Toaster Ovens vs Countertop Ovens: What’s the difference?

Convenient for reheating meals, making breakfast or baking pizza, toaster ovens offer energy savings and heat up quickly, especially when compared to a conventional oven. However, when evaluating your toasting needs, it can get confusing — do you need a countertop oven capable of roasting a chicken or a simpler toaster oven for making nachos and toasting bagels?

Currently, we offer a number of different toaster oven options to suit any kitchen. From the most basic toaster oven to a full-featured, extra-large countertop oven, there really is a model for everyone. Choosing the best oven for your needs might seem overwhelming, but breaking it down into these three categories will help make the decision much easier.

toastation toaster oven on a counter

Size
Before you buy a new oven for your countertop, determining the right size is a major decision in the purchasing process. First, evaluate how much counter space you have available. Toaster ovens are more compact, with a four to six slice capacity for toasting or 9-inch pizza for baking. The 2-in-1 Toastation® is one of the smallest toaster ovens we offer that includes both toasting and baking features. Another space-saving toaster oven is our Easy Reach® Toaster Oven line featuring a roll-top door that saves countertop space in front because the door rolls up above the oven instead of opening onto your counter. If you have more space available, a countertop oven can give you more features which leads us to the second size consideration.

The overall size of your new oven determines not just how much room it takes up on your counter, but how much food it can hold. Countertop ovens may have a larger footprint, but they can offer some great benefits such as the ability to toast or bake in larger quantities, holding up to six slices of toast or a 12-inch pizza. Many models also come with multiple oven racks to increase internal cooking space, and you can cook casseroles, roasts and chicken in them as well. Our largest countertop oven can accommodate a 9”x13” baking dish or two 12” pizzas! While smaller kitchens may be better suited to a toaster oven, many others find the features available in a countertop oven are well worth a little extra countertop space. Bonus: countertop ovens can often take the place of a conventional oven, saving both energy and time!

Watts
When shopping for a blender or food processor, most people know that wattage is a big factor in determining how powerful it is. For toaster and countertop ovens, wattage isn't a measure of heating power, it's actually a measure of efficiency. Compared to traditional ovens, countertop and toaster ovens use less energy and heat up faster. Wattage actually has very little effect on the overall cooking time for toasting or baking, so consider an oven’s wattage in terms of energy use, not how quickly your food will cook. Models with screens, digital controls and a convection feature will tend to use more energy and therefore have higher wattages. Models with more basic controls can be more energy efficient, but you'll trade off some of nice features.

Features
How you use an oven will also determine what type to purchase. If making morning toast and heating up an occasional meal are the primary uses, a toaster oven is the best choice. A countertop oven can essentially replace a traditional oven for many households with its larger capacity and additional features. From broiling to convection, a countertop oven offers more versatility for everyday cooking. For example, if your family loves rotisserie chicken, cook one quickly and easily at home with a Revolving Rotisserie Countertop Oven with Convection. If you want a countertop oven capable of even more, try the Hamilton Beach Professional Digital Countertop Oven. This newest pro model offers seven settings, convection, digital controls and even a temperature probe.

Additional Options
Both countertop and toaster ovens have unique features you may find helpful. Two toaster oven models maximize counter space— the Toastation with its combination of traditional pop-up toaster and oven and the innovative Easy Reach Toaster Oven with a roll-top door for easy access to the interior. Countertop ovens with convection offer the convenience of an oven and the speed of convection cooking in one countertop appliance. This saves time — it can cook food up to 25% faster by circulating heated air evenly throughout the oven.

With plenty of features to choose from, our ovens at Hamilton Beach make preparing meals and reheating leftovers simple and convenient. Whether you want a compact, basic toaster oven, a countertop oven with revolving rotisserie for juicy roast chicken or a toaster oven with convection for quick, crispy pizza, there’s an oven model for you.