Appliance Reviews

This model toasts well, bakes well, and the convection feature is a plus. However... the insulation is poor so the oven gets hot to the touch. Also, for the price, the construction feels flimsy. It is however a very good performer. Could be 4-5 stars with better heat insulation.

I didn't think that with the low price and free shipping I would get the best kitchen appliance I have ever purchased. I had shopped around and found this convection oven at twice the price. It is easy to use, convenient, and performs exceptionally well.

We moved recently to Georgia to take care of my elderly parents. My husband and I didn't know whether or not it would be a permanent move so we purchased a mobile home on the property where my parents live. We where having a problem when using the oven. It would heat up the house to a uncomfortable level so we decided to try a convection oven as a alternative. It has really been a great way to cut down on the heat of a regular oven and to save energy at the same time.......

This is the second DeLonghi convection toaster oven we have purchased and this one is as good as the first with the addition of digital displays, a beep for when the oven has preheated, a timer, and a special setting for using more than one baking sheet for things like cookies. I use this oven much more than my full sized range. The only thing I don't like about this model is the door handle on the left side - the old oven had it in the middle and I have not gotten used to the new location buit that is just me. I recommend this product highly.

any comments for this item that include mention of knobs or knob problems are for another product. This oven has no knobs; just buttons.

We use it almost every day; we bake cookies, pot pies, oven fries, and make grilled cheese sandwiches without the extra fat from a frying pan.

The convection feature is why we bought the oven, and it makes oven baking go twice as fast for most things. We have had NO problems whatsoever with reliability: elements breaking, doors not fitting, etc.

Some appear to have had confusion over the controls. If you read the owner's manual, they are easy to understand. I have not used the cookie feature, but have found that convection cooking is not ideal for cookie batter. have to keep a close eye on the cookies. easier just to use regular oven and normal times. The fact that the oven comes with special cookie sheets is a plus: very convenient.

Oven surfaces are a breeze to clean up.

I just ordered a second one for another home.

we saw this advertised at Amazon and my aunt decided to purchase it. First we did a pizza (15"), it baked with a finely crisp crust and moist pepperoni and sausage. Nothing was burned. Next day we made 5 dozens of sugar cookies on the supplied sheets. The cookies were sublime, chewy and soft. Later, using the convection setting, we prepared stuffed pork chops, again moist interior and nicely browned exterior. Toasted cheese sandwiches are a breeze with this unit. We now make our own 6" diameter fruit pies (blueberry, rhubarb, apricot)in this oven and each time they come out with perfect crust and delectable filling. Chinese noodles also toast well in this DeLonghi product. Note that we make our toast in a conventional toaster.

I have so many problems with trying to just TOAST in this thing! I love the design of it, but I have tried every setting, every placement of the toast, etc. but it BURNS every time, or, better yet, putting it on the lighter setting, does nothing. Wheat fields are crying at the waste of bread that has gone throught this machine. It really is like a "dumb blonde" joke, it should just sit there and look pretty. Ugh!

I have owned this retro convection oven for 3 weeks now and have no complaints. Today I used the convection feature for the first time - and wow! My filo tarts were done in half the time, crisp on the outside, just perfect. I may retire my microwave. The toaster aspect works well, though you can't turn off the timer once you begin toasting - but that's no big deal, I figured out what setting I like right away. I admit, I was seduced by this oven's retro style, and am pleased that it works as good as it looks.

...still love it - I don't know what the last reviewer was talking about. To make toast you just need to figure out what setting you like best - maybe hers is defective? I use mine all the time, whatever fits, in lieu of my oven. Very easy to clean, still looks great too. Food cooks in half the time or less.

I bought the AR1070 oven back in May '03. Used it twice and noticed it took unusually long to cook a potato. Checked it with an oven thermometer and found that it never even got CLOSE to the temp. it was set for, nor is the indicator light accurate. Also the fan was unbelieveably loud. Told by DeLonghi to take it back. Exchanged it for another. Same thing. Slightly less noisy but took about 40 minutes to get to 390 (when I set it for 400)degrees. Also the exterior got SO hot I had to use a hot pad to open the door. Exchanged for a 3rd oven. SAME THING. Over the last few months I have been trying to get DeLonghi to listen to me and examine this product because it has an inferior, UNCALIBRATABLE thermostat and is poorly insulated, but they just blow me off and keep repeating "take it back." I did, and got my money back; but was so infuriated by the whole thing, ended up contacting the Office of Consumer Protection in NJ, who are currently trying to help me, as I am not the first to complain about DeLonghi's lack of customer service/quality. I urge anyone that owns this oven, get an oven thermometer and CHECK THE TEMPERATURE... if it is unusually off the mark, contact the Office of Consumer Protection in New Jersey, and file a complaint. This could not possibly have been 'coincidence' as the 3 ovens I used were from two separate lots of production. As far as their offer of 'repair or replace', there IS no repairing the thermostat, only replacing - with the same inferior one they install in the first place. Let the buyer BEWARE!!!!!!!

I too was a little dismayed to find a gap around the glass door with no gasket to seal it. But, since most of what I have cooked is on "Fan Bake", I've noticed little if any heat loss out that gap. If I ever use the regular "Bake" I guess heat will have to seek out that gap and escape.

As far as the temperture control is concerned, I have noticed that it does bake at a slightly higher temperture than what it is set on, but my $889.00 G.E. range oven does that also. Only once in the last month did I burn something, and that was when I set the time longer than specified and walked away.

With the "Fan Bake" on this little Convection oven cooks faster, and more evenly than my regular kitchen range, plus I can watch it brown through the full glass door,

I have mostly cooked various "TV" dinners and other frozen dishes that I used to cook in my microwave. If you wish tasty meat and browned potatoes this oven takes a bit longer than the microwave, but the meals come out twice to three times better with out the "rubber" texture and taste of meat cooked in the microwave.

Twice I have baked pastries in it, and one cake. All three times the bakery goods turned out well. Of course I kept checking them through the glass door until they were browned just right.

I've owned counter top toaster ovens, and for the price, this Convection Oven beats the heck out of them, and bakes small items faster and better than my regular oven.

For the low IQ person who said the temp didn't come close
to what it was set for: you have to set convection ovens 25 to 50 degrees lower.Every professional baker knows that.
The fan was not overly loud.
Comparable convection ovens sell for thousands of dollars!
Thanks delonghi!

This purchase has settled in as an extremely expensive pizza oven and / or breadbox. As previously stated by another reviewer, no mention of oven size - now that the unit has been purchased, I find none of my bakeware - other than loaf pans and 9"x9" cake /pie pans will fit inside! Interior is approx 13"x13"x12" giving approx 1.1 cu ft. Cookie sheets, jelly roll pans, standard size sheet cake pans will not fit inside.

Cleaning the inside of the enamel surface is a challenge, and in many cases requires scouring powder - yuck. Cooking on the spitt can cause the item being cooked to spray the interior with juices as the cooked piece of meat heats up and expells moisture and steam, so interior cleaning will be routine.

The unit comes with a glass door - great for viewing what is happening inside - but poorly fitted / slightly warped window or unit case allowing a great deal of heat to escape during the cooking process - in addition, the exterior of the unit gets EXCEEDINGLY HOT as to present a fire hazzard to anything close which may be combustible - be extremely careful with this unit regarding this safety / lack of safety feature. Put absolutely nothing on top of this unit! The manufactured even suggest moving the unit three to four inches away from the back wall! I have solved this problem by putting the unit on a set of wire shelving - pretty much away from everything else. I was melting choclate chips in the closed cuboard a good foot above this unit, when it was on the countertop!

Cooking time using the convection feature is not deminished - if anything, I find I must add cooking time to whatever I am doing. Manufacturer suggests lowering cooking temp by 25 degrees - don't listen - cook at the receipe temp and adjust (add) time as necessary.

Controls are cumbersome to add baking time - you need to be a bit of a contorsionist - as two buttons must be pushed simutaniously - holding one button in, while "tapping" the time button +/- - extremely difficult to get your desired result as the "minutes" added is exceedingly quick - sometimes one minute is added, sometimes two minutes is added, sometimes 3 minutes is added per "tap" - can be very frustrating. Kind of like tapping your head and rubbing your tummy at the same time...

The solid state control logic is a bit wacky - this thing beeps intermitently, during cooking, for no apparent reason - I think the unit has completed its task, only to find as much as six minutes still on the clock, with the unit happily beeping away... then when the unit does finish - many time nothing - no beeps - the unit just shuts down. Very strange.

I am really trying to be objective here, and I really want to like this unit (who wants to admit a three hundred dollar buying error??) but try as I might, I cannot recommend this unit, based on my useage. But who knows - you may love it - many others here are gushing..

So, will this be the "Fiat" ("Fix it again, Tony") of toaster / convection ovens? Time will tell - will keep you posted.

Update - Mid June 2003 - The enamel interior surface is starting to chip away in several places. Though the manual indicates 2 level baking, the lower level must be moved up to the upper level when the upper level baked goods are done (per recipe baking time - this is the ONLY batch you can use suggested bake time). The items from the lower level then must continue to bake half again as much time as originally indicated in the recipe. The new baking sheet added to the lower level can then be moved up - sound confusing? Makes it hard to keep track of baking times causing the baked goods (in this case cookies) to continually be monitored. Forcing you to constantly rotate the pans - never to remove the 2 pans at the same time. With this small oven, you need to use 2 pans, as I can only get 6 cookies on a pan - if you were only to use the one pan it will take you forever to get through a batch of cookie dough!

Compact yet loaded with features, the oven does well without hot spots or burning. The oven is large enough to accomodate pies, cakes, and pizzas and consumes less energy than the kitchen stove.
On the other hand, the rotisserie motor strains under a full load such as a chicken, and an off-center load causes the motor gearing to move unevenly. It also takes some patience to get the digital controls on the time and temperature settings to respond to the input buttons. Otherwise, the oven is a welcome addition to a small kitchen, and is quite handy for small scale recipe experiments.

Have used convection ovens for years and this is absolutely the best I have ever used! Mine has the electronic controls and they are very user friendly. It is top of the line quality in every way. The fan is quiet, it browns evenly, has a signal for when the correct temp is reached, an end of cycle signal and is easy to clean. I have recommended this to my hard to please mother-in-law. (nuff sed) I LOVE IT!!!