CalphalonAir Fryer Oven, 11-in-1 Toaster Oven Air Fryer Combo, 26.4 QT/25 L, Fits 12" Pizza, Stainless Steel

This was on sale for a decent price and I got it to replace a basic toaster oven. But this has become the new primary oven -- it's great! Simple controls: two dials and a couple buttons, but there's still a lot of cooking options. I don't really feel like writing a super detailed review, but this thing is awesome and worth paying a few extra bucks for.

Great look and value priced

I’ve had and used this toaster oven for about three months, so I think I’ve had it long enough to give a valid review. At first I ordered the Toshiba 25L Speedy Toaster Oven (about $89); even though it had a bunch of poor reviews, I thought I would try it. But the next day, this oven showed up as a deal with $100 off so I ordered it too and paid only $169. I figured I’d try one and if I didn’t like it, I could try the other. I decided to try this one first, and I kept it and returned the Toshiba unopened.I got this because I was replacing an older Breville BOV450XL Mini Smart Toaster Oven, which I really really liked, but unfortunately after a couple years, the toasting became very uneven, the bottom side would not toast nearly enough. I thought it was an isolated flaw so I bought a second Breville and after a couple years, the same thing happened. So I was not going to buy a third and started my hunt for my next toaster oven.This one is bigger than my prior one but it’s not too huge and fit nicely in the corner of my counter, just the right size for me. I do like it but I have a couple issues which I will describe.1. Toaster settings. I use this 50% as a toaster and 50% as an oven, so toasting is important to me. Like many, this has a “Toast” setting and a “Bagel” setting, the latter is SUPPOSED TO toast the bottom less. So: First complaint, the Toast and Bagel programs are BACKWARDS. When you select one of the first three Toast darkness (“Shade”) settings, [the bottom elements cycle on an off a little bit so] the bottom gets toasted less, and when you select Bagel (any Shade/darkness) or any darker Toast setting, the top and bottom get toasted the same. Is that confusing/wrong? Yes, so much so that my wife hates this toaster just because of this stupidity. Well there are more reasons she hates it too which I’ll get to eventually. In addition to that, people have complained that the darkness settings are unevenly spaced. You can’t select a Time for how long to toast, you have to select one of the 7 predefined Shade settings, which correspond to a preset time. An earlier review described how unevenly these times are spaced out. Mine is a little better but it’s still maddening that you are stuck with these presets rather than just having 30-second or 60-second increments. Here is a chart describing how mine works.Shade Toast Bagel1 1:35 1:352 4:00 3:003 4:45 3:304 6:30 4:305 7:30 6:006 8:30 7:207 12:30 11:00Why is there only a 30 second difference between Bagel shades 2 & 3, but a 90 second difference between shades 4 & 5??? Remember, on Shade 1, 2 & 3, the “Toast” program toasts the bottom less, so it does what the Bagel program is supposed to do. For Shade 4-7 on Toast and all Shades on Bagel, it toasts the top and bottom the same, like the Toast program is supposed to do. Also, anything under 3½ minutes will do nothing and over 7 minutes will burn, so in reality there are only three usable Shades.How long does it take to toast? My former Breville gave me a nice toast in 3 minutes. This one gives me a light toast in 4½ minutes and a dark toast in 6 minutes, and as you saw in the chart above, there is no way to select an in-between time (I use the Bagel program all the time for reasons I’ve already explained), so it is a bit slow.2. Control knobs. In my Breville, there was one knob, with all the program names (e.g., Toast, Bagel, Oven, Broil, Pizza, etc.) around the knob and a mark to point to which program you’ve selected. Very simple. Then there was a Temp button and a Time button to tell it what you wanted to adjust, and after pressing one of those buttons, there were an Up and Down button to adjust the setting. How does this oven work? There is an LCD display that shows you 1) what Function you’ve selected (e.g., Toast, Bagel, Oven, Broil, Pizza, etc.), 2) the Time Remaining, and 3) either the selected Shade (for Toast/Bagel) or the Temperature (for other settings). There is a knob labelled “Function” (the writing is so small it’s hard to read). If you turn this knob once, nothing happens. But for every TWO clicks of this knob, it moves the Function to the next program (you see that on the LCD display). The fact that you have to turn the knob TWO clicks to get the Function to move ONCE is weird, and the fact that you have to look at the LCD to see what Function you’ve selected because there is no labeling on the knob is also hard to get used to. This is why so many people (my wife included) say that this oven is hard to use, it would be so much clearer if the labels were right next to the knob. My daughter also can’t figure it out (she also has the Breville), she will now turn on the regular gas oven than use this. I have no problem with it but I guess I’m in the minority. In the center of this Function knob is a button, you press it to turn on/off the convection fan (for those Functions where it can be used).Now there is a second knob, labeled Temp/Time again so small you can’t read it, so you have to memorize which knob is which. This adjusts the Shade (when doing Toast/Bagel), or it adjusts either the Time or the Temp if you’re on any other Function. Again you have to turn it TWO clicks to get it to change one increment. I’ve already discussed the Shade for Toast/Bagel. On any other function, you have to turn the knob to see whether you are adjusting the Temp or the Time; if that’s not the one you wanted, then you press the button in the center of this knob, and now you’ll be adjusting the other setting. Not the simplest way to do things and thus another reason my family says this thing is “too complicated.” When adjusting the Time, every TWO clicks changes the time by ONE minute (ONE click does nothing); when adjusting the Temperature, every TWO clicks adjusts the Temperature by 25 degrees (ONE click does nothing, all temperature adjustments are in 25 degree increments, that’s fine for me).Also, many other brands have a “A Bit More” button, which you press and it would toast for an additional 30 seconds or add 5 minutes to the Oven timer. That was really convenient. This doesn’t have that. If you want your toast a little darker, you have to press Start again and then sit there and watch it and then press Cancel when it’s to your liking. Or set it to Shade 1 and let it run for 95 seconds.3. Oven Functionality. First of all, it’s not an air fryer. The “Air Fry” function is simply Oven with the convection fan turned on by default. Don’t buy this if you are looking for an air fryer, the fan is quite weak, it circulates the hot air just fine (only after a few minutes!!), but not forcefully like an Air Fryer would. Most of the other settings are the same as Oven with different default temperatures. Most use both the top and bottom heating element (exceptions are Broil which is only the top and Reheat which is only the bottom, maybe other functions too which I don’t use).It takes 5 minutes to preheat to 400 degrees. It holds the temperature accurately (I tested it with a BBQ thermometer).I like that it has a light (you press a button to turn it on, press it again to turn it off, or it’ll turn off by itself in 10 secs).Now here is another thing that people have complained about in other reviews: For most Oven functions, the oven does a pre-heat (that’s good). Once the oven has reached the temperature you have set, it will beep and it will stop flashing “Preheating.” Now is when you would put in your food. You also have to press Start again; this starts the timer and keeps the oven turned on. If you do not press Start again, the oven will shut off in one minute. In my Breville, it does a Preheat too, and it beeps when it reaches the desired temperature, but you don’t have to press any button, just put in your food and adjust the timer if necessary. Here, people have complained that you have to press Start again within 1 minute, otherwise the oven shuts off. Yes that’s another thing that makes it “too complicated” or should I say “Not intuitive.” I do not have a problem with it. However if you do, you can simply press Start two times when you turn the oven on; it will still do the Preheat and beep when it’s reached the desired temperature, but the timer will start immediately and it will not shut off until the timer expires (although the instruction manual doesn’t describe that you can do this). So you can have it both ways.4. Smell. Other reviewers have said that there is a strong odor coming from the oven even after using it for a while. I agree there is an odor initially, but I put it in the garage and let the oven run for a couple hours (be sure it’s not near anything combustible if you’re not in the room with it), and the odor completely went away.In summary, the oven works well but I take away one star due to the unintuitive controls and annoying Toast/Bagel issues (backwards functionality and unevenly spaced darkness settings). Be sure to get the $169 price, it’s not worth more than that (the regular price is $269).

Love this thing. Great for a range of stuff. I don't own a microwave, so I use it frequently for air frying, baking, keeping warm and toasting

I love this oven. It heats evenly and quickly. The dials are easy to turn and the menu is simple to scroll through. Only issue I have with it is the bell could be louder when your meal is done cooking.

The oven looks great! And I was very excited to try it out after being disappointed by a couple other very popular toaster ovens. This is not a complete review, but just my initial thoughts on using the oven for the past few weeks. I've got a couple gripes about this oven that will most likely end in me returning it. But I have a call scheduled with the manufacturer this morning to see if my issues with the oven can be resolved.1. The cook timer does not auto start after the oven is preheated. So when you put your food item in the oven, select the proper function, and then press the start button, the oven begins it's pre-heat. The preheat may take another 5-10min, at which time you have to return to the oven and press the start button again to actually start the cook timer. I would expect the oven auto start the timer after pre-heating is complete so that you don't have to come back to the oven after it preheats. This would also help avoid burning your food if you don't know or forget that you have to press the start button again once the oven is preheated. I feel like this is a safety risk as the food item could be burned up in the oven and potentially lead to a fire.2. The "Toaster" function cannot be adequately adjusted. You can only pick a "Shade" level. You cannot precisely pick the amount of time you want to toast. So for example, the "Shade" level 3 barely toasts the bread...it toasts for 3.5min. You can hardly tell it is toasted. If you select "Shade" 4, it toasts for 6.5min and burns the bread. And there is no in between setting for this. I can't adjust the time other than going to the next shade level. So if you want medium toast, your screwed. Interestingly, going from "Shade" 2 to 3 or 4 to 5 only adds a minute or less of toasting time. Why going from level 3 to 4 adds a whole 3min I do not understand....I am no toast engineer, ha! I have included pictures for a level 3 and 4 "Shade" of toast....level 3 is barely toasted and level 4 is completely burnt toast. I do hope this can be resolved.3. I have tested the "Air Fry" setting on some French fries and tater tots, neither seemed to cook any differently than just baking them. I am new to Air Fryers and that setting I feel may just be another marketing gimmick. But I may be doing it wrong, but I did follow the instructions. The convection air fan that is used for the Air Fry function does make a noise that makes me feel that the fan may be bad...it is not a smooth sounding fan if that makes sense.Like I said, I have a call with the manufacturer this morning. We'll see if they call me and are able to provide a resolution.****Review Update****11/23/20: Customer Service never called at the time we scheduled. I had to email them and let them know to call about my issues with the oven. They called the next day....no big deal, but. After discussing my issues with the oven, the customer support representative told me the behavior I was experiencing was not normal and that she would send me a replacement oven. I received the new oven today, excitedly opened the box, eager to test it out again, only to find that it is the wrong model(picture attached). They sent the model that does not have the air fry function!...ha! After reading that at least one other customer has experienced similar issues to what I experienced, I'm thinking that my experience was not just a fluke experience. It seems it may be a design/engineering issue. I'll be returning this oven and cancelling the order. We are very disappointed, my wife and I loved the look of this oven....but more importantly it's got to function properly.****Review Update****11/24/20: I just finished a phone call with Calphalon Support, explaining that they sent the wrong replacement toaster oven to replace the one I have already sent back that was having the issues. While the gentleman I was talking to was very nice, it took 55min to get them to email me a pre-paid shipping label to send the wrong one back to them, and to convince them to send the correct one. They wanted to first receive back the one they shipped in error before sending me the correct one. I explained that is unacceptable as they are the ones that sent the wrong toaster oven to begin with. The gentleman I worked with on the phone said he had to convince his supervisor that they should send the correct model without delay. They ended up processing a new order for the correct toaster oven with the air-fry function and said that it should be delivered within 5-8 days. I'll have to wait and see if the replacement oven exhibits the same behavior...but my guess is that it will.

This oven/air fryer is amazing! I am so glad I purchased this (and on sale)! I do not think I could have purchased it if it wasn’t on sale, unfortunately.There are a ton of settings. My favorite setting is the toast function. It makes the perfect toast!

This this has killer looks and the feel of the controls is like a German car! I'm almost afraid to turn it on, I may not be able to survive a disappointment!