During visits to my daughter, I’d been noticing how much they use their little toaster oven.  I haven’t had one for many years now.  She and her husband make great use of it and she convinced me I needed one, too.  The two main reasons are that it takes less energy to cook small amounts of food and it is safer than opening the big oven door when the toddlers are in the kitchen.  So, I did a little research and discovered that the Breville had the best reviews for what I was interested in.  This brand was recommended by Consumer Reports and Cook’s Illustrated.  We also have a Breville espresso maker that we have been very happy with.  Being familiar with the brand helped me to be willing to pay the price for quality. 

I decided on the Breville compact smart oven and used a 20% off coupon at Bed Bath & Beyond to get the price down even more.  They didn’t have any compact styles on the shelf when I shopped, so they shipped it to me at home for no extra charge.   It does take up some counter space, but then it freed up space where I had stored the 4-slice traditional toaster.

We had only used it for toast and toasted bagels until yesterday.  Last night I tried baking salmon in it.  I preheated the oven to 450 in about 10 minutes and then baked the balsamic glazed salmon fillets for about 12 minutes with great results!  

So now I'm looking for reasons to use it for more cooking!  Any suggestions!?!