Ok, I live in an attic apartment, and it gets so flippin hot in the summer, that the last thing in the world I ever want to do is turn on the oven and heat it up anymore! So I'm considering getting a toaster oven....

Do any of you have one, and if so what kind and what do you use it for? I want to see if it will be worth it or not.... I'm not really good at cooking the best of times....

I have a cuisinart oven, and I use it all the time. I bake bread and other goods, make casseroles and lasagnas, broil and roast meats, and of course toast. In fact, since I got my current toaster oven about 3 months ago, I've only used my oven once (frozen pizza ).

For me, the main benefit is that the toaster oven heats up in about a 10th the time of my big oven, which makes cooking dinner a more compact experience and of course it doesn't heat up the entire kitchen. So, yes, I would recommend one!

I have a Kenmore Toaster Oven. I use it for anything small. Mainly baking potatoes (if I don't already have the oven on) and broiling fish. I also use it for toast (we don't have a regular toaster).

When we got the toaster over, I put a lot of research into different brands. Don't buy the cheapest one you can get--you do get what you pay for. Also, according to Consumer Reports, toaster ovens, even the expensive ones, don't do as good a job at making toast as a toaster does. This has definitely been my experience, so if evenly browned toast is important to you, you might want to hang onto your toaster.

I'm not sure I'd recommend the Kenmore. It does the job but it is very slow (esp. when it comes to making toast). I haven't tested this, but I suspect that it doesn't quite heat as high as it says it does.

Make sure you get one with a pull out crumb tray for easy cleaning. I'd also recommend looking for a non-stick interior.

- Barbara

Something else you might want to consider investing in is a crockpot.In summer i like to make big pots of soup or chili and freeze in one cup portions.

I use my Oster toaster oven all the time as a mini oven. Just last night I cut a sweet potato into wedges, seasoned them, then baked them off for an hour while I went walking. Yummy! I've also baked boneless chicken in the thing, and I use it to cook boca chicken patties.

I don't use it for toast, however. The toaster does work much better for that.

Thanks for the tips! I never eat toast...so I wouldn't really use it for that so much as other things....like cooking chicken, veggies or something...It's just too hot to put the oven on all the time.

Is it true that things take alot longer to cook in the toaster oven then a regular oven??? Some people say yes.... what about a convection/toaster oven??

Hmmmmm I'm wondering if it's worth the money....

I'm sure it matters how good your "regular" oven is and how nice a toaster oven you have... In my case that would be "rotten" and "very nice", so it is in fact faster to cook with the toaster than the normal. Mine does have a convection feature, but I haven't used it yet, so I can't tell you how much of an advantage it really is.

I do agree that if you are going to get a toaster oven, it is VERY worth it to go ahead and spend an extra 30 - 50 dollars and get a high-end one. A toaster that doesn't quite do what you want is worthless.

Get a George Foreman grill. Great for cooking chicken and veggies. I don't know that I'd cook veggies in a toaster oven, but then I've never tried it.

I think for one person a toaster oven is great. For two of us, it was not as good. But I like Linda's suggestion of a GF grill. If you can afford it, both would be good. Of course, there's also the "charcoal grill outdoors" option when it gets too hot in your apartment.

Thanks all for your suggestions....alot to take into consideration! Who knew that picking out an appliance was so complicated! Haha!

Yup... sweet potatoes in a toaster oven are great. I put whole unpeeled sweet potatoes in and just wait for my house to smell wonderful. My nose knows when it is done. Usually I cook the Asian white flesh sweet potatoes.. but I'm sure regular orange flesh would work well too.