Toaster Ovens - worth it or space waster?

[wgeo]

Who has one? Is it worth it? Husband read one recipe where he thinks it would be easier to use a toaster oven and I had to stop him from running right out to Walmart and buying one.

I'm thinking its just a waste of space on the counter - any opinions? If you have one do you use it a lot?

I saw some that say convection oven and talk about preheating them. If I'm just wanting to make toast, do I actually have to wait for it to preheat?

 

[mjkacmom]

We’ve had many, always the largest I can buy. I use it many times a day, every day, way more than my oven, family of 7. I can fit a 9 x 11 pan in there, brownies, Mac and cheese, lasagna, plus I have 2 racks and can toast a dozen slices of bread. Dd21 doesn’t have one in her apartment, and misses it terribly.

 

[E&Cmom]

We use our toaster oven all the time more than our regular oven. Ours has a large base so we can even cook a pizza in it.

 

[wgeo]

So does it cook the pizza faster then a regular oven? Or heat up faster?

 

[Hikergirl]

It would be a waste of money and space in my house. I already have an oven and I already have a toaster so why would I need a toaster oven too? Seems redundant.

 

[tvguy]

We replaced our toaster with a toaster oven. I didn't think we'd use it much, but we do. It isn't much bigger than than toaster was, so if counter space is an issue, it shouldn't make a lot of difference.
When we remodeled the kitchen 4 years ago the designed talked us into an "appliance garage" cabinet, so it doesn't take any counter space at all when not in use. It lives in the appliance garage with the hand mixer, popcorn popper, egg poacher, food processor and coffee pot among other things. And there are 2 electrical outlets inside the appliance garage for those appliances to use.

 

[CrankyDad]

Love ours.. why fire up the oven for smaller things like fries, nuggets, rolls etc? Plus we got a convection one and cuts the cook time down by 20% or so.

Granted, we have a pretty large kitchen so counter space is not at a premium but even before in apartment living we had one.

J

 

[xlxo]

If you cook small portions at a time... the toaster oven is great. If you cook large portions or batches.... then the regular oven is a better deal.

My toaster oven was used quite a bit until I got a microwave.... Today, I cook with the regular oven and reheat smaller portions in the microwave as I need it.

 

[mamamary]

We use ours everyday

 

[powellrj]

I have had them over the years and they are great to have if you have the room for one. I don't have the room for mine anymore so its on a shelf on top of the washer.

 

[Iya]

We use ours daily, mainly as a toaster.

 

[Mirielle]

Huge waste of space in my kitchen. I bought the largest one I could find and now use it to heat glass in my stained glass workshop. Perfect!

 

[wgeo]

We use ours daily, mainly as a toaster.

Sorry to be an idiot - but do you have to preheat it to use as a toaster or does it work just as fast a regular toaster?

 

[dotfurio]

We have one but it sits on a shelf, not on my counter, because it takes up a lot a room and we found we weren't using it that much. We either microwave or use our regular oven.

 

[tasha99]

Big waste of space. I've used them in some situations, but always because no real oven was available.

 

[superme80]

We use our daily. It was the best decision purchasing it.

 

[firefly_ris]

I use mine constantly, uses less energy than heating the big oven up... great for toast, cooking little pizzas, appetizer type stuff, re heating leftovers etc. Great in the summer too because it doesn't make the kitchen hot like the oven.

I threw out my regular toaster, the toaster oven is much more multi use.

 

[TipsyTraveler]

Ours gets used on a regular basis, though primarily just for toasting bread. I figure, even if I never use it for anything else, it gives me the option to toast bread flat with cheese or other toppings, something a regular toaster wouldn't allow. So in that sense it's more versatile and eliminates the need for a toaster that toasts bread vertically (which we don't have).

 

[scrhsa]

Both for me. I have limited counter space but I use my regularly. Especially in the summer time when I don't want to have the giant oven heat up the whole house!! And it sure was nice at Thanksgiving when I had several things that needed to be baked.

 

[Iya]

Sorry to be an idiot - but do you have to preheat it to use as a toaster or does it work just as fast a regular toaster?

I don't preheat it. Put the bread or bagel in and turn it on. It is much faster than the toaster we used to use.