Toaster Oven are used more than just toasting toast. Nowadays you can bake, broil and even air fry food. Its a great alternative to a full on oven. However, they can take quite a bit of space. Luckily, they make many good compact version. Your option will vary from basic to complex. Usually the more basic it is, the smaller it is. However, the better one will usually have more setting and accurate temperature setting.

Best Compact and Small Toaster Oven List

Below, you will find a list of some of the Best Compact and Small Toaster Oven. These toaster oven have their advantage and disadvantage, you should choose one that best fit your situation.

Panasonic FlashXpress Compact Toaster Oven (Best Overall)

Panasonic FlashXpress Compact Toaster Oven is one of the most common toaster oven in Japan. They are designed for the small kitchen that they have. At the same time, its powerful enough to brown food. I often use mines as a salamander to brown food. You can also use it to bake brownies and cookies. Since it has dual quartz heating element, you dont have to preheat the oven. The power wattage rating is at 1300 watts but it feels a lot more powerful than that.

The size of this toaster oven is 12.00 x 13.00 x 10.25 inches.

Breville BOV450XL Mini Smart Oven (Best Performer)

Breville makes one of the best oven on the market. However, they are far from compact. While it is a smaller oven than the full size model, they still take quite a bit of room. The upside is that they are the most accurate in the temperature setting. You can also fit a small pizza inside. I would use this if you intend on baking a lot of sweets or breads. Just make sure you have enough room to fit it.

The size of this unit is 16 x 14.25 x 8.5 inches.

Dash DMTO100GBAQ04 Mini Toaster Oven (Smallest and Best Inexpensive Compact Toaster)

Dash Mini Toaster Oven is one of the smallest and most affordable toaster oven. Best of all, it comes in a cute pink color. If you are constraint on size and have a limited budget, this is the way to go. Just be aware, its lacking in power compared to the other models. It only has 550 watts of power. The upside is that its small, really small.

The size of this unit is 9.4 x 8.9 x 8.9 inches.

What to Look for in a Compact and Small Toaster Oven

The first thing that you should look at is power. These are rated by wattage. In the united state, the maximum power a appliance can have is 1800 watts. Anything higher will usually trip the circuit breaker. However, since smaller toaster oven need less power, you will typically find them at 1300-1500 watts. I would caution against any small toaster under 1000 watts of power.

One thing that you should be aware of toaster oven, is the accuracy of the temperature. Almost all of them are inaccurate. You are better off by using your own thermometer and seeing what the true temperature really is. This is true for larger oven as well, as they age, the accuracy and power will fluctuate. As far as I know, only breville has a preheat setting to get you the most accurate temperature. For other models, they will use a double quartz crystal to increase the temperature rapidly. This delete the need to preheat the oven.

Size

Size is subjective, what is compact to one person might be large for another. What you should really do is measure what space you have available and pick one based on that. Some of these toaster oven are just little small squares. Those are truly compact and I fail to see how they wouldn’t meet most people need. However, there are also smaller version or larger toaster oven. Those arent really small but they’re smaller than the big version.

Another thing to consider is that smaller oven cant always fit pizza. You should take that into consideration when you order your oven.

Preheat Settings

It seems like all toaster oven and microwave have a preheat setting. My experience with them is that they never work. All you really need is a time and a power rating. This is more true for a toaster oven. Being able to set the correct temperature and time is crucial. Besides, not all frozen food will be the same size and they wont work. Adjust the temperature and time based on the food.

What can you cook and using aluminum foil

You can cook quite a bit in a small toaster oven. They’re great for broiling and baking. Depending on the model, you can use them like a salamander. They’re great for browning food and giving it a good crust. You can even bake food like small cakes or breads.

As for aluminum, they work just fine. Since they are a great conductor of heat, you wont lose any performance. Plus, it will keep your oven clean longer.

Toaster Oven vs Convection Oven

The difference between a toaster oven and a convection oven is a fan. What it does is it circulate the hot air around the food. While this may sound minuscule, it does a big difference to the food. For smaller oven, the affect is not as prominent.

For larger quantity of food, I recommend that you get a air fryer. Its basically a giant convection oven. At the top of the element, theres a large fan circulating the hot air around. It produce a deep fry like effect.

Best Compact and Small Toaster Oven Thoughts

There are a lot of small and compact toaster oven. While the cheaper one works, the more expensive models perform a lot better. I personally like the flashxpress for its compact size and performance. It browns food so beautifully that I always use this model. However, if you want perfect eveness, go with the breville model. Having said that, those two models are a bit expensive. In this situation, you can go with the dash model, its cheap and its small, really small. Great if you are really constraint on space. Just be aware that its down on power.

Looking for a Air Fryer? Check out our article on the Best Air Fryer for a Family of Four.