Black & Decker CTO4500S Perfect Broil Convection Toaster Oven

My husband and I are enjoying our Black & Decker toaster oven. We use it instead of the microwave, and reserve the “big” conventional oven for larger projects like bread, etc.Use it to make toast, grilled cheese, heat frozen burritos, cook pizzas, roast spaghetti squash, and everything under the sun – perhaps one of my favorite applications right now is for baking potatoes. When you are just baking one or two potatoes, it seems ridiculous to fire up a huge oven. It bakes the potatoes perfectly.I read every review on every toaster oven on Amazon.com before purchasing, and here is what I liked about this over others …1) Size – it can hold a 12″ pizza with the ‘bump’ in the back. It cannot hold a 9×13 pan, but the trade-off is it does not take up twenty feet of counter-space.2) The handle is not hot, although I still usually use a hot pad since I am about to extract a hot dish.3) Unlike Oster ovens, the Black & Decker has no history (that I know of yet) of the glass door exploding, wires setting off fires in the back, etc. Of course, do not let grease drip into the burners – that is just common sense – or you will have a brief flame.4) the crumb tray is in the front and VERY easy to remove and clean.5) I read that some computer-programmed toaster ovens eventually shorted out as computers suffered from the heat; or some had troubles with all the “pre-set” features. That is why I opted for one with knobs, instead of buttons. This toaster oven has three knobs, but usually the only one I have to touch is the timer. The temperature usually sits around 350, and the Bake/broil/toast selection is usually set to bake. I pop a pan of Something Good in, and set the timer. I love the timer. If you want, you can turn it to “stay on” instead of a timer, which will turn off the oven when the time expires.6) It looks attractive and clean.Amazon also had a great price deal running on this when we purchased, I believe we paid $57.We unplug it when it is not in use as a matter of responsibility; I do not know if this is necessary, but we unplug everything in our kitchen when it is not in use at any rate.My husband is in the Navy and so frequently I am making dinner for just myself; or on happy days when he is home, I am heating up corn dogs for him! He loves how everything comes out tasting so much better, heated evenly and all the way through, than from a microwave, a kitchen appliance which we will probably never purchase again.I would buy this again in a heartbeat! Good luck with your decision-making. You know what you’re looking for and you’ll find it!UPDATE June 2012 (we purchased the B&D in November 2011): Our little oven received some harsh treatment (long road trip, lots of shaking, one month in a moving truck) from movers on our most recent move, from Washington State to Virginia. When we plugged it in, it made some smoking smells and then ceased to generate any heat. Since we had already turned in our claims form before we realized this item was damaged as well, we couldn’t have the moving company pay for it, so we turned to the warranty. My husband tried to call Black & Decker but to no avail (it was all automated useless info), so he started searching their website and found that the item was insured through Applica. This came automatically with our purchase of the oven, we did not do any additional paperwork/payments for this. He sent an email to Applica, and they asked him to provide this information: Place of Purchase, Amount of Purchase, Please indicate if proof of purchase (sales/gift receipt) is available for this unit? Y/N. We did so, and specified the problem. They then asked us to mail in the cut-off end of the plug, and a check for $7 for S/H to the address provided in their email. We did so. Within just a few days, we had a new toaster oven arrive on our front porch!! Here is the contact information for Applica, if anybody else has issues with their B&D … and doesn’t want to search the web!”We ask that you please contact our Consumer Service Department at 1-800-231-9786. Our hours of operation are Monday thru Friday from 8:30am ET to 8:00pm ET. You can also elect to e-mail us at [email protected], or you can go to […] and fill out a contact form. A representative will be happy to assist you.”