Breville BOV650 Compact Smart Oven

Comment: I researched toaster ovens for quite some time and found a few that met my requirements. I did not want a convection capability because it was just something else to break. I was also space constrained by the location on our kitchen counter where we place the toaster oven. You get a lot of Toaster oven in a small space, check out the dimensions. Previously we had a DeLonghi unit for about 15 years and it was great. For the longest time I wanted to purchase a new one to match our other appliances and my wife thought that one was just fine; I had to wait until she thought there might be a problem.

The day finally came and I looked for a good counter top oven with the capability to toast, bake, broil, etc. There were a number of units that most likely would have lasted a long long time. And, knowing I'd have to live with it for all of that and more I looked and looked. Understanding that background and that I read all the reviews on all the products here goes.

We got this unit, opened the packag and put it together in 3 minutes. I didn't even read the instructions at first. I plugged it in, reset it and went through the functions one at a time. (My wife was reading the instructions at that time). She said, "you have to preheat it for 15 minutes before using.". So we put the DeLonghi back on the counter and toased our Bagels for breakfast. After that we did the burn in. This was important because, as they said, there were some "smells" that came from burning off the residue from manufacturing.

I did not find the controls "flimsy", but they also don't feel like they were made for an industrial application. They are electronic controls (everything here is controlled by the electronics) and as such they don't have a mechanical feel because they are not mechanical controls. I think they will last a very long time.

All the functions work as described and are pretty simple to use. My wife was using it in less than 10 minutes and she has a hard time with electronic items.

I like dark toast and my wife likes it medium: we just took her's out early. The controls are accurate; you have to put it on the higher number to get dark toast.
The timer is not loud, but it is loud enough unless you have the TV blaring and are in the other room. I like how it counts down cooking time and the on/off button.
The function buttons are nice (like a microwave) because they simplify how to cook different things. Just like you'd expect.
Bottom line, I paid twice as much for this as my next choice and since I'll have to live with it forever; I am glad I did.
We already have avoided using the big oven a few times; we dont' use the oven much anyway. ( the oven has a nice feel to it and the door doesn't slam shut unless you slam it)
It is worth the extra money and if you want convection get the next model up; that is also worth it. We have convection on the big oven.

OH YEAH, it matches all the other Pro Appliances in our kitchen; right down to the nice handle.

Comment: I've used this toaster oven about a month. Although it's on the expensive side, it is worth the price. It works well, opens readily, is accessible to clean easily, and has a clear display. This is a powerful oven. I use the minimum amount of minutes that are suggested by the food companies. Cooks evenly and is very compact - perfect for small spaces. Highly recommended.

Comment: My wife and I replaced a relatively new kitchenaid toaster oven with this fantastic little compact smart oven. I can't sing its praises enough.

The smart digital temperature and control functions are really fine tuned. We get perfect toast, bagels, and other foods from the oven consistently. We've tried all functions from toast, to bake, to broil and this toaster oven delivers! This is something that no other toaster oven has succeeded at, and we've had many different variations. The design itself is really aesthetically pleasing and sleek. It looks very modern in our kitchen without taking up too much space like many conventional toaster ovens. My only wish is that it had a convection feature.

Overall I love this toaster and highly recommend it.

Comment: We wanted a nice stainless steel toaster oven and saw that the Breville BOV800XL had been rated tops by Consumer Reports. It seemed too expensive, and we considered the Cuisinart TOB-195, but we're not big fans of membrane control panels and prefer knobs if possible. But the Breville BOV800XL seemed too big as well as pricey. This "little brother" model is just right in size, is well made, and works great! Having a countdown timer is very nice, the crumb tray is super simple to pull out and empty. The manual recommends doing that after every use, and with this design, that's no chore at all. Nice! It has nearly all the features of its bigger brother, and after using it for a couple of months we are very happy with it.

Comment: This is the best countertop "toaster oven" that I have ever owned. It is clearly a quality product with some heft to it in the doors, displays, and overall construction. Also, compared to other toaster ovens we have owned previously, we are not getting the ribbon pattern on the toast. Of course, as with any such oven, you need to get used to the settings -- to figure out how long you want to cook various items -- but once you've cleared this problem (and remove the film from the display), in my experience this is the best product out there (my previous toaster oven was a Cuisinart, but this is both more attractive and more functional). I'm very happy!