Toaster ovens have spiked in the last few years thanks to their convenience and versatility. These countertop appliances also save energy as you can cook a delight of meals without switching on your main oven. For many, the decision often comes down to deciding between the best toaster ovens and best air fryers, and while they both have their pros and cons, toaster ovens are often a more popular choice thanks to their sleek looks and oven-like design which can be a bit more accessible than most drawer air fryers.
We tested market-leading ovens from the likes of Breville, KitchenAid, Ninja and Hamilton Beach to determine the best toaster oven you can buy. Our top pick is the Ninja 12-in-1, which features two ovens that can cook independently or simultaneously. If you want a more affordable option the Hamilton Beach Sure-Crisp Air Fryer Toaster Oven impressed us with its brilliant value for money.
There are plenty of options to choose from, whether you want a machine that looks smart or has smart connectivity, take a look at our results to find the best toaster oven for your needs.
The quick list
With high scores for every recipe we tested, this Ninja toaster oven claimed the top spot by a mile. It’s brilliant at toasting bagels as well as baking cookies, plus the double doors allow you to cook two things at once for greater versatility. It’s intuitive to use despite this.
This toaster oven from Hamilton Beach provides a decent performance for a good price. It was particularly effective at heating frozen pizza as well as air-frying breaded chicken. Add to that, its compact design means it won’t take up too much space in your kitchen.
This Breville toaster oven delivers across the board — exceptional at baking as well as roasting. Plus, it’s more versatile than most with slow cooking, dehydrating and proofing settings. The LCD screen gives it a premium appearance that other models can’t match.
If you want a machine that looks great without compromising on performance, the Wonder Oven is a top choice. It's a little compact and the analog controls aren't the most accurate, but it handled a full range of recipes very well in testing.
This Cuisinart toaster oven offers a traditional, good-looking design. With analog controls, operation is intuitive, but it still has several modes including bake, broil, air fry and toast. It was great at roasting and toasting on test, but the accessories aren’t dishwasher safe.
With smart connectivity, you can monitor this Breville toaster oven from your phone — accessing recipes and receiving notifications. Plus, you can control settings and timers via Alexa or Google Assistant. 13 programs gives it immense versatility, and it was one of the best for frying chicken wings and frozen French fries.
The best toaster ovens you can buy today
We think the Ninja 12-in-1 Double Oven with FlexDoor DCT401 is an exceptionally convenient appliance. In addition to serving as a toaster, oven, broiler, and air fryer, it has two ovens so you can cook two different food-types simultaneously. Not only can it do a lot, it can do everything well. Air fry one batch of Brussels sprouts in this machine and you’ll know why air frying is so popular. In our tests, it was no slouch at air frying frozen or homemade French fries either. It also excelled at baking cookies, making a frozen rising-crust pizza, and roasting a chicken. In terms of toasting, not only can the Ninja DCT401 toast nine slices of bread at a time, it browns them all evenly and doesn’t take much longer than a pop-up toaster.
To test the double oven capabilities, we successfully cooked a savory dish and a sweet dessert simultaneously without finding that fishy or garlicky flavors were transferred between the two. While it may sound like this multifunctionality could make the oven complicated to program, we found the controls totally intuitive to use too. The biggest negative about this product is that the glass door gets super hot during cooking — reaching temperatures as high as 270°F (a similar problem for most toaster ovens). It’s also noisy; with a dBA reading of 65.8 — the loudest of any toaster oven or air fryer we’ve tested.
Read our full Ninja 12-in-1 Double Oven with FlexDoor DCT401 review.
Best value
The Hamilton Beach Air Fryer Sure Crisp Toaster Oven has a traditional design updated with a stainless steel finish. It’s compact and affordable and is a great model for toasting, reheating, and broiling, but isn’t the one to choose if you’re looking for a secondary oven. In addition to not being large enough to roast a whole chicken, it’s not great at baking. Although it does air fry, it doesn't brown and crisp food as well as a dedicated air fryer or the other toaster oven air fryers we tested. Having said that, it’s less than a quarter of the price compared to our winner, and is great value for a fair performance.
This model is controlled by three small dials, which makes it easy to use. However, you set the time via a mechanical timer, which means it’s hard to set precisely — this could be an issue for baking where exact timing is important. The glass door of this unit reached a whopping 322°F when it was operating and we measured a temperature of 146.8°F on the handle, which means you must wear protection when you open/close it while running.
The Hamilton Beach is exceptionally quiet when it's cooking at just 50.4dB — this is the quietest of all of the toaster ovens we had on test. With the oven you get a small aluminum roasting pan, which is prone to staining and discoloration. All of the accessories need to be hand-washed. So it’s not the most convenient, but it’s a great entry-level model if you’re new to toaster ovens.
Read out full Hamilton Beach Air Fryer Sure Crisp Toaster Oven review.
Best air fryer toaster oven
The Breville Smart Oven Air Fryer Pro is a whole lot more than a humble toaster oven. In addition to making toast and heating frozen pizza, it can just about replace your full-size oven for everything from baking cookies to making a roast dinner. Come the holidays, it can handle the biscuits or the sweet potato casserole. It’s larger than a typical model and comes with a steep price tag, but with all its capabilities and handsome appearance, we think it’s worth the countertop space and the splurge.
In addition to the air frying, toasting, baking, and broiling settings found on most toaster ovens, the Breville has ones for slow cooking, dehydrating, proofing, and reheating. It does just about every task well, excelling at roasting a chicken, baking cake, and air frying breaded chicken cutlets.
A large LCD screen displays the settings which are selected by using dials and buttons. With brushed stainless steel surfaces, the Breville has a beautiful upscale look. However, it can get excessively hot during cooking — the top of the glass window reached temperatures as high as 252°F during our tests. Thankfully, the towel bar handle and controls stay cool enough to touch.
Read our full Breville Smart Oven Air Fryer Pro review.
Best looking toaster oven
The brand behind the viral Always Pan came out with its Wonder Oven in 2023, and it's been one of the most exciting small appliances launches we've seen in some time. The Wonder Oven sold out fast, but once we got our hands on it we were impressed by its powerful performance despite its small frame.
We were particularly impressed by the toasting and baking performance in this toaster oven. Or bagel slices came out evenly toasted and still soft inside thanks to the steam cap that infuses the cooking chamber when baking. When air frying, we thought that it didn't live up to the performance of a conventional air fryer, but we were still able to achieve a crispy and even finish.
This is an analog air fryer, meaning it's simply controlled by dials for setting, time, and temperature. This does mean it's a less accurate machine, but it's not unlike many of the models featured in this guide from Cuisinart and Hamilton Beach. If looks matter to you, but you still want a capable machine, the Our Place Wonder Oven is an excellent choice.
Read our full Our Place Wonder Oven review.
Best for baking
For toasting and air frying, the Cuisinart Air Fryer Toaster Oven is a great purchase. You can also depend on it to roast a whole chicken or broil burgers, so you won’t have to rely on your full size oven as much. However, it’s not the oven for you if you want to bake cookies or cake. In our tests, it consistently turned out close-to-burnt baked goods. That said, if you love bagels and toast, this is a sound choice.
The Cuisinart is boxy rather than rectangular like most toaster ovens, which means it will take up less space on your countertop. As it has well-marked dials rather than digital controls, the oven’s very intuitive to operate. However, it’s hard to set the mechanical timer precisely and there are no pre-programmed settings.
For suggested temperatures and times, you have to refer to the manual. We found this model was fairly quiet in operation, producing readings of 54.7dB — so it shouldn’t interfere with kitchen conversation while you’re cooking. You need to hand wash the baking pan and air frying basket and be prepared to use a little elbow grease to get them spotless.
Read our full Cuisinart Air Fryer Toaster Oven review.
Best smart
This toaster oven looks identical to the winning Breville Smart Oven Air Fryer Pro — that’s because it’s actually an upgraded version of this model. For that reason, off the bat, we can tell you that the design, accessories and cleaning instructions are all very similar. However, where the Joule toaster oven differentiates is in its smart capabilities.
It can connect to the Breville Joule Oven app, which gives you access to a hoard of recipes with step-by-step guidance. Plus, with 13 settings to peruse, you’ve got plenty of options to choose from. On top of that, the smart connectivity means you can change settings or set timers via Alexa or Google Assistant, although we admittedly found this a bit pointless.
Performance is where the Joule Oven and its predecessor somewhat differed. The Joule oven came out on top when toasting bread. It was the stronger of the two at crisping up chicken wings and frozen French fries as well. However, we found the Smart Oven fared best when preparing French fries from scratch, and it produced better breaded chicken. The predecessor came out slightly on top as a result, although every dish from the Joule oven still impressed — particularly the roast chicken which scored full marks. It’s worth flagging however that this model still gets hot to the touch, especially on the glass. It’s a costly toaster oven to boot. But, if you love to have the latest tech and you care about aesthetics, it’s worth considering.
Read our full Breville Joule Oven Air Fryer Pro review.
Largest toaster oven
We think the Ninja Foodi 10-in-1 XL Pro Air Fry Oven DT201 is an exceptionally well thought out product that gives an excellent cooking performance, no matter which setting you use. The digital controls and readout are all contained on the handle, which puts them at eye level where they’re very easy to see and read. It also means the size of the product is the size of the oven cavity, so you make the most use of the space.
With the Ninja, you get two oven racks which can be used to heat up two 12-inch pizzas at once. You can also use one rack along with the air frying basket to cook a roast and a mess of veggies at the same time. Not only can the Ninja toast nine slices of toast at a time, it actually browns them all evenly.
When you select a function on the control panel, the oven tells you which rack position to use. Our only complaint about the Ninja is that the glass door gets super hot when it’s running — reaching temperatures as high as 282°F. It is also somewhat noisy, with a dBa reading of 61.3, which was on par with the loudest toaster oven we saw on test.
Read our full Ninja Foodi 10-in-1 XL Pro Air Fry Oven DT201 review.
Best for toasting
If you’re really fussy about how your toast comes out, you’ll love the KitchenAid Digital Countertop Oven With Air Fryer. It produces evenly browned bread that matches the chosen setting. However, you can also use it for roasting, air frying, baking, and broiling. Even though it’s more compact than other toaster ovens, it has enough room to roast two chickens or bake a large lasagna. In particular, the KitchenAid excels at air frying, turning out made-from-scratch French fries to rival the ones you get at your favorite bistro.
On this model you use a dial and a series of buttons to select your settings, which are displayed on a small LCD screen. As on most toaster ovens, the glass door can get very hot. We measured temperatures as high as 278°F during the air fry mode, although the controls remained cool enough to touch.
The KitchenAid is average in terms of noise at 54.4dB, but you can chat over it as you cook. You get a large, shallow enamel baking pan with this oven. While the pan and the racks are dishwasher safe, the manufacturer recommends hand washing them. Before you buy, take a look at our KitchenAid promo codes to see if you can lower the cost.
Read our full KitchenAid Digital Countertop Oven With Air Fryer review.
How we tested
To find the best toaster ovens, we tested a range of popular models to determine how well they toast, air fry, bake, and broil as well as how convenient they are to use. To test air frying performance, we cooked both frozen and homemade French fries, Brussels sprouts, chicken wings, and chicken breasts breaded with Panko crumbs. Using the broil setting, we also cooked hamburgers, assessing the browning and juiciness of each patty.
We roasted whole chickens in ovens that were large enough to accommodate them, checking the evenness after cooking and the crispiness of the skin. In addition, we baked yellow cakes from a mix, chocolate chip cookies from refrigerated dough, and heated a 12-inch frozen pizza. We added a tablespoon of oil to the made-from-scratch French fries and Brussels sprouts, but otherwise added no other ingredients to any items. Everything was cooked on the setting recommended by the manufacturer until tender, fully baked, or cooked to a safe internal temperature. Each food was evaluated for browning, crisping, and how evenly it cooked as well as how moist and tender it was on the inside.
To rate the ease of use for each toaster oven, we considered how convenient it was to set the controls, slide the parts in and out, and of course, how easy it was to clean up. We checked to see if the manual adequately explained how to use the product, which we think is particularly important in view of the fact that toaster ovens offer so many different functions. We measured the sound level of each toaster oven while it was operating to determine how much it would interfere with conversation in the kitchen and took surface temperatures on eight places that the user is likely to touch during cooking to determine if it could be a hazard.
Test results
| Row 0 - Cell 0 | Hottest surface temperature (°F) | Noise produced (dB) |
| Breville Smart Oven Air Fryer Pro | 252.1 (glass) | 61.4 |
| Ninja Foodi 10-in-1 XL Pro Air Fry Oven DT201 | 282 (lower-front) | 61.3 |
| KitchenAid Digital Countertop Oven With Air Fryer | 278.3 (glass) | 54.4 |
| Cuisinart Air Fryer Toaster Oven | 259.6 (glass) | 54.7 |
| Hamilton Beach Air Fryer Sure Crisp Toaster Oven | 339.2 (lower-front) | 50.4 |
| Ninja Foodi Double Oven DCT401 | 270 (glass) | 65.8 |
How to choose
Toaster ovens vary in size, capacity, functionality, and price. The most expensive ones can do a lot more than toast and reheat — they can also air fry, roast, bake and pretty much serve as a second oven. However, they will also take up a lot more of your precious counter space compared to the best air fryers.
Here are the five things to consider when shopping for a toaster oven:
Size — Be sure to measure the space on your countertop where you plan to keep your toaster oven before making a purchase. Don’t forget to check if your over-head cabinets will get in the way, and make sure the toaster oven will have space around it to vent as well.
Capacity — Start by considering what you cook regularly and plan to cook in your toaster oven. Models come with a wide range of capacities. The most compact ones can toast four to six slices of bread at once, while the largest can toast nine slices. In a smaller oven, you can reheat frozen foods, but may not be able to fit a 12-inch pizza. Most of the newer ovens on the market are able to roast a chicken and some can even cook two birds at once, or a small turkey. However, if you don’t cook for more than one or two people and your repertoire doesn’t include roasting, you may not want an oven with a large capacity monopolizing your countertop space.
Overfilling a toaster oven is one of the 7 toaster oven mistakes to avoid at all costs.
Type of Controls — Dial controls are simple to use, but offer less precision. To set the time you’re basically turning a mechanical timer that dings when time is up. That might be fine for most tasks, except baking where exact timing is critical — one extra minute and your cookies are dry. While digital controls can take a little more work to figure out, they are exact and allow for presets for various types of cooking, so you don’t have to guess at what temperature to use and how long to cook.
Other functions — While by definition toaster ovens take the place of two appliances, today’s models can also air fry, slow cook, dehydrate, and more. This gives you more versatility and means you’ll have fewer products hogging space on your countertop. However, it also adds to the price of the toaster oven, so be realistic about whether or not you need the extra functions. Here are some of the best air fryer recipes, so you can get the most out of this setting.
Price — You can spend anywhere from $50 to $400 on a toaster oven. While the best ones tend to be pricier, you can get a very good one for about $100. If you need a toaster oven primarily for toast, melted sandwiches, and quick reheats, there’s no need to spend top dollar.
When to replace
Toaster ovens have an average lifespan of five years, but there are reports of models lasting as long as 20 years. Most come with a one year warranty, although some brands can offer up to three year policies. To keep your toaster oven in good working condition, you must keep it clean — especially on the inside. Dirty elements can catch fire or break easily. Another common problem is a handle or door that breaks off. Try to avoid pulling on your toaster oven’s handle with excess force or letting the door bang shut to prevent damaging it. There are also things you should never put in an air fryer, which you will want to avoid.
If your machine stops heating and is no longer under warranty, your best bet is to buy a new one. If you do get a repair estimate, and it’s more than half the price of a new toaster oven, we recommend buying a replacement.
When you shop for a new toaster oven, you’ll find the latest models are made of stainless steel and will look good on display in your kitchen. They now come with a host of new features to expand their versatility, including air frying, multi-rack cooking, and even slow cooking. While in general more features are found on bigger ovens, even smaller models can now air fry.
Toaster oven FAQs
How much should I spend on a toaster oven?
As mentioned earlier, toaster ovens can cost anywhere from $50 up to $400, so prices really can vary depending on the brand. Generally speaking, the more features you opt for, the more it will cost, with options like smart connectivity and added settings and accessories only being available on the more premium offerings. With that in mind, you should only invest in what you intend to use, and avoid paying extra for unnecessary functions. You don’t need to pay top dollar to get a good performer, as our tests show. We recommend considering your budget and what you want from your toaster oven before you browse. That way, you can avoid over-spending.
If you’re only buying one of these appliances for the air fryer function, you might be better off investing in one of the best air fryers instead. These aren’t as versatile, but they generally cost less, take up less space and provide a more consistent performance in this field.
What are the disadvantages of a toaster oven?
Just like any appliance, toaster ovens come with their drawbacks, especially when compared directly to air fryers. First, they feature a bulky design which is generally too heavy to move around regularly — so you likely won’t want to store it out of sight. It is, however, large enough to take up a significant amount of counter space, and when you factor in that it needs room to vent, these are bigger than most first assume. Toaster ovens generally cost more than air fryers are well, with some premium models costing around the $400 mark.
The performance of toaster ovens can greatly vary. In our experience, while the multi-functionality is a definite selling point, some settings are usually better than others, and it’s rare to find a design which performs consistently across the board. For that reason, if you only want an air fryer, we suggest sticking with an air fryer. As toaster ovens feature designs similar to mini-ovens, they pose the same scalding risks as well. The glass door of a toaster oven in particular can get very hot in use, as can the metal bodies.
Despite these negatives, it’s worth remembering the positives that toaster ovens can offer. As you’re getting several appliances in one, they can be considered as good value for money. In terms of aesthetics, they look much more attractive on display versus air fryers as well. They ultimately offer more versatility too, not just in terms of additional functions, but also in capacity. Lastly, it's worth flagging that some of the above problems can be avoided if you buy the right toaster oven. These were taken in account as part of our tests to find the best toaster ovens. So, by following our recommendations, you can’t go far wrong.
How do toaster ovens work?
Toaster ovens work in a similar way to conventional toasters, although unlike a toaster where you can only make toast, with a toaster oven you can make a full meal. For this reason they are considered a dual purpose appliance.
Rather than the heating element being vertical, as in a toaster, they are positioned horizontally, and the appliance will also have a glass door.
The handle-based control panel is intuitive on this Ninja toaster oven, so much so that it achieved the top score in this category. It will even recommend a rack position based on your settings. On test, it scored full marks for baking a cake and roasting a chicken, and accessories can go in the dishwasher.
