Do you eat toast? Our lightly browned colleagues down the hall at Consumer Reports spend a lot of time testing things that you might not think of to test. For example: the quality of toast produced in toasters vs. that produced in toaster ovens. Turns out that you’re better off with a plain old toaster, unless the “oven” part is important to you.

Sometimes that “oven” part is important, especially if you do a lot of cooking for one or two, or eat a lot of frozen pizza.

How much toast do you usually make? If making lots of toast in a short period of time is important to you, you’re probably a very impatient person. Even when you are in a hurry, opting for a toaster oven instead may not pay off. A toaster oven will always take longer than a toaster, so being able to fit six slices in there at a time may not pay off in the long run. At least, if your toast taking four to six minutes instead of two to three minutes is a key part of your breakfast routine.

One surprising thing that Consumer Reports determined is that even though convection toaster ovens are the new hotness, they don’t perform much better than regular toaster ovens. Most likely it’s because moving air around in a tiny space doesn’t make as much of a difference as having convection oven fans in a conventional oven.

Don’t buy a toaster oven if you just want good toast [Consumer Reports]

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