The Best Stainless Steel Countertop Oven

Buying Guide

Nothing beats the convenience of a stainless-steel countertop oven, which can satisfy bevy of your cooking needs in a snap, from reheating meals and toasting bagels to baking pizzas and roasting vegetables. Thanks to the petite ovens’ compact sizes, which can vary anywhere from about 12-by-9-inches to 20-by-13-inches, they also heat up more quickly than conventional kitchen ovens while taking up limited counter space.

As the name suggests, toaster ovens are ideal for browning slices of bread, but today’s designs offer a variety of other convenient temperature and control settings, including bake, broil, warm, defrost, convection bake and air fry. The stainless steel exterior makes it both easy to clean and easy on the eyes.

Whether you’re seeking a countertop oven to crisp a small frozen pizza or to perform more complex cooking tasks such as dehydrating fruit or baking bread, there are many options to choose from. There are two basic types of toaster ovens: convection and standard conventional. A conventional oven is powered by radiant heat, warm air and conduction (like a standard kitchen oven), while a convection oven is amped with extra power via a built-in fan that helps evenly circulate hot air inside of the device.

That extra boost from the convection fan supports faster and more even cooking and beautiful browning (think: the skin on a Sunday roast chicken and crisp-on-the-outside but gooey-on-the-inside chocolate chip cookies). “Natural” convection is a type of heat transport that doesn’t require an external force. Convection ovens are often equipped with additional, more powerful cooking settings than their conventional counterparts. Conventional ovens are more ideal for basic cooking tasks like toasting, broiling and reheating, while convection varieties are better suited for bigger jobs like baking and roasting.

If you’ve ever heard of an air fryer, which has become more popular within the past couple years , it is basically a different breed of countertop convection oven that uses the same circulating hot air to cook your food with a small amount of oil. Instead of a rack, air fryers sport a fryer-style basket, but can also bake and toast like a countertop oven.

Most stainless-steel convection and conventional countertop ovens come with standard elements such as a built-in timer with an automatic shut-off feature for safety, adjustable temperature settings (anywhere from 80 to 475 degrees), at least one wire rack and at least one removable pan. The temperature settings are controlled using knobs or via a digital interface. Additional features could include a removable crumb tray, non-stick pans and double or triple wire racks.

The capacity of countertop ovens also vary: Some may be large enough just to brown four slices of toast or a nine-inch pizza, while others can accommodate 18, two pizzas or a nine-pound chicken. Another bonus: Toaster ovens used one-third to one-half less energy than a conventional full-size electric oven for cooking small meals — so you can feel a little less guilty about devouring that perfectly melted cheese quesadilla.

• When choosing a countertop toaster oven, consider where it will live in your kitchen and which power outlet(s) you plan to plug it into. Power cords lengths vary on each model, so ensuring the spot you plan to use it is near an outlet is key.
• Do you need a convection countertop toaster oven or a standard conventional one? The answer lies in how much you want to spend and your cooking habits. A budget-friendly standard toaster oven will easily satisfy needs like toasting bagels or melting cheese on bruschetta, while a fan-assisted convection toaster oven will cook your food more quickly and evenly.
• The wattage of a toaster oven, which can range from ranging from 800 to 1,875, has more effect on your energy usage than your cooking times. The higher the wattage, the more energy is required to operate it and models with more bells and whistles—screens, digital controls, a convection fan—are less energy efficient.
• Pre-heat your countertop toaster oven like you would any regular kitchen oven; it should heat up in five to 10 minutes.
• Never immerse your countertop toaster oven in water. Before cleaning your appliance, unplug it and make sure it’s cool to the touch. Check the manufacturer’s manual for instructions, but you can generally clean the inside and outside with a damp cloth, sponge or paper towel. To make your own cleaning solution, mix warm water with a splash of vinegar and a few drops of dish soap. Avoid getting the heating element wet and allow the appliance to dry thoroughly.
• For easy clean-up after every use, line the pan that comes with the countertop toaster oven with foil and discard it when you’re done cooking.
• To convert a conventional kitchen oven recipe for a countertop convection oven, reduce your toaster oven’s temperature by 25 degrees and the cooking time by 25 percent from what the instructions call for. Be sure to check the doneness halfway and three-quarters through the cooking time, especially if you’re using the recipe for the first time, to avoid overcooking.
• If you need inspiration on what to cook in your toaster oven, consider purchasing a cookbook such as “101 Things to Do with a Toaster Oven” by Donna Kelly, which features recipes for nut-crusted salmon, lasagna stacks, baked French toast, and much more.