Oster Convection Toaster Oven

[sudsmaster]

Ralph,

I was in Walmart after work today (I know, I hate it there, but was hoping to find some winterized windwhield washer fluid - no luck). I strolled over to the small appliance aisle, and noticed a GE stainless halogen convection oven for $90. It's big and ugly, in a sort of crude retro motif, but the halogen feature is what caught my eye. This means it will heat up very quickly, and might be what you're looking for. It has electronic controls. No interior light, but with halogen heating elements it probably doesn't need one.

 

[rp2813]

Thanks Rich. I also avoid Walmart, which is easy since there isn't one conveniently located for me, but my partner has been known to shop there once in a while.

We've actually been using the VillaWare quite often lately and I'm warming up to it, so to speak. I think I figured out that whole heating indicator situation as it appears the indicator for the type of heating action you've selected will flash until the temp has been reached. Once it's reached the correct temp the flashing stops and when it needs to kick in again for more heat, there is no flashing.

So the more I'm using it, the more I think it's pretty good at what it does. Except for toast, of course. So it's providing a great excuse to keep the Sunbeam automatic out on the counter. It's the best toaster I've ever owned.

 

[sudsmaster]

I hadn't noticed the flashing bit. I did notice that once the toast function has gotten up to toast temp, it starts the timer countdown. Until then it's just warming up, I suppose. Knowing this, I tried running the shortest toast pgm without bread as a warm-up, and then ran the toast function again with bread for the real toast. It seemed to turn out better that way. Less dried out, I think.

 

[rp2813]

Yes, same thing with mine. The bread can be in there for several minutes before the countdown kicks in if the oven hasn't already warmed up. Strikes me as a variation on a regular toaster where the first batch usually takes longer than subsequent ones.

I find that I use the convection feature often, especially on those items that may want temps higher than 400, which is the max this oven will do.

My partner noticed last night that when "broil" is selected, the lower element still activated. That seems strange and I'll have to try it myself. User error is a definite possibility.

 

[sudsmaster]

Ralph,

Well I guess there are some additional differences between the Villaware and the Oster version of this oven. The Oster goes up to 450F. The display mode blinks during operation, but does not go steady when the oven temp is reached, it keeps on blinking. The bottom element does indeed heat up and glow red during broil, as does the top element. The difference is that the bottom element cycles on and off to maintain the pre-set 450 temp, whereas the top element is always on during broil.

There may be more differences but these are the ones we've discovered so far. Good teamwork! ;-)

 

[rp2813]

OK, I'm going to really keep an eye on the various functions next time I have occassion to use it.

 

[rp2813]

New Observations

I may have been mistaken on the flashing indicator thing for heating but it may not even matter to me anymore. Also, I did some broiling (or attempted to--more on that below) and noticed that when selecting that function, the max temp selectable does go up to 450.

So my partner bought some organic ground beef and we decided to do burgers but the weather wasn't cooperating outside for grilling. We decided to try the VillaWare's broiling capabilities and it was a HUGE mistake. Followed the limited broiling instructions for rack placement (meat 2-3" from element), let the element heat up, slid the burgers in there and closed the door. In less than a minute, the element cycled off. So I opened the door to cause the element to stay lit. It did stay lit but it didn't help with the broiling. The burgers didn't even sizzle under there. It took forever and the finished products were very unappealing. When I checked the pamphlet again, it indicated that the broiler was supposed to be used more for toasting of non-meat items than for actual broiling. That is a serious limitation. And bottom line, if you select "broil" that element should glow red for as long as necessary and not cycle off. I think after a certain amount of time the broiler will shut down on its own for safety reasons but until then the element needs to stay hot.

My partner is ready to evict this oven from the kitchen. It takes up a lot of valuable space and I suspect it ended up using more electricity than the regular oven's broiler simply because it had to run for so long in order to get the burgers done.

I think these units do well in handling jobs that are too small for a regular oven but leave lots to be desired when it comes to toasting or broiling.

Rich, I hope you are more happy with your Oster than we are with our oven. I have really lost confidence in it after its pathetic attempt at broiling.

 

[sudsmaster]

I don't intend to use the oven for broiling. In fact I no longer broil anything indoors - I use a gas grill on the covered patio to grill stuff instead. That way the smoke and grease vapors don't coat the walls inside the house. If I don't want to grill, I'll pan fry or saute it under the cooktop's exhaust hood going full blast.

It would appear I'm happier with the Oster than you are with the Villaware version. It does a good job of baking mini-loaves of bread, pizza, and the occasional Hungryman fried chicken dinner. How long it remains in my kitchen remains to be seen. Right now I think it's an attractive enough addition and it handles certain things better than the big wall oven.

It would be nice to have a halogen element version of the Oster, but the GE I saw at Walmart is too big and too butt-ugly to consider. Plus, I understand the halogen elements have a limited lifespan. For now, the Oster fits the bill.

 

[sudsmaster]

The Oster cooked a 12" pizza perfectly last night. It was a rising crust Safeway combination "Supreme" number. Used the convection mode, which seems to work very well in this oven. Reduced the temp by 25 degrees and selected the shortest of the recommended bake times. The oven has a "Pizza" mode but so far haven't tried that. I did turn the pizza halfway through about 90 degrees, for more even browning.

 

[rp2813]

Yeah, I think that these are best suited for simple oven tasks than anything else. I am not surprised to hear it did well on a pizza. Ours may remain in the kitchen long enough to end up with a pizza in it sometime. It seems to do well with baking small batches of biscuits, which my partner loves. And I also use the convection function as I presume it helps even out the heat distribution.