General Electric Convection Toaster Oven

This oven is fantastic. I have used Black and Decker models for years, with great results. However, I have wanted to move to a bigger capacity oven for sometime. I frequently cook rolls, and big sandwiches, and the small size of the B&D has me always burning the tops of these items. When I saw the GE for $49 at a big box store, I brought it home. You simply can't beat this oven at that price, esp considering it is a convection, and has a built-in rotisserie. It is very stylish. The capacity is huge. It has 2 racks that can be positioned at any of 3 built in shelves to adjust height. There is 12" of depth to cook a small pizza. Convection is simply a fan that blows the hot air around to promote even cooking. It definitely seems to work much better than non convection ovens. I will continue to use my B&D as a supplement, but the GE will now become my primary oven. It is also very quiet, with only a small hum from the convection fan in bake. In toast, the fan is off.

I started by cooking identical meals in the GE, and my B&D to see which performed better. The GE won by a landslide. I cooked rolls in each oven, at the same temp, and for the same time. Predictably, the B&D oven burned the roll. The GE oven cooked the roll nice and crispy on the outside, still flaky on the inside, and did not burn it. One thing of note, is that the rolls came out better when baked. Toast setting only uses the heating elements, the convection fan is off. In toast, setting the timer on "medium" the roll was barely cooked at all. But, on Bake, with the convection fan in use, it came out much better, tho it took several minutes more to cook. IDK how it would do on actual toast, b/c I don't eat toast, but the timer settings on toast seem to be on the too fast to be adequate side. You might be better off buying a smaller oven for toast, and using this strictly to bake, where it performs amazingly. Next, I cooked frozen french fries, and fried chicken, again at the same temp. The B&D is a much smaller oven, so it heated up faster, and cooked the meal 6 minutes faster. However, the GE cooked it better. The fries were crispier, w/o being overdone, and the chicken was moister, more tender, and tasted better. I cooked a skinless chicken breast in each. Again, the B&D was 5 minutes faster, but the GE was better. Though skinless, the GE produced a seared top that made it nice and crispy on the outside, nice and tender and moist inside. The B&D was good, but not as tender and moist.

However, there are some important warnings. One, both the top and bottom heat up, esp.the top. All toaster ovens do this, but I have a heat pad under it to avoid scorching my counter top, and I'm careful not to touch the top when cooking. Two, the oven can be operated with the door open! My B&D always shuts off whenever the door opens. Obviously, this is a huge potential safety hazard if you're one of those that grabs stuff out of the oven, and doesn't remember to shut it off. That is why I always pull the plug whenever I'm done using any toaster oven, just in case. Next, the metal on the front heats up immensely. The only thing that is safe to touch, is the handle bar. More than once, I have opened the door all the way, and then brushed my hand against the top of the door as I lift my hand up, almost burning myself. Either be very careful, or use an oven mitt. It is for these negatives that I give 3 stars instead of 5.

I have mixed feelings about this oven. For me, it's 5 stars hands down. It cooks great, and looks great, but I have long been into the practice of unplugging toasters when not in use. The fact that the oven will stay on with the door open is a huge red flag to those that have household members that might forget to turn it off. For those with forgetful family members, small children, or who just don't like to unplug appliances, not to mention those who hate to use oven mitts around a toaster, I would stay away from this. If you're like me, then by all means jump on it for the $49 retail price.

As the oven on my old range has expired, and I intend to replace my manufactured home in the next few years, I decided to buy a multi-use toaster oven to use in the interem. After narrowing my choices down to the GE and a Black & Decker product, I finally purchased the GE product.

In the space of almost a week, I have used the toaster function many times, baked brownies, roasted peanuts, cooked a TV dinner, baked potatoes and made my special Rosemary Potatoes. Thus far, to my surprise, it has performed each function perfectly. The controls are easy to use and, while the oven gets hot, it's not as hot on the outside as I'd expected considering the heat on the inside, especially while on broil.

So far, so good . . .

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I bought this oven from walmart at Christmas time for about 1/2 the price of the going rate on here.

With that being said

This is in my opinion the little convection that could!

It cooks bread,cakes,and pastries like a champ perfectly done and not burned on the bottom

the rotisserie works awesome (Albeit there is a little lag in the motion)

but it cooks chickens just like you would buy from the deli or restaurant

I also rotisserie cooked a rib roast on Christmas day and it came out perfect

i couldn't be happier

as for complaints about the edges of the handle being to hot?

yea its true but most of us know not to open a hot glass door by the edges

awesome unit

i recommend it to everyone

Bill

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For making biscuits and other baked items, you can't beat this oven. Everything turns out fluffy and light.

However, when it comes to making other non-pastry/rising items like potatoes au gratin, etc. it seems like this oven takes forever to cook the item. I always thought convection ovens were supposed to be faster, but this isn't. That's a bit of a turn-off since I thought I'd be saving on some electric.

The oven does get VERY hot and one must take that into consideration if you have children or pets or your counterspace is limited and there is fire hazard for something this hot to be in close quarters.

Last but not least, the instructions said you can't use aluminum foil inside the oven. So you'll want to make sure you're stocked up on parchment paper. That's not a huge deal, and I prefer parchment. But one should be aware of this before purchasing.

There are few instructions included, which is also a bummer, so I also think the instruction manual could be made a little more informative for the user.

It is, however, a value for the money. But don't expect the convection end of this to be a great energy and time saver in the kitchen.

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I was surprised to see the low ratings given that I am back on Amazon to search for one of these for my mother in law. I personally love the toaster oven, don't find that it damages my counter top at all (and I have a cheap particle board, do it yourself counter from Home Depot!) and use it for everything! I cook casseroles in it, bake cookies, full size DiGiorno pizzas, brownies, meats, etc., etc. Sure, some things take planningie, the large pizzas should be rotated, but I don't mind since it's just simple physics that the backside would be hotter next to the insulated walls as opposed to the side by the thin glass. I even used the rotisserie function to make a full rotisserie chicken! The top does get hot. Not a big deal. My only complaint is that it doesn't toast bread very well. I prefer a regular toaster for this, since the bread turns out toasted all the way through in this oven (like Melba toast). But some people might like that. I live in a hot climate, so having this as an alternative to using my big oven is WONDERFUL!