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Oster Countertop Toaster Oven

By Allison Lee, 02/25/2022

The Oster Toaster Oven is one of the best kitchen appliances I have owned. Despite the large counter space it takes up, this toaster oven is reliable and perfect for all sorts of recipes, ranging from cakes and cookies to chickens and potatoes.

The toaster oven has three knobs total to control the temperature, the type of bake function, and a timer for how long the oven will stay on. There are symbols next to the knobs to indicate their functions: the thermometer with Farenheit indicating temperature, the oven symbol with “Function” written underneath it, and the time with a clock symbol. The temperature dial is loosely adjustable, in that the dial does not snap into place for the preset temperatures listed. This allows for more user control and flexibility. The temperature ranges from 150 degrees to 450 degrees, counting in increments of 50 and have smaller dots in between to indicate the 25’s and 75’s. 450 is labeled with “Toast.” However, the inverse could be said about the function dial. The dial has an indicator of which function it is currently selected on and will snap into place for the desired function. This click is feedback to the user, letting them know physically that they have selected a choice. Feedback communicates to the user that an action has occured. In terms of the timer, the user has two options, either let the toaster oven stay on indefinitely or the user can select a time. Though the timer does not have an indicator of which units of time, a user can quickly gather that it would be in minutes because the timer goes up to 60; 60 hours would not make sense, nor would 60 seconds for an oven that requires time to heat up. The timer dial is spring-loaded, in that there is initial resistance to turn it on, providing a sense of safety and security in that the user cannot just accidentally turn it on with a brush of a hand. The timer will tick to provide the user with feedback that the oven is currently on and is counting down. When the timer is up, the toaster oven will sound a chime, also providing feedback to the user, alerting them that their food is done.

Because of the lack of complexity, a user could pick up how to use the toaster oven quickly; thus, it has strong learnability. As mentioned above, the dials are labeled as to what their purposes are. For example, if I wanted to toast a piece of bread, I would turn the temperature dial to the “Toast” temperature, which is 450 degrees, change the function knob to “Toast” and set the timer for about 2 minutes. For safety purposes, the red LED light at the bottom will light up when the toaster oven is on, and will turn off when the oven is off. With these elements combined, the efficiency with the toaster oven and satisfaction of the user is ensured since the user has control over the temperature and time, versus the arbitrary temperature control like a microwave with its “power” function or the arbitrary timer function that bread toasters have.

The Oster Toaster Oven offers a great user experience with how easy it is to learn and use and its overall versatility.