I'm going to be looking at another Black & Decker toaster oven; this time, the Black & Decker CTO6301 Digital Advantage Stainless-Steel 6-Slice Convection Toaster Oven, a 6-slice convection toaster oven.
First of all, let's get the basic run-down out of the way:
Dimensions - 17.75 x 14 x 11.5 inches
Weight - 19 lbs
Features - Pizza and baking pans included, removable crumb tray, nonstick interior
Timer - 120 minute adjustable timer
Slice Capacity - 6-slices
The CTO6301 is a stainless steel convection oven from Black & Decker. It features a monochrome digital display on the front-right of the face, and digital controls underneath. The controls are intuitive for the most part, but I found some of them a bit tricky to figure out at first, but a quick read through the manual sorted that out in a hurry. The buttons themselves are quite solid; I really like the overall feeling of them.
The interior of the Black & Decker CTO6301 is quite large; it will easily fit a 12″ pizza, and is non-stick which makes it quick and easy to clean. This unit is quite large, so you might want to check out your counter space before buying this model.
There are a variety of cooking functions on the Black & Decker CTO6301 that are pretty neat. I especially like the "bagel" mode that makes the bottom half of the oven heat at half the temperature of the top half, making sure that the bottom of your bagel doesn't get too crispy. The oven preheats quickly and maintains a nice, steady temperature whether the fan is on or not.The temperature of the oven can be adjusted by increments of 5 degrees, which is quite handy and is actually not that common in toaster ovens. It's a nice feature to have.
The included pans are the standard baking and broiler pans, as well as a pizza tray. While the pans that come with it are of standard fair, regular baking pans will fit inside easily, which gave me better results. The pizza tray worked pretty well during my test, and I ended up with an enjoyable cheese pizza for my son and I in about 20 minutes. The interior rack can be adjusted and placed in a total of four positions, giving you flexibility in what kind of things you can fit inside. Since the tray is not attached to the door, in order to remove your food items you have to slide it out manually, but the door opens completely flat which makes this easy. This also makes the toaster oven easier to clean on the inside.
The crumb tray is completely flat and pulls straight out from the front, making it painless to clean out. Like most larger toaster ovens, the CTO6301 is easy to clean in general. The stainless steel makes the exterior easy to clean, as well. The cord is a bit longer than most standard toaster over cords, which gives you some flexibility in where you put the oven. Just make sure that it doesn't touch the outside of the oven, as it does tend to get hot, as most ovens do.
Is the Black & Decker CTO6301 Worth the Price?
For a mid-priced convection oven, I would definitely recommend it. It comes packed with more features than many of the more expensive ovens, and the versatility is practically unmatched for toaster ovens at this price point. Convection toaster ovens tend to run much more expensive than this model, so if you're on the market for a convection toaster oven, this is most likely a sure buy.
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Price : $59.99
