Consumer Reports Says This Toaster Oven Is The Best You Can Buy In 2026

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Usually, the best toaster oven is also the most expensive — that's not true this year. Mini ovens that sit on your countertop, toaster ovens are models of convenience. In Consumer Reports' 2026 guide to the best of these handy appliances, one jumped out as significantly cheaper than the other options, while also sitting atop the magazine's overall rankings of toaster ovens: the Hamilton Beach 31156 (2-in-1 Countertop Toaster Oven and Long Slot 2 Slice Toaster).

While the other toaster ovens on the Consumer Reports list cost around $170 to $380, the Hamilton Beach option is under $100 on Amazon. The 2-in-1 design has slots on top to toast bread with an oven below. In its testing, Consumer Reports gave it perfect scores for toasting and a good score for baking, noting the maximum temperature of 450 degrees Fahrenheit. Considering you can bake a small cake in a toaster oven without heating up your kitchen as much as a full-size one, this toaster covers a lot of bases.

Hamilton Beach's toaster oven does have some downsides, according to Consumer Reports. For ease of use and the ability to reheat, the toaster oven is in the middle of the road. The temperature dials do not have detents, which provide the tactile click-into-place feeling that helps ensure you set a temperature at the same place every time. Reheating was still solid — the reviewers found it did the job, others just did the job more evenly.

This appliance has fans online. In a Reddit post asking Americans if they have toaster ovens, a poster shouted out their 2-in-1 Hamilton Beach, the 31156 model, as particularly useful. They love how it preheats faster than a normal oven, uses less electricity, and doesn't heat up the kitchen. They use it for smaller bakes. For instance, if you're only making cookies for yourself, it is much easier to just use a toaster oven.

In the end, how often you want to just toast bread in the slots on the top of the machine will likely determine whether or not this is the oven for you. Whichever one you get, it will be helpful to avoid the 16 common mistakes people make with toaster ovens.