Review: Home Essentials Toaster Oven

I have owned a few toaster ovens over the years but most of them ended up being stashed away in one of my cupboards until I needed space and sold them at various yard sales.

That pretty much changed when we got our current toaster oven from Home Essentials.

I can't even remember when we got this particular brand of toaster oven. Part of me thinks it might have been a wedding gift (6 years ago) but I think we either bought it or got it as a Christmas gift a little more recently. In any case, this product is a semi-permanent fixture on our counter now.

We use the Home Essentials Toaster Oven a number of ways. For one, it has pretty much replaced the four-slice toaster we used to use to make toast, pop tarts, etc. That toaster is now stashed away some where and has not been used in over a year. We prefer the toaster oven now because we found it is easier getting the bread, etc. in and out of it (our toaster used to get jammed on occasion). Plus, we can make bagels and thicker breakfast items a lot easier. The toaster oven also allows us to butter the items ahead of time.

This was something I could have done with some of my other toaster ovens too. But, the Home Essentials brand has easier-to-understand settings than those other toaster ovens and doesn't burn the bread the same way the others did whenever I tried to make toast that way.

Of course, the reason I like this brand of toaster oven so much really has nothing to do with toast. Over the last year or so, I have found it is a convenient way to make everything from garlic bread to pizza rolls. The oven controls are easy to understand and it cooks everything evenly. The reason I like this product so much is, unlike our regular oven, it doesn't take 14 minutes to pre-heat and I can have my food before our oven would be warm enough to even make it.

The Home Essentials Toaster Oven has a sleek design that is compact enough where it won't take up a lot of counter space but large enough to hold quite a bit (or, at least more than you would expect). This is a big convenience because we don't have a lot of counter space to spare.

My only real complaint about this product is it is sometimes difficult to get food out of it without burning myself. This is because the food cooks just inches from the top of the oven. It's not a huge deal but does give me a challenge some days.

After trying the Home Essentials toaster oven, I now feel this is an appliance no kitchen should be without.