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Oster Extra Large Digital Countertop Oven Review

Not a terrible choice if you need the extra size, but much better performers are available
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Price:   $150 List | $120 at Amazon
Pros:  Relatively inexpensive
Cons:  Relatively poor performance, frustrating control panel
Manufacturer:   Oster
By Max Mutter and Steven Tata  ⋅  Oct 25, 2016
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34
OVERALL
SCORE

RANKED
#11 of 11
  • Baking - 30% 4
  • Ease of Use - 25% 2
  • Temperature Accuracy - 20% 2
  • Frozen Food - 15% 6
  • Toasting - 10% 4

Our Verdict

The Oster Extra Large Digital Countertop Oven attempts to be an apt replacement for a conventional oven by offering a larger than average capacity. This is great for bigger meals, but we feel it somewhat misses the mark of what makes toaster ovens so attractive. Its larger size increases heat up times, meaning less energy efficiency and more time spent waiting for your morning toast. Additionally, it was the worst performer in both our toasting and baking tests. Those looking specifically to expand their cooking capacity beyond their conventional oven, or to keep one dish warm while cooking another, may find the large capacity of the Oster helpful, but it wouldn't be our top recommendation for most people.

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Our Analysis and Test Results

Performance Comparison



Baking


The Oster was the worst performer in our baking test earning the low score of 4 out of 10, way behind the top performer that scored a 9. It scorched most of the cookies we made in it, making them borderline unappetizing. It produced similar results with cakes, cooking them unevenly, drying them out quite a bit, and burning the outside. Chicken drumsticks also came out relatively dry with splotches of burnt spots. We wouldn't say it completely ruined any of the food we baked in it, but all the other models were able to produce more palate-pleasing results.

The Oster overcooked most of the cookies we made making them suitable only for those with the crunchiest of cookie preferences.
The Oster overcooked most of the cookies we made, making them suitable only for those with the crunchiest of cookie preferences.

Ease of Use


The Oster received a score of 3 on our ease of use test. This was the worst score in this metric, well behind the top score of 9. It was the only model we tested that uses a touch control panel rather than buttons. This is similar to the controls you would find on cheaper microwaves where there are no raised buttons, just a flat piece of rubbery feeling material with buttons printed on it. It was incredibly hard to press these 'buttons' on the Oster, often taking multiple attempts. This, combined with the fact that there was no audible feedback when a button was pressed, meant it was very difficult to tell if the oven had recognized our commands. It has individual buttons to select each of its six cooking modes: toast, bake, broil, warm, defrost, and pizza. Conspicuously absent is a bagel function, and it doesn't provide a countdown timer when in toast mode. Oddly, the oven does not indicate when it's done preheating. The manual suggests turning it on for seven minutes before putting food in if you want to preheat, but our testing found indicated that the oven did not get up to temperature in that amount of time. This additional step felt unnecessary and lost the Oster a lot of points in our test. Additionally, the convection fan was the loudest of the bunch, the only one that was loud enough to be annoying.

We found the buttons on the Oster's control panel frustratingly hard to press.
We found the buttons on the Oster's control panel frustratingly hard to press.

Temperature Accuracy


The Oster was at the bottom of our temperature accuracy testing, scoring a 2 in a metric that saw scores as high as 9. The oven was constantly above our set temperature of 350˚. After 15 minutes of reaching our set temperature it was already 10˚ above and at 30 minutes it was 25˚ over the set temperature. When set to both 400˚ and 450˚ it consistently ran 25˚ hot. This could be part of the reason it tended to burn a lot of the food we made in it.

Frozen Foods


The Oster received a 6 on our frozen meal preparation test, putting it right in the middle of a closely packed field that had scores between 5 and 8. It cooked frozen pizzas fairly evenly, but often burned crusts and over browned the cheese and pepperoni. If you don't like crunchy pizza you may want to reduce the time or temperature in the Oster. Tater tots came out a bit better, with dark but not burned outsides and chewy insides.


Toasting


The Oster again received the lowest score in this metric, which included scores ranging from 4 to 8. Even on medium shade settings it often burnt the edges of bagels, and toasted the backside quite a bit. We were able to get better bagel results from some traditional slot toasters, which don't generally excel in this capacity. The Oster's large size means you can shove a lot of bread into it, but our toast map showed it to have a very small toasting sweet spot in the center of the oven. Any bread not in the exact center was quite neglected and barely toasted.

When making toast we found the Oster to have very large cold spots at the front and rear of the oven.
When making toast we found the Oster to have very large cold spots at the front and rear of the oven.

Value


Listing at $150 the Oster is one of the cheaper models we tested. However, the Best Buy Award winning Black and Decker provides much better performance at a list price that is $50 less. Unless you really want the larger size of the Oster, we don't feel it provides a good value.

Conclusion


The Oster differentiates itself from other toaster ovens through its larger size, but we found it to underperform in all the tasks that you would want a toaster oven to complete.

— Max Mutter and Steven Tata