Product Review: Black & Decker Toaster Oven Model TRO390W

Our old Black & Decker toaster oven finally died of old age. We managed without one for awhile, then my sister gave us her toaster oven, another Black & Decker. It only toasted but that was enough for us as a temporary fix. Recently, Linens & Things ran a special. If you bought their Black & Decker Toast R Oven for $29.99 they would give you a $25.00 gift certificate rebate through the mail. This was such a great sounding deal that we ran right over and bought the oven. We've been updating our kitchen anyway so this was perfect timing. We were comfortable with the Black & Decker brand since all our previous toaster ovens were Black & Decker. We didn't do any research on this since the sale was on and the ad said it was for in stock merchandise.We were afraid they would sell out before we got there. Had we done some reading on this model we would have skipped the sale.

The Black & Decker Toaster Oven bakes and broils and comes with a bake pan and bake timer. For baking you consult your bake chart for the type of food you want to cook. Turn the bake/broil temperature control dial to the desired temperature and turn the timing dial to the desired minutes. Your choice is 1-15 minutes. A bell will sound when the time is up. You need to use the lowest rack position and place the bake pan on top of the slide rack.

Warnings: Never use glass lids on glass or metal bake ware use aluminum foil. Do not use air tight packages like sealed pouches or cans. Do not use plastic wrap or cardboard covers. Don't use containers larger than recommended and do not use any containers that warn against use in a toaster oven. Do not cover the crumb tray or any parts with metal foil. This might be what went wrong with our original toaster oven, we did cover the bottom inside with foil. Do not use any material other than the manufacturers recommended accessories in the oven when not in use. Do not clean with metal scouring pads. Do not store anything on top of it. Do not use near a hot gas or electrical burner or heated oven. Unplug when not in use and before cleaning. This is very important. We always kept our toaster oven plugged in and we almost set the house on fire because of this. We were gong out and Hubby dumped some clothing on the counter right by the toaster oven . We proceeded to leave the house. It seems the clothing had pressed the "on" button and the element was heating away. We returned to the house because hubby had forgotten his wallet and found the oven was smoldering and had the beginnings of small falmes in it. Had he not forgotten his wallet we would have been gone for hours and the house would have burned down.

To Clean. It is not self cleaning. You need to wipe the glass off . It can be easily cleaned but be careful because the door falls down with a thwump. That door has nothing to bumper it when it falls and could easily crack if you aren't prepared for that fall.The crumb tray can be removed for cleaning

The Black & Decker Toaster oven is larger than my original toaster oven which was also a Black & Decker. I prefer the smaller version since our kitchen has limited counter space. This oven measures 8' x 16" x approx 9". My old version measured 7" x 71/2 x 15". This doesn't sound like much but the newer version looks much larger. It is basically white with a strip of stainless steel on the top. It's also available in black. It has a contemporary look but feels oversized, especially if you have limited counter space.

The product includes a broiler tray and a single rack. The rack has two guides on it that allow the broiler tray to be "hung" from the bottom of the rack. When broiling, drippings will fall through the rack and collect in the tray. The rack is designed to be used without the broiler tray when toasting or baking. The rack can be positioned at one of two different heights the higher position for more intense browning.

For broiling use your temperature control dial turned to broil. No preheating is necessary. you use the top rack. You put your bake pan under the slide rack. There is a warning that says you should be sure your food is 1" away from the heating elements. The directions advise that you use your cooking chart as a time guide. Always check your food at the minimum cooking time. Oddly enough all this was very easy . The difficulty began when we tried to use the toasting feature.Toast was a challenge. Silly but true. With my old toaster oven I just tossed the toast in and pressed a button. Not so with this model.

Toasting: From the beginning I found that for me it was a bit complicated . There are three control knobs on the front right. These control your baking and broiling temperature, bake timer and toast shade selector . I could not for the life of me figure out how to start that at first, even after reading the directions. When toasting you must remember to first set the temperature dial to an oddly labeled position called "Toast On/Bake Off". The noisy timer has a maximum setting of 15 minutes, although a separate position allows you to keep the oven on indefinitely. The first time you toast they recommend that you set the toast shade selector, starting with medium and then adjusting your cycle. The "on" indicator light will come on and stay on until the toast cycle is done, a bell will sound and the oven will automatically shut off. For some reason this didn't get my muffin toasted. My husband explained that you had to first set the bake broil button to toast . Nowhere in the directions does it say this. On the first /top button it says "toast on/bake off". This button has to be switched all the way to the left until you feel the little click. So I tried again. Toasting took much longer than I expected,. The heating elements are placed much farther apart than in a traditional toaster. It took several tries on Medium and finally I went to trying dark and it came out too dark. Here's where the another big issue came up.This was a far more dangerous issue. When you toast and set the dial at medium it shuts off at the word light instead of going to the off position and the heating elements just stay on. A potential fire in the making. So now we have it home and I must say it was a great price but it has some really dangerous issues. We are in the process of getting it replaced.

We called the 800 number and they will be sending a replacement in 3-5 business days and they will send instructions on mailing this one back. I will have to give the replacement a try but I have a feeling we will have to buy a totally different model. This one has too many issues already. It's control system is way to complicated, it feels oversized and it has dangerous heating element problems.