Hamilton Beach Easy Reach Countertop Toaster Oven, 4-Slices, Red (31337D)

I liked the look of this toaster oven, and the price is quite reasonable. I read a lot of reviews before buying it, and some of them, especially the ones about the glass in the door exploding, concerned me. But I decided to try it, and I love it. I like how the door lifts out of the way, the two knobs are simple to use, and the inside is nice and roomy. It makes wonderfully crispy, evenly browned toast. There is plenty of room for slices from larger loaves of bread.It remains to be seen whether the glass will eventually shatter, as a number of people have had happen. I’m hoping that problem has been resolved by the manufacturer. Aside from that concern (which I will return and post, should it happen), I’m very happy with this attractive, functional appliance.

I'm not a toaster oven aficionado but owned enough pop-up toasters to know a quality item. This has held up so far very well. Attractive, nice design, smallest toaster oven that wasn't too small. Takes very little space and swing up door doesn't require extra front clearance. Nice feature. Good usable design, more metal than plastic which is a bonus.Bread toasting quality is probably an 5 or 6 of 10. A little lacking in consistency. Once it's warmed up consistency is better but first toast of the day needs attention. More coils, or better coil design and rack spacing would make this an awesome toaster, if not one of the best. I think the overall design is worthy of a proper or maybe innovative coil implementation.Why is it so hard to make a good toaster? Do toaster designers ever evolve to better designs other than cosmetics or do they just give up on delivering on the promise of making good toast? Are there not toasting standards or metrics that need to be met? Like- A 15mm slice of bread should be toasted within 1.5 minutes, before the overall bread is dried beyond recognition. Or- Bread with a moisture content of xx% should be toasted to a depth of 1mm. Ok..maybe I am a toaster oven aficionado and I need to design the perfect toaster myself. But until then, this is a fine enough toaster.

Have only made toast so far but it was excellent--crunchy and golden brown on darker setting. I have been used to my boyfriend's older (different manufacturer) toaster oven which bakes okay but its toast never gets brown or toasted enough for my liking and it takes much longer. I also like the way it opens up--I sometimes would burn my hands or wrists on the open door while trying to get items out from the other toaster oven, whereas this one's door rolls up and away. This model is also more compact than many other toaster ovens. My only complaint would be the lack of a second rack to be able to cook two layers of items, but as I will use this mostly for toasting and reheating, not full-on baking, it's a small quibble. Finally: It's very cute, as well. I like the shiny red finish; it coordinates with the rest of my red accents in the kitchen and looks nice on the countertop.

Function: This is a good toaster oven for small items. It's not gonna do a big pizza, or bake cakes, any more than any other toaster oven, but it's great for Toast, Waffles, Taquitoes, etc, & you don't have to wait for the monster oven to preheat. It's done a nice job on all the things we use it for, and quickly. Timer setting works well, and seems accurate, then shuts itself off.Style: Normally not a huge factor to me, but when my giant old one went away, I wanted a smaller toaster oven, and I liked that this one looks good on the counter, & takes up a Lot less room. The big window, that doesn't require me to bend down to see in, is a nice touch, too.Safety: This door slides up away from me, not flipping out at me, and I like that a lot. I've been burned often on those flop out doors, and that hurts. Also, the handle on this is located at the base of the door, not the top, so it gets less hot. I've not had to use oven mitts to open it yet. Always had to be so careful with the old oven handles.Overall, I had a giant convection toaster oven before. It hogged a ton of counter space, put out a lot of heat, and did a terrible job on toast (my son constantly complained about how long it took to get hot).This thing is hot in seconds, and toast gets cooked quickly. The door allows you to see it cooking, easily, so you can figure how long it takes to get yours done the way you like it. ​Glass door shattering: That's a concern given the reviews I read from others., but I think I know why this might be happening. This has no side handles by which you can safely grab it, to move it, once it's hot. Thus, it's only logical that folks would pull on the only handle it has, the glass door handle. Since it's tightly wrapped around that glass, that means that it's also pulling on the glass, even when you're not slamming it around, & that's a stress issue.Over time I could see that breaking the glass, even if you were careful not to slam the door. I found myself doing it repeatedly, because the oven is small, so I push it out of the way when not in use, then pull it out when I'm using it. Hot or cold, I was grabbing that handle, so I put it on a folded fabric placemat, and now use that to pull it in and out, which spares the stress on the glass, and it slides better, too. Took some getting used to, but now I only use the handle to open the door, not to drag it around. I'll update, if the glass shatters, but for now, I'm delighted with it.CON: It is hard to read for my old eyes. Fortunately, I just turn it to the time I want most, and put a mark on the spot with a magic marker, and viola, I can see that. : )

As soon as I got this, I loved the finish on it! The red is like a candy apple red and the lid is easy to remove for cleaning, as stated. It fit where I wanted because they gave correct dimensions on it (very important to me). I have used the toaster part alot, and I have to watch it or my toast is over done. The dial for toast is hard to get exact, but I like mine light, and I can wait for it, it's so fast! And I've done fish fillets and French fries easily. It comes with an extra pan so I didn't have to look for something to fit. It's got a large interior and you can get a lot in it! Perfect for a single person, when you don't want to fire up the oven for a single serving of food. Exactly what I needed in the color I wanted! Oh, and the door is GREAT! No space needed for a drop down door! I didn't have space for that, and the door goes up so easily, I can use one finger to lift it up! Great for tight spaces!