I consider the Breville bov800xl Smart Oven as a must have kitchen appliance. For most baking needs, it can serve as a replacement for the conventional oven, with an added bonus. The Smart Oven is much more energy efficient (using roughly 50% less electricity than a full size oven) and has a small footprint that can fit into the smallest of kitchens.
The features that really sold me on the Smart Oven were the ability to manage the temperature zones in the oven. It can be a toaster oven and a convection oven. This helps to ensure perfect cooking for different dishes. The magnetic door has kept me from being burned on several occasions. The door seals nicely, reducing wasted electricity and heating up your kitchen. 9 programmable settings plus you can make custom settings depending on your individual needs. The stainless finish and assembly is of high quality, and the oversized handle and control knobs give a feel of quality as well (and match current upper to high end major appliances). The stainless steel finish looks nice and is easy to clean. Three pans included - Pizza - Baking – Broiling.
The timer on the Breville turns the oven off at the end of any kind of cycle as you would expect - toast, bagel, bake, broil, pizza, etc. This is wonderful compared to the Cuisinart unit which only turns itself off after toasting - you have to remember to turn it off when in any other mode. (The Cuisinart's timer is 'dumb' - just a beeper.) Also, each Breville cycle has smart default settings, and can remember your own settings for temperature and time, or slices (toast) and darkness, etc.
The BOV800XL accomodates a 13" pizza pan (included). We made two pizzas tonight to test the oven, one fresh (deli) the other frozen. I dialed the 'pizza' setting, dropped the default 450 temperature to 425, accepted convection mode, and accepted the default 12" size for the fresh pizza and pressed the on button. Once preheated, the oven beeped for the pizza to be inserted. At the end of the timed cycle, the oven turned off and beeped again: perfect pizza!
I then did a 9" frozen Amy's pizza. Similar procedure as above, but dialed the size knob down to 9" and pressed the 'frozen food' button. Again, perfect at the end of the cycle.
Toast setting works great - up to 6 pieces of toast, as does the bagel setting, which toasts the top at a higher temp then the bottom to make the top crispy and the bottom warm but still soft. Frozen waffles come out great - crunchy outside and moist inside, instead of all dried out.
For baking, a 13" x 9" baking pan easily fits inside as does, of course, the larger pan that comes with the unit, loaf pans and small muffin pans.
The crystalline-looking heating elements (three on top, two on the bottom) seem to heat faster, and more evenly, than the metallic elements in other counter-top ovens. Depending on the mode/cycle, the oven enables or disables certain elements, and changes the wattage of others.
The crumb tray in the front answer another of my big complaints about the Cuininart. No effort to pull the tray out at any time to brush off crumbs, or wash off accidental spills. (The Cuinsart's crumb tray slides out of the rear of that unit, requiring minor gymnastics - enough to put it off until it is really gross.)
The large door handle is easy to grab and open, and stays cool to the touch. The oven door has magnetized areas that pull the oven rack about half way out when you open the door. It's a great concept, and guess what? -- it works! Makes it so handy to get your food out without reaching in and risking a burn. The glass door has markings on it to tell you which position to put the rack in (bottom, middle or top), depending on what you're cooking.
The LCD display is very easy to read (esp for someone who needs reading glasses like me). The temperature, function, and time controls are knobs -- similar to stereo control knobs -- and I like that you don't have to keep incessantly punching a button to go up or down; you simply twist to get where you want, and you can go slowly or quickly. Also, there are a minimum of icons (there are 3 buttons for frozen food, convection, & temperature conversion) on the controls -- most functions are spelled out so that you don't have to use a "cheat sheet" to figure out what picture stands for what!
The top of the oven gets hot during cooking, so you can keep food warm on a ceramic plate(s) on top while other food cooks. There is also a "cutting board and tray" that can be used on the top but I was unable to find it on Breville's website. (You can also get a pizza stone and pizza crisper.)
As great as I found the Breville bov800xl Smart Oven, there are areas that I would like to see improved. The power cord is a little short (less than 3 feet). This may be necessary because of the power the Breville draws. While many people may appreciate a short cord it does mean that you have to have outlet near a space where you plan to use the oven. You may not be able to plug in other appliances on the same electrical circuit. At full power the Smart Oven will pull between 15-20 amps. I would suggest that a small interior light would be helpful.
I have always liked toaster ovens, no need to heat up your large oven to bake or cook a meal. And I don't think most of us have convection ranges, so having this feature on a toaster oven is great. I really do have to give this oven 5 stars because it is designed so incredibly well. I may never use my stove again - except for a full-sized turkey! I believe that you can purchase the Breville bov800xl Smart Oven with confidence. It will provide years of reliable use. No doubt I'll have more comments after we use the Breville BOV800XL for a few months, but for now, I can only sing its praises.
Boring details:
Dimension Comparison to Cuisinart TOB-165/195:
The Breville being slightly larger permits it to be used for items that otherwise would have to go into a regular oven. The interior of the Breville is 13 1/2" x 11 1/2" x 5" high (to clear the elements), with a curved recess in the back so that a nearly 13" pizza pan fits. The Cuisinart is 11 1/2" x 9 3/4" x 5" which cannot accommodate pizza, nor a 13 x 9 pan and toasts only 4 pieces of bread.
The small increase in interior space which results in so much greater versatility is at the expense of only an inch of counter space required. The Breville exterior is roughly 18 1/2" wide x 16" deep x 10 3/4" high compared to the Cuisinart 17 1/2" wide x 14" deep x 10" high.
Electrical Notes:
As others note, the oven uses a maximum of 1800 watts, which is basically all that a 15 amp circuit has to offer (most home kitchens will have either 15 or 20 amp circuits). So, you shouldn't use other power hungry appliances on the same circuit as the BOV800XL. As noted in the owner's manual, you must have a grounded 3-prong outlet, which any modern home will have. Even though my kitchen is 20 years old, I'm fortunate that the electrician had included three circuits for appliances so no problems here.
Installation note:
The Breville smart oven bov800xl is a counter top oven. When operating, nothing should be within 4" of any side. Because some people are accustomed to GE/Black and Decker toaster ovens that mount under cabinets, do note that that is NOT an option here because of the high heat and clearances required. You really do need to have enough counter space to accommodate the unit.
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