Hamilton Beach 31334 Review – The Easy Reach Toaster Oven

A common complaint about toaster ovens is that it is difficult to access your food because of the small interior and the door which gets in the way. Now, the Hamilton Beach 31334 Easy Reach Toaster Oven has claimed to solve this problem with its door design. So, how does it work? This review will take a look at this unique model.

Hamilton Beach 31334 Easy Reach Toaster Oven Review

The special feature of this Hamilton Beach toaster oven is the roll-top door. Instead of having a pull down glass door like all the other brands do, this model rolls up the door to avoid it getting in the way of accessing your food. With its roundish shape, the door can then slide up and down the back. What this means for you is that you won’t be scrapping your knuckles against the heated up door when retrieving your cooked food since it is not lying horizontally in front of you. On top of that, the door is detachable for washing.

Other features of the Hamilton Beach 31334 include:

• 1200-watt
• Timer
• Automatic shut-off
• Stay on mode
• Front access removable crumb tray
• 2 rack positions
• Include: oven rack, baking pan
• Size: 16″ (W) x 11.5″ (D) x 9″ (H)

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This unit only has a 30-minute timer but it compensates with a stay on mode. So, for cooking times that are longer than half-an-hour, you can opt to use the stay on feature and manually shut off the oven when you are done.

For such a small oven, it is nice that it has a dual rack position to accommodate different cooking functions. You have toast, bake and broil settings for this model. Selection is done via 2 knobs – a cooking function/temperature knob at the top and a timer/toast shade knob at the bottom.

You can’t cook much in this toaster oven with its limited interior space. It can take in 4 slices of bread or a 9″ pizza at most. The interior dimensions of the Hamilton Beach 31334 is 10.5″ wide and slightly over 9″ deep. The height from the lowest rack position to the upper heating element is roughly 3.5″. The outer measurements are approximately 16″ (W) x 11.5″ (D) x 9″ (H). The depth is including the handle when the door is closed. When it is opened, the handle adds about an inch to the height.

Watch this video to have a closer look at this oven:

Shoud You Buy The Hamilton Beach 31334 4-Slice Toaster Oven?

Pros

1. Unique door design – The roll up door means it is out of the way when you are reaching inside for your food. Most people will bump their hands against the top or scrape their knuckles against the door when retrieving food for those boxy units with a swing down door design. The roll up door solves this problem easily enough. It also makes it easy to reach inside for cleaning purposes. Even the Hamilton Beach 31330 with its concave door can’t beat this in terms of ease of access.
2. Compact – Although the interior is small, the size is compact that it will work well for those who don’t have much countertop space to spare. It is of a similar width to the Breville BOV450XL Mini Smart Oven. If you want a unit with even smaller footprint, you can check out the Panasonic NB-G110P which has a few more features than this Hamilton Beach model. Otherwise, you will need to mount it under your cabinet and you can do so with the Black & Decker TROS1000.
3. Price is affordable – The price for this toaster oven is reasonable at less than $35 at the time of review. It has a similar price point with the Oster TSSTTVVG01 but much cheaper than the Cuisinart TOB-80.

Cons

1. Lacks precision – It is hard to be precise, especially with the temperature and toast shade. This is a common problem with dial-operated toaster ovens but the design for this model certainly can be improved. For instance, the toast shade radius is too small that it is hard to get a more consistent shade each time. A digital model like the Cuisinart TOB-100 will give you more precision in your settings.
2. Numbers rub off – The numbers for the settings disappear after a while that you will have to fill in your own markings.
3. Durability is suspect – There are numerous complaints that the unit works for only a short time before it simply refuses to heat up. It works well enough while it lasts but most complainants online are disappointed that it quit working after a matter of months.

Overall, we don’t think this 4-slice toaster oven is a good buy notwithstanding the roll up door and reasonable selling price. The various complaints that it fails after a few months of use does not speak well of its durability.

Therefore, if you are looking for a simple and cheap toaster oven, perhaps the Black & Decker TO1303SB would make a better choice. There are hundreds of online reviews for this model with the general consensus that it is good for the price. The Hamilton Beach 31334 Easy Reach Toaster Oven just doesn’t inspire the same level of confidence at the time of writing.

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