The compact Breville Smart oven is my favorite kitchen appliance and it's slightly less than the full size model. Yes, it's $200 but it's wonderful and I have definitely gotten my money's worth from it. I use mine every time I make a meal.

http://www.amazon.com/Breville-BOV650XL-Compact-1800-Watt-Toaster/dp/B00357YS3A

We have a Black and Decker countertop convection oven that I got from Amazon for $80. Use it constantly.

We use it to toast bread, reheat pizza and anything that has a "crust" or is breaded, eg chicken nuggets, falafel, dumplings, breaded fish. Could not live without it.

We have a cheap one that has lasted 10 years. You don't need to spend so much.

The Breville one is large, but we get so much use out of it I was willing to sacrifice the counter space. I use it much more as an oven than a previous smaller Cuisinart toaster oven and for those who don't have a double oven (us!), it's great for entertaining or whenever else you need to prepare several things at once. The convection function cooks so quickly and evenly and toast comes out very well, too. I think Breville also makes a smaller version, but that may not have the convection feature.

Yes, specifically I would love to hear recs for convection toaster ovens. The Breville one looks amazing but its so expensive. I also think it might be too big. We have a small space and I think a 12" or 13" long toaster oven would be best, but not sure if that's too small a size.

Can anyone recommend their toaster oven? We love ours, but it was an el cheapo from Target (Black and Decker), and looking to upgrade.

As far as the question of do they make special plates/cookware, each toaster oven will come with a small, usually stainless, baking tray, some with a grill insert. When our last toaster oven went to appliance heaven, we kept the tray and we have three trays that we use for most things. However any standard bakeware will work as long as it will fit. So I have 9x9 corningware Pyrex baking dishes that fit, regular pie plates fit in my toaster oven or I use a sheet of tin foil. I know some friends who keep those little foil trays that you can sometimes get from the bakery with like danish or cinnamon rolls on and use those. Basically anything that is ovensafe and fits.

Anonymous wrote:What do you make in your toaster oven that makes it worthwhile. Do they make special plates/cookware that can be used in the toaster oven?

I cannot imagine my kitchen without my toaster over. I use it everyday to toast breat, making grill sandwishes, roasting chicken, fish, vegetable, heating pizza, making quesadilla, broiling eggplant, making kabobs, quiche, banana bread... I can go one and one. I use my toaster over like a normal oven for cooking small amount quickly. I have been planning to buy a backup one and keeping it in the basement so that I do not go into panic if it stops working!