Oster 6235 4-Slice Toaster Oven

I spent a lot of time researching toaster ovens before I chose this model. Several weeks prior,I had purchased one from a local store and it was the pits....very uneven toasting, poor design, too big, etc. so I returned it and started researching to find the best model for my needs.
THE POSITIVES:
This toaster oven is compact, holds 4 pieces of toast (very tightly, though) and does a great job, efficiently and evenly toasting them. Good adjustment to toast controls, but play with them a bit to determine your desired level of browning. Love the crumb tray too: Great added feature that I will from now on want for future purchases. The oven feature works well, as does the broiler feature. The thing I love most is that in order to activate the toaster, you need to depress the lever on the face of the controls and it pops up when the toasting cycle is done. There is no annoying "ticking" count down noise. Additionally if you notice that your toast is done before it shuts...Read more

I bought this from Amazon.com right after the holidays. I must say I was leary after reading the negative reviews. However, it is one of the few that has a push-down button for the toaster like our old Black & Decker had. When I received the toaster I carefully and thoroughly read through the instructions. We burned the toast the first couple slices, but after that we have adjusted it to a good setting and have had good results since then. I have also baked some homemade fries in it and they came out fine. After looking in stores at numerous models, we had to turn the Black & Decker aside due to a very loud timer on their models. Too bad, because we liked their other features, but couldn't stand the loud "Neverland" ticking of the timer. We settled on the Oster 6235 because of the smaller footprint, sleek style and, as I said before, the separate toaster button. Yes, it does get hot on top and it should be given space around it - as any toaster oven should. If you read the...Read more

As at least two reviewers of the similar 6-slice oster toaster oven experienced, the top two burner elements gave out after about a year. That is at least THREE customers with the exact same complaint. This could not be a coincidence. W(ell, actually it could be a coincidence, but that is highly unlikely.) However, most toaster ovens in this price range last about 12-18 months, in my experience, having replaced many over the years. So, perhaps one should expect to pay about $30-40 per year for a toaster oven. If so, this model is fine.