Product Review Aroma Aeromatic Turbo Convection Oven - Model AST910DX

The Countertop Crofton Convection Oven appears on sale at Aldi every so often and on the last go around of sales we picked up this appliance for our kitchen. We paid a little under $50 for our countertop convection ovenl. The same basic convection oven is available under a different brand name for about $30 more in some stores and on-line web retailers as the Aroma Aeromatic Turbo Convection Oven Model AST910DX.

The Crofton Convection oven has three pieces, which are the top heating element, a large glass bowl, and a plastic brace which allows the oven to sit on your counter top. Both the brace and top heating element are white and should fit in well with nearly any kitchen decor.

The Crofton Convection oven uses a dial thermometer that ranges a low food warming setting to 500 degrees. The secondary dial is a timer that allows you to set your food to cook for up to 60 minutes. There are two indicator lights that show power indication and whether the heating element is on or off.

Cooking frozen Food with the Crofton Countertop Convection Oven
Over the past several months we have tried to cook various meals in our Crofton Convection Oven. The oven works best in cooking pre-made frozen foods, like frozen chicken nuggets, frozen fried fish, frozen chicken patties, and French fries. Smaller items work best since they sit lower in the oven away from the main heating element. This allows the convective processes with the oven work to their fullest. For best results, we flip whatever we are cooking about halfway through cooking.

Cooking a Whole Chicken with the Crofton Convection Oven
Once we tried to make a whole chicken in the Crofton Oven. The results were excellent. Since the chicken filled a large portion of the two gallon glass bowl, and the top portion of the chicken was fairly close to the main heating element, we used tin foil to cover the top portion of the breasts, wing tips, and drumsticks to keep them from burning. The chicken came out tender and juicy and was evenly cooked throughout.

This convection oven is more efficient over using our traditional oven. When compared to our traditional oven, we generally cook food at about 50 degrees less over the stated instructions for frozen food items. In addition, food is ready in about 50%-75% of the time that is needed to prepare frozen food items.

One drawback of the Crofton Countertop Convection Oven is that it does require fairly frequent cleaning, especially if you cook larger items like chicken or steak. For frozen food items, we simply line the bottom of the oven tin foil that allows us to cook foods several times without the need for cleaning.

Overall, we are happy with our purchase of the Crofton Countertop Oven. If you do not have an Aldi nearby and are willing to spend a few extra dollars, look for the Aroma Aeromatic Turbo Convection Oven - model number AST910DX.