Durabrand Toaster Oven: Product Review
We priced toaster ovens at both Fred Meyer and WalMart, and both stores had some value priced units, ranging from $20-25.00. We chose the Durabrand Toaster Oven from WalMart, at the cost of $20.88.
Description
This oven is black and silver colored, and was one of the smallest toaster ovens that we looked at. It measures 15″ x 11 1/2″ x 7 1/2″. It comes with one nickel plated wire rack and an aluminum pan that can slide into two different slots inside the oven. If we could find a second tray, we could use two at the same time. However, we were not able to find an additional rack that would fit into this oven on short notice.
This oven has 1,300 watts/120 volts of power, a thermostat that goes up to 400 degrees, and a timer that allows you to cook for 15 minutes. I was also glad to see that it has a automatic shut off feature.
The oven door is made of tempered glass, so you can see how the baking process is proceeding. There is also a light indicator that illuminates when the oven is on. There is a cord storage function that is handy.
The feet are rubberized so that the oven will not slip and slide on a flat surface such as a countertop, and there is a crumb tray that pulls out for easy cleaning.
This toaster oven holds four slices of bread at once, and it also bakes and broils as well as being a useful toaster. You can preset the temperature or you can use it manually.
About Durabrand
I had never heard of this brand name before, but I learned that Durabrand is a brand that is sold only through Walmart stores, and have only been around since 2003. The name Durabrand means durability at a value price. They manufacture home appliances and electronice.
Performance
We tried this oven out at home before using it at our bazaar, because we didn’t want any surprises when we were stuck at our event from 10 am to 4 pm. The first couple of times that we used this oven, it gave off a hot plastic odor, but it did seem to stop after we broke it in. I’m glad we didn’t wait and use it for the first time at our bazaar, as it would have been quite smelly.
We found that the oven did work well as a toaster, and it even toasted all four slices of bread evenly at the same time. However, using it to bake our turnovers wasn’t quite as simple. We followed the directions on the box of turnovers, but we found that in order to get the best results (the insides thoroughly heated through and the outside crust flaky), we needed to turn the oven temperature down by 50 degrees and bake the pastries for an additional 10 minutes. This would really cut into our time table, since we can only bake three turnovers in this oven at once.
We decided this really wouldn’t work well for our intended purpose, and luckily WalMart has a liberal return policy as long as you have your proof of purchase. We ended up spending a lot more money for a name brand toaster oven.
If you want a toaster oven for the occasional oven use, or for broiling cheese on open faced tuna sandwiches, I think this Durabrand toaster oven would be just fine. But if you are a single person and are looking for a small oven to replace your range, and plan on doing a lot of cooking in it, I would spend the extra money and get a good reliable brand name toaster oven. The price is definitely right for the Durabrand Toaster Oven, but I have found that we usually get what we pay for.
