A Second Oven
Written: Aug 18 '00 (Updated Oct 17 '00)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: easy-clean interior, easily removable crumb tray, versatility, more space than we expected
Cons: don't turn both timers on at once or the auto shut-off will be disabled; being greedy I'd like even more space; somewhat expensive
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| owling's Full Review: Krups 297 ProChef Premium 1500 Watts Toaster Oven ... |
Special Note on 10/17/00: Despite the fact that epinions has added a little note to this product that says it isn't available on-line, they're wrong. I purchased mine at http://www.tavolo.com/, and I just checked - it's still available there. I also just checked http://www.cooking.com/, and it's available there as well.
Alright, so it's expensive. But you know what? It's worth every penny.
"Anybody Want Some Toast?"
First let's address the toasting. If you get something called a "toaster oven," then you probably want to be able to toast things. We certainly do.
The KPCP claims to fit 6 slices of toast. This is only true if you mean the itty-bitty store-bought pieces. That's all right though; it can usually fit 3-4 slices of our homemade stuff, and that's plenty.
The toaster setting knob has a long range from light to dark, followed by pizza reheat and top brown. It works great, easily giving us plenty of range from slightly-dried-out to burned-to-a-crisp. It's pretty steady, too, so once you find your ideal setting you can just turn it to that every time.
One note: it's a dial that winds down like a timer, rather than having one setting dial and a separate on-off thingy. This means you can't just pick your perfect setting and leave it there. However, I've found the dial is "loose" enough (i.e., you can set it a bit off from what you wanted and you won't see much of a difference) that it isn't a big deal. It's pretty easy to remember the rough area where you set it before.
Oh yes, and this toaster oven has a very convenient little crumb tray. Just wait till the toaster cools, pull it out of the oven, and toss the crumbs. No trouble at all.
The Oven Part
If you do lots and lots of cooking, like us, and if you like to hold holiday feasts, like we do, you've probably been desperately waiting for an extra oven. This one doesn't have huge amounts of excess room, but you can certainly use it for small baking and broiling jobs (yes, it broils!). It has a nifty little reversible tray that gives you two different tray settings, effectively. The accompanying manual will tell you which tray setting is best for which sort of activity - mostly it boils down to having the tray up for toast and down for most other things. It's very easy to reverse, too.
The toaster oven comes with a nice easy-clean black drip tray/pan with a cover with holes in it (so you can cook things on the cover and let the drippings run off, like a broiler pan in a regular oven). I love the chance to have an electric broiler. Our oven is gas, and while the over-eager high-flame broiler works great for meats, I won't let a creme brulee dish near it.
You set the function of the toaster oven (toaster, or broiler, or the temperature of the oven) with one knob. If you're using the toaster you then use the dial I mentioned before. If you're using the oven or broiler you instead use a second one, which functions as timer and auto shut-off. You can set it for up to two hours.
The Amenities
The inside of the toaster oven is coated with a very easily cleanable non-stick coating, which frankly is what makes broiling in here feasible.
The dial system may sound complicated at first (one for setting/temperature, one timer, one toaster timer/setting), but it's surprisingly intuitive. The only thing you don't want to do is turn both timers on at the same time as that may deactivate the auto shut-off, but when you think about it, turning two timers on at once is fairly unintuitive, and we've certainly never accidentally done it.
The temperatures are handily marked in both celcius and fahrenheit.
All in all, we've been very happy with this little appliance.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
owling
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Member: Heather Grove
Location: Maryland, USA
Reviews written: 689
Trusted by: 264 members
About Me:
Too many boxes to unpack, too few shelves...
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