Five reviws of the Hamilton Beach 31197 Countertop Oven with Convection and Rotisserie
1、We received this oven as a wedding gift 6 months ago. Since that time I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve turned on our main oven. We used this almost on a daily basis. It heats up in a fraction of the time my regular oven, uses less energy and heats food faster. I’ve cooked bread, cakes, pies, casseroles and much more using the convection oven. It also came in handy on Thanksgiving – no worries when something couldn’t cook at the same temp as the turkey!
This oven is also very user friendly and compact. It tucks easily into our pantry shelves yet has enough capacity to cook two pies.
Note – this oven does not have a toaster function, although you can broil bread, but you have to manually flip it and it takes a while.
I plan to buy one for my mother, and would recommend this oven to anyone who is tired of heating up their conventional oven to bake one item.
2、Purchased to replace another brand Convecton Oven that went DOA so found one on Amazon and purchased it as a replacement.
A decent product and my wife likes it, the most important opinion on something like this, I couldn’t find one any larger at the time and this one fits the bill fine now anyway, all metal except where not necessary.
Arrived undamaged, packaged well with instructions for those that need them to plug into a wall outlet but there was a warning on placement of this oven that should be heeded so fires are not a buy product of its use in the wrong place.
The price was right or I would not have purchased it, seems to have decent quality and is still working as it was purchased quite a few months ago and has been in use most of that time in the garage, we don’t use the gas oven in the summer here due to high outside temperatures and the heat of the oven defeating our air conditioner.
The Little Oven has performed well with a shelf, upper and lower elements to broil, bake anything you might need including an attachment to secure a small chicken or turkey or anything you decided to roast in there on a revolving motorized system built into the oven, the rotisserie part of it.
We’ll see if it lasts as long as the previous one I guess which lasted over a decade, a tough act to follow.
3、I’ve been using the Hamilton Beach countertop convection oven for about 4 weeks now and I am very pleased. It does need to be pre-heated as mentioned in reviews that I read before I purchased it and does not heat up as quickly as a small toaster oven but it is 3X the size so that makes sense. There are trade offs from a toaster oven which I was replacing with the convection oven. First, I was able to (hence the name) toast/toast. Takes way too long with the Hamilton Beach…I just assumed I would be able to use it for that. The only other thing to consider is there is no way to tell if it truly has reached the temperature. A regular oven normally will have a LED Light go off to let you know it is as the right temp. I will need to purchase an oven thermostat to be able to tell this. But the price was amazingly affordable and I believe it is a great product in spite of the few bells I wish it had.
4、I have not try the rotisserie yet with real food but mechanicly it works turn on and off spins and all.so is the convection side of it.
The good:
1)this oven cooks verry well , yes 5 stars.
2)quality of the food out of this oven is exellent,yes 5 stars.
3)quality of construction is there also,looks like it’s going to last,yes 4 stars.
4)lots of space inside cook for more then two at one time, yes 5 stars.
5)Cleaning it is ezy, yes 5 stars.
Pull out the tray without opening the door and replace the foil paper.
The not so good:
it’s tall only 4 inches away from the overhead cabinets and the top get verry hot, so i keep it in front of the counter top away from the cabinets.(no kids in the house),problem solved.
Now if your cabinets are further up you can place the oven all the way back under the cabinets away from the kids.
To the person saying that the temperature is off by 50 degre.
it is not,this person is mistaking,set the temp pass the number not before it.
the verdic:
guilty of helping me be a better cook and making the kitchen more enjoyable.
If you are not willing to spend 100$ or more this is for you.
This oven looks really cool at night soon you turn off the kitchen lights it turn into a fireplace, seeting at your kitchen table thru the glass door you can see your food cooking enjoy a glass of wine and wait.DID I SAYD THAT?
5、It got to us just few days after ordering, which is always nice =)
We just got ours a couple of weeks ago.
Seems to work fine.
The temperature button is a bit lose, maybe it is made that way?
Did have to run to the thrift store & find smaller baking pans.
That is alright though,my two oldest are grown & on their own so it is just the two of us.
Also, It is not bad looking! lol
I had an older smaller toaster oven and it was just the ugliest thing. 
Over all so far we are pleased.
Six reviews of the Breville BOV800XL The Smart Oven 1800-Watt Convection Toaster Oven
1、
This is by far the best toaster oven that I have ever owned. Note the following small negatives:
1. Sometimes you need to hit the start button repeatedly to get it to work.
2. Trays that come with it seem to stain easily.
3. Be sure that you have lots of room around the oven for safety as it really heats up.
And now for the really big positives:
1. The food really does tast great!
2. Food cooks evenly.
3. More efficient than using a standard oven.
4. Very easy to clean
5. Even older users learn quickly and find it easy to use.
Assuming that you can live with the identified shortcomings, I highly recommend this toaster oven. I am eating better and more healthfully as a result.
2、I have to subtract .05 stars for no light. I can’t find anything else to gripe about. Since I got it I’ve tried to throw everything in it that failed in my previous toaster/convection ovens. Apart from toasting bread and bagels perfectly from fresh or frozen the thing is a small oven rather than a toaster. Calling it a “toaster oven” isn’t nearly as accurate as calling it an oven that also toasts.
Many convenience foods specifically say not to cook in a toaster oven. I have tried to do these in other toaster/convection ovens with predictably bad results. Burned top and bottom with raw inside. The Breville cooks like my big oven but preheats much, much faster and doesn’t heat up the kitchen as much. It does pizza better than my big oven and reheats leftovers well. Other items I’ve tried and baked perfectly: Baked potatoes, refrigerator biscuits, frozen turnovers, toasted pecans, pot pie, potato casserole and bread. It heats very evenly and consistently according to my digital probe. Preheat uses full power but if you increase the temp while cooking, say from 325 to 375, The temp will rise more gradually so it doesn’t scorch the food. That’s actually smarter than my big oven which will now be used only for cooking things too big for the Breville oven or things that splatter or leak (the big one is self cleaning, I’m lazy).
It’s only a month old but zero complaints so far. The bamboo cutting board for the top was worth buying. Bite the bullet and spend the extra money for something that does what it’s supposed to. I’m glad I bought the bigger one.
3、I have had a series of toasters and toaster ovens over the years. Some have been OK, others were good brands, but fell short. My most recent one was difficult to clean, and did not make toast well at all. You literally had to stand and watch it, or it would blacken toast beyond recognition. And was it SLOW!
This Breville is a delight….I am so pleased with it. It is “sexy” and high end in design. The bread crumb tray catcher thingy slips out of the front, for no muss cleaning. The toast is perfect every time, and the directions very easy to follow.
The oven tells me when it’s warming up, when it has reached the desired temp., and when it’s finished baking! How cool is that. My old toaster oven went directly to goodwill.(sorry, Goodwill!)
I am glad I read the reviews and chose this oven. It definitely is worth the price!
4、I’ve been a long time owner of the Black and Decker BIG toaster oven that is similar in ID (inside diameter) as the Breville. But that is where the similarities end. The Breville is actually deeper than the Black and Decker and width wise, still takes my 13 inch baking dish. It also takes my regular size 12 cup muffin tin. Yea, it tilts a little but that’s okay. The 12 muffins all come out even in color and in doneness. Toasting is a breeze and does it in half the time of any other full size oven. Be sure that your outlet can handle the extra watts that this oven pulls..its worth it. The controls are simple and easy to use and the fan really helps to even and speed your cooking time. I rate this one 5 Star!!!
Jan 24 2011, Have had this oven going on 6 months and still think that it’s the greatest. I’ve had no problems so far and it continues to cook consistently, even and accurate. It’s easy to clean.
5、Even since my oven started taking 30 minutes to preheat (Sears said this was normal, I don’t believe it) I searched for a Convection oven. I bought this Breville after reading countless reviews of Toaster/Convection ovens. I love it. It’s worth the money. Cooks quicker and perfect every time. I like the fact that it will defrost and then cook. The toast is perfect, although it takes a bit longer than the toaster. I’m probably going to put my toaster away and just use my Breville. I’m looking forward to using the plate warmer. What a nice extra.
The Breville is easy to use and consumer friendly. I like that. Now I’m going to check out the Breville Slow Cooker.
You really get what you pay for.
6、They went all out to make this oven very high-tech. But that means things have to work perfectly or else they don’t work much at all.
My LCD blue back light flickers and does not work most of the time. Really annoying. It makes it almost impossible to read the display.
The knobs use some kind of rotary encoder that does not work reliably. Sometimes you turn a knob and nothing happens. Other times it is overly sensitive.
They should either “Keep It Simple Stupid” or make sure their “innovative” design is solid.
34 years ago I bought a table top oven at a junk yard that was in new condition for $4. It lasted about 25 years before the element started falling apart. I have never found another oven since that broils meat as well.
Something tells me that all this high-tech stuff is missing the point.
For now, this oven seems to be about the best I can do.
