Thursday, February 12, 2015

Finding a Stainless Steel Toaster Oven?

This was a surprisingly interesting search -- in other words, it wasn't easy. I wanted to pick up a new toaster oven to replace the decade-ish old toaster oven that was still working but old, grungy, and used a lot of plastic on the exterior. It was also supposed to be an upgrade because the existing device was on the cheaper end. Why not splurge and get one of those fancy $150 ovens with the great reviews then?

Discount, Great Features, Why Not?
I started my search around the end of the year and found some decent discounts on "premium" ovens. Their feature sets looked impressive with good brand names attached to them. Best of all, the majority of their exteriors appeared to be stainless steel -- something about hot ovens without excellent insulation and plastic shells didn't sit well with me despite using one for so long. And then I started to notice a common feature: non-stick interior. From what I could tell, the ones I looked at used the older non-stick material, not the newer one.

Remember that thing about how hot ovens and plastic didn't sit well with me? The same was true for both inside and outside the oven. Having said that, I do still cook with non-stick (the older plastic type) pans regularly because they're so convenient and have been doing so for decades. Where possible, it is avoided though. Using it in an oven, not on cooking surfaces didn't seem necessary for me, especially if baking for an hour or more at over 400 F was a possibility.

Tracking Down A Stainless Steel Oven, Inside and Out
Back to square one then. My wish list of features got dumbed down to one simple thing: the majority of the interior and exterior had to be plain metal. All the potential options that I seriously considered were under CAD$ 100. Other, more expensive options others recommended online didn't appear to be easily available locally.

It came down to one option due to availability and price. Unfortunately, I still haven't bought it yet. When it came time to put my money down, the thought of throwing out a working toaster held me back. Finding an extra place to plug in an oven was also more difficult than I thought. But if you're interested, this is the one that I have been looking at seriously purchasing. The product photos I looked at suggested that my criteria for both the inside and outside to be plain metal was mostly met. The reviews didn't appear astounding though, and some of the lower rated ones were a bit concerning. For about CAD$ 50, I may give it a shot.

Do be reminded that I haven't bought the oven yet and have not had first-hand experience with it, so I have no idea what the product is actually like and if the interior/exterior are plain metal -- even if I did pick one up, that wouldn't be a guarantee with product updates and changes.

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