good - it's been about six months. At least the customer service was good. I'm so attached to my Breville oven, I'd get another in a heartbeat.

[Seitan]

The engineers must have dropped the ball somewhere. They are supposed to build it so it dies just AFTER one year. :-)

[BobB]

Mine's been in daily use for over a year now, no sign of any problems.

[Mike9876]

That is reassuring. Thanks

[David11238]

I've had the BOV800XL model for a few years now, and love it. It's perfect for a single person as myself. It can hold small pans, the toasting part is spot on in terms of making your bread hot no matter what the darkness. I love roasting marrow bones in it. Perfect every time.

The Breville does get hot on the outside and the info board light seems to have dimmed: so I have to look close (nose close) to see what my settings are. Still, it's a great machine.

[JoeBlow65]

I'm debating about whether to buy the larger "Smart Oven" and bring it back to Taiwan with me on my next trip to the US. Read a lot of complaints about low temps, early failures and LCD display problems, mostly on Amazon. I won't have access to any warranty service, or any service at all. It sounds like a great oven, but can anyone comment on the reliability of recently purchased models (say within the past year)?

[maggielouise]

I bought mine last year (amazon). Just short of 1 year, the LCD display went out. I called the 800# and the Customer Service was amazing. I talked to an actual person who was courteous and efficient. His first comment was "We will be sending you a new Smart Oven. And they did.

[JoeBlow65]

Thanks for your reply! Great customer service is fine, but I'll be overseas and won't be able to access it. So I'm after a reliable product. Hard to find nowadays with everything MIC (made in you-know-where). You were lucky with it being just short of 1 year.

[maggielouise]

If this one goes bad, I will replace it with another of the same. I'm thinking they might be on top of Quality Control. For example, I've read a lot of complaints about the hot oven rack easily coming out of the oven along with your hot dish. When my replacement oven arrived, the rack had 'stops' that prevented this. A Very Big improvement.

Some toaster ovens are easily $150-200. This is so much more than a toaster oven, and so obviously well made.

When my LCD went out it was still usable. The light went out so the screen was just harder to read.

[flourgirl]

I'm sorry to read that people have been having problems like that with this oven because I love mine so much. I believe I've had mine going on 3 years now, I use it almost every day, usually several times, & I'm not having any of those problems.

[JoeBlow65]

Thanks to all for your replies. Glad to hear most of you have had no (or minimal) problems with your Brevilles. I'll have a week in-country to try and break it before I take it overseas. Planning to buy from BB&Beyond with a 20% off coupon. A return should be no problem if something goes bad within the week.

Also looking at the Calphalon XL Digital Convection Oven, but can't find too many objective reviews. http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/produ...&

[JoeBlow65]

Just thought I'd tell everyone I bought the BOV800XL, tested it for a week, then brought it back to Taiwan. Everything works as advertised and I'm pretty impressed with it so far. Checked the temps with a combo probe/oven thermometer from Sur La Table and it runs about 15 F below the set temp. The "Element IQ" is pretty nice. It varies the amount of current passing through the heating elements so that it doesn't overshoot the set temperature.

Only sad thing is that some airport baggage handlers must have slammed the box pretty hard as 3 out of 5 of the quartz tubes covering the heating elements were broken on arrival. I wired them up with high quality stainless wire and tested it out. Seems to work as before. Just need to be careful not to drip stuff directly onto the exposed elements.

[Stephanie Wong]

BobB (above) said that the Breville had enough room to convection roast a 4-5 lb. chicken. Has anyone actually done this? How did it turn out?

I need to replace an old countertop convection oven and I miss having roast chicken regularly.

[KarenDW]

We frequently cook 5+ lbs of chicken pieces in the Breville. As for a whole chicken, I butterfly mine. Also, remember to preheat the oven before inserting the chicken. Otherwise the top scorches.
I really like our Breville (which DH thoroughly researched prior to purchase)

[BobB]

I was guesstimating - I haven't actually done that, but there is about 5 - 5-1/2" clearance above the rack when it's in the roasting position, so you can measure for yourself. As KarenDW says, you might need to butterfly it to fit.

[MelMM]

If I am cooking indoors, the Breville is my preferred appliance for roasting a chicken. I usually pick smaller ones, in the 3.5 to 4 lb. range, because there are just two of us here. But I roast them whole in the Breville oven, and they come out great.

Everything that I can possibly fit in the Breville, I do there instead of my regular oven. Chickens, rack of lamb, cakes, etc.

[DAVESGIRL]

Just got mine a few days ago and haven't used it yet. I used 20% discount from WS over this wekend so for about $200 I got the one I wanted and I'm excited. I will report back after I've used it.

[flourgirl]

I love my Breville. I've had it for a couple of years now and not only does it work great, it still looks great too. I think it was worth every penny I spent on it and more.

[pikawicca]

I'm with you. Use mine all the time, and in the summer I never turn on the large oven at all.

[DAVESGIRL]

This is what I'm aspiring to! "Never having to turn on the oven in the summer"

[flourgirl]

Yep, same here. I have a small house, and the large oven heats up the entire house in no time at all. The Breville does the job just fine without battling with my A/C.

[Christina D]

+1

I love my Breville. The only thing I'd recommend is having a separate circuit for it. It draws a lot of electricity and I've had an issue at times when I'm using the Breville, the microwave, and the coffee maker all at once (for ex., when making breakfast).

[flourgirl]

Christina, yes, I've had the same problem! I recently had our home's electric service upgraded from 100 amp service to 200 amp service and i thought that would take care of the problem with the Breville. It didn't, I still have the circuit blow at times, I guess I'm going to have to do what you suggested.

[BobB]

And now, from the trivial but amusing factoids department: if you're a fan of 30 Rock, watch closely the next time they show the staff in the break room - there's a full sized Breville on the counter there.

[goodeatsgal]

Breville has just released a mini oven, basically a toaster oven. It's being sold exclusively at Williams-Sonoma. I'm excited to see it in person as we also need a small size toaster oven, and the two larger sizes have garnered such rave reviews. :)

[ChowFun_derek]

Bed Bath and Beyond has the non convection smaller Breville toaster oven as well.

[Ucdavis]

I've had it for over 1 year and LOVE it~ customer service is superb too- its our toaster every morning and I have baked quick breads, roasted vegetables, and broiled items in it too- love it!

[wvgardener]

Would one of you mind measuring and reporting the length of the electric cord?

I'm very interested in the Breville, but fear the cord may be too short to reach the appropriate electrical outlet. Thanks for your help.

[BobB]

Stretched out straight it's 36 inches on the full sized Breville. It's a heavy-duty 3-prong cord, you could extend it with a matching extension cord like the type used for power tools.

[wvgardener]

Thanks Bob. That's a big help.

[jenni49]

I have had my Breville for about 6 months, having replaced a 3 year old Krups that suddenly died. The Breville is great, easy to use, toasts beautifully & maintains even heat for baking, etc. Serves as a second oven when cooking a large meal. The top serves as a warming area, for plates, so it really can't be mounted. Expensive, but worth it. 20% off at BB&B with coupon.

[Raymondo]

I have had one for about a month and absolutely love it. Bought it on Craig's List new in box, never opened for $200 cash. So far, I have toasted, broiled and baked several dishes. It has worked flawlessly. I find it easy to use and easy to clean. Would highly recommend it to anyone.

[Seitan]

How do people find cleaning the Breville or the Krupps? I don't own one but from what I've seen of both these ovens in the stores they look like a pain to clean, what with all those elements, rods and covers on the ceiling. How do you get at, in between, and around those things?

[BobB]

On the Breville the sides have a non-stick coating and wipe down easily, and the bottom slides out for cleaning so the lower burners are a non-issue. The top I pretty much ignore and it hasn't been a problem. As I recall I never cleaned the interior top of my last toaster oven the whole time I owned it and that was no problem either. I suspect the proximity of the heating elements keeps the top more or less self-cleaning.

[armagnac]

The Krups top-of-the-line FBC4 toaster oven is very similar to the Breville, on paper at least. I've been using the similar FBC2 for three years now and am very pleased with most of what it does. Toasting bread isn't as even as with a proper toaster, but I don't mind. And for broiling and baking, with or without convection, to feed 1-2 people, it's gotten more use than the full-size gas oven right next to it.

The Krups ventilates through a row of slits at the front right corner of the top, so it needs clearance there. Not much space behind it where I've put it, but plenty on either side and of course in front. The outside of the oven doesn't get what I'd call really hot, but the users guide advises touching only the knobs and the handle, and wearing oven gloves if necessary.

The guide is here:

http://www.krupsusa.com/NR/rdonlyres/...

[BobB]

Similar but as best I can tell from the limited information on the Krups spec sheet, slightly smaller, at least in terms of interior height. The Breville has room to convection-roast a 4 - 5 lb chicken. It does not look like the Krups can do that but I couldn't find clear evidence one way or the other. Can you confirm?

[monopod]

FWIW, I have the Krups FBC2 and the "Toast" button broke after about 1 year of use. Since then, we've had to use the oven set to 450 to toast, which is seriously annoying (requires several button pushes and settings). I also don't understand why it has to beep several times every time it does anything - I just pushed "off," I KNOW you're turning off, you don't have to give me three high-volume beeps to let me know that you're turning off. (This is important in a house with a small child who might be napping in the next room; I end up avoiding using the toaster during these times because the dang beep is SO LOUD.)

Otherwise it works pretty well, but for a $200 toaster I expected better. Gonna try the Breville next, since the broken "Toast" button is pretty much a deal-killer.

[BobB]

Our old Black & Decker toaster oven just died (good riddance - never really liked the way it toasted anyway) and I decided it was time to replace it with something seriously high-end.

I did a lot of research. I wanted something that could do a lot of small baking/roasting/reheating jobs impeccably (we're empty nesters) as well as toast effectively, with convection capability as a plus.

I finally had it narrowed down to either the top-of-the-line Krups or Cuisinart, but in reading (and reading, and reading) the reviews, each one had some serious drawbacks - like on the Cuisinart, if you set it to bake something for X amount of time, when the timer hits zero it beeps to let you know, but the oven keeps on running until you manually turn it off! Astoundingly bad design choice. And the Krups (German brand with a good reputation, but now made in China) has a somewhat cramped interior and heats unevenly, with reports of a lot of out-of-the-box failures, with lengthy and awkward customer service. And both of them have front panels that get hot enough to give a serious burn.

Then I stumbled - almost accidentally - across the Breville, a brand I'd never even heard of. And started looking into it. And kept looking. And started smiling. The only negative I found was someone who was upset that you can't bake on foil or use glass pans in it. And I looked further and found that even that is not true - you shouldn't let foil touch the heating elements, or use oven-proof glass at very high heats, but that's true in general, not specific to the Breville.

So I just ordered one, at a whopping $245 (the best price I could find, on Amazon). Even though the Krups and Cuisinart, with comparable or higher list prices, are discounted widely to $150 - $200, I decided for a long-term purchase the Breville just looks like it offers better value.

It is due to arrive Wednesday. I'll post back later once I've had some experience with it.

Oh, and about installing it under cabinets - I would not do this with any toaster oven, they all get hot on the top and/or sides. This one will be sitting on a counter with at least 8" clearance above it.

[BobB]

Initial impression is positive. I've only used it for toast, broiling, and reheating so far, but it cooks quickly and evenly and the reheat cycle warmed up a dish of leftover pasta nicely without overheating or scorching the top. The convection fan is audible but quiet, much quieter than the fan in our full-sized oven.

It looks impressive, though as others have noted the knobs feel flimsy for such an otherwise solid machine. And it definitely has enough interior room to cook a good-sized chicken!

So far, so good.

[BobB]

Just found my first quibble: although you can set the Breville to broil at 500°, you can't set it to roast above 450°. I did a couple of racks of lamb in it last night and usually do these at the higher heat to get a good exterior browning while keeping the interior nicely pink. They cooked OK at 450° but not quite as well as I'm used to. I don't understand why 500° roasting isn't an option when the thermostat obviously goes that high.

[pweller]

I think it is wise to ask yourself what you'd like to do with the toaster oven. Personally, I use my toaster oven all the time, and I really prefer something small and very simple. I use it to toast sandwiches, bagels, and maybe cook some small single-serving vegetables or potatoes. To me, the Brevilles over-complicate what should be a very simple appliance. For example, I personally see no need for a toaster oven with a 60 minute timer, as anything that I would be cooking for that long would go into the regular oven. In my opinion, convection, digital readouts, etc. are all unnecessary for this sort of appliance. For me, simpler is better.

[goodhealthgourmet]

not much on the board, but here's a little to get you started:
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/615525
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/6020...