10 Best Toaster Ovens Under $150 for Kitchen of 2023

Toaster ovens may not pop up in most people's minds as an essential kitchen appliance but it should be .

Toaster ovens are definitely not just for toast anymore.

It has the potential to become one of your main kitchen appliances as food can be prepared quickly with easy cleanup.

Whether it's a quick snack or it's cooking an actual meal like dinner, a toaster oven can actually get the job done.

Why Choose a Toaster Oven?

A toaster oven is a countertop appliance that toasts bread to perfection and does a better job than a pop-up toaster.

But did you know that a toaster oven can do more than that?

It can roast veggies, bake cakes and cookies, broil meat, reheat leftovers, and more.

Depending on the size and features of a toaster oven, as well as its price, a toaster oven can also air fry onion rings with minimal oil to keep you healthy, cook chicken in a rotisserie mode, and use its convection setting to bake an entire cake evenly and with accurate doneness.

As such, a toaster oven resembles a conventional wall oven because both work in similar ways but could be smaller than a microwave.

That means a toaster oven is almost immediately ready to go, unlike a conventional oven that can take anywhere from 10-15 minutes to preheat properly.

And it uses half the energy of a conventional oven, which lowers your electricity and environmental footprint.

If you're looking for a toaster oven for your kitchen, make sure you know which ones we named the best under $150 before you buy and why they made the cut.

Find out the advantages of a toaster oven and why people are using it now more than ever.

It’s not easy to know which toaster oven is the best fit for you, especially when there are so many models available.

But to make your selection process a bit easier, we found ten toaster ovens based on different categories and that have an affordable price. We looked at toaster ovens that cost $150 and under.

Best Toaster Ovens Under $150

• Hamilton Beach Countertop Toaster Oven: Best for Innovative Design
• KitchenAid - Digital Countertop Oven: Best for Small Footprint Large Capacity
• Goplus 1-Slice Stainless Steel Toaster Oven: Best Toaster Oven for Cooking Pizza
• Black + Decker 8-Slice Extra Wide Convection Toaster Oven: Best Large Convection
• Black + Decker Crisp Bake Air Fry: Best Affordable Air Fryer Toaster Oven
• Breville BOV450XL Mini Smart Oven: Best Compact Toaster Oven
• Panasonic FlashXpress: Best Toaster Oven with Infrared Heating
• Hamilton Beach 2-in-1 Oven & Toaster: Best 2-In-1 Toaster Oven
• Black + Decker 4-Slice Black Stainless Steel: Best Budget Toaster Oven
• Instant Pot Vortex Pro 9-in-1 Air Fryer Oven: Most Versatile Toaster Oven

Compare Toaster Oven Styles

Hamilton Beach Countertop Toaster Oven: Best for Innovative Design

We chose this Hamilton Beach toaster oven because of its innovative design.

It has a roll-top door. The door rolls back upward and out of the way to make it easy to put in and take out food so that you have a safe retrieval of your food while cooking.

You won’t get burned with the rollback, and the oven allows you to have more countertop room in front of it because the door opens above the oven.

So, you can place a dish before the oven, roll back the door, and slide your food on the plate. It’s that simple.

Even cleaning the oven is easy because food can’t spill on the door.

And since the door is not under the oven rack, crumbs and meat juices won’t fall to the floor.

In addition, the crumb tray is easy to get to because you remove it from the front of the oven rather than from the bottom.

You won’t find a design like this toaster with “easy reach” anywhere else.

With 1400-Watts of power, this toaster oven is the latest and newest model but does not have an interior light.

KitchenAid - Digital Countertop Oven: Best for Small Footprint Large Capacity

We chose this KitchenAid because it has a small footprint, which is what customer reviews rave about.

And yet, it has more capacity than what the exterior might suggest.

So, this large space-efficient oven has 50% more capacity than other mid-range models at this (low) price point.

In addition, the oven has 9 preset cooking functions plus a frozen option.

The presets are bake, roast, broil, toast, warm, reheat, bagel mode, pizza mode, and cookie mode.

Now you can take the guesswork out of cooking and don’t have to figure out the right temperature manually. This is one of the things customers like the most about this countertop oven.

You can tell the inside is large because it can handle nine slices of bread at one time.

The digital display is easy to read, and you can easily clean the inside because it has a non-stick interior.

Also of note is that it’s very stylish and sleek, with a black matte design.

Goplus 1-Slice Stainless Steel Toaster Oven: Best for Cooking Pizza

If you love pizza, the Goplus 1-slice Stainless Steel Toaster Oven is the way to go for those who want pizza to come out right every time, but don't want to grab a pizza stone and use a full-size oven.

That’s because the Goplus toaster oven is specially designed for personal-sized pizzas with a pullout rack forcooking frozen or hand-made pizzas up to 12 inches, as well as cheese bread and pretzels.

The pullout rack means putting in a pizza and removing it from the oven is a cinch and eliminates the need for a pizza peel.

The design of this oven is simple with built-in temperature control so all you need to worry about is how long you leave it in.

You can toast, bake, and broil other things in this oven. However, this oven is not as versatile as other toaster ovens as it is specifically designed for pizza lovers.

Many toaster ovens look tacky or scream for attention, but the clean and simple design of this toaster oven also means it will be inconspicuous in your kitchen.

Black + Decker 8-Slice Extra Wide Convection Toaster Oven: Best Large Convection

This Black + Decker has an extra-wide interior that can cook more food at once.

It’s ideal for large families and for those who don’t want to wait for their conventional home oven to heat up.

This toaster oven quickly becomes hot the moment you turn it on.

It is also energy efficient, unlike the home oven, which takes a lot of electricity to cook or bake.

The large capacity interior means that it can toast up to eight slices of bread at the same time or bake or defrost a 12-inch pizza.

This is unlike other models in this affordable price range that can only fit a 9-inch pizza.

The Black + Decker even has convection capabilities, unlike other ovens in this class.

Often, you’ll have to pay more for a toaster oven with a convection mode.

Black + Decker Crisp Bake Air Fry: Best Affordable Air Fryer Toaster Oven

Over 300 reviews gave this budget Black + Decker 5 stars. That’s hard to beat for this dedicated air fryer.

We looked at many toaster ovens with air fry and this model had the right price along with positive customer reviews. Usually, an air fry oven costs more than $150, so you’re saving a lot of money.

An air-fry uses little to no oil. That’s great for those who want to be healthy but who may still want to cheat by making French fries that come out brown and crisp.

The toaster is not a convection oven but it still has its qualities, such as being able to distribute hot air throughout the oven for faster results.

To take it a step further, the oven uses infrared energy to produce even toasting all the time.

Unfortunately, while this model is advertised as having a large interior, it can only toast up to four slices of bread at one time, unlike higher-priced models that can handle six slices. Also, it can only accommodate a 9-inch pizza pie.

Still, this Black + Decker toaster oven proves you don’t need to shell out a lot of money to buy a quality air fryer toaster oven.

Breville BOV450XL Mini Smart Oven with Element IQ: Best Compact Toaster Oven

Breville is synonymous with high-quality small kitchen appliances such as espresso makers, juicers, blenders, and toaster ovens.

Most of them are expensive, costing around $250 and going up to $1,000. However, Breville does have one that lands close to the $150 mark (albeit slightly more).

The Breville mini smart oven is known for being ultra-compact and takes up less counter space than other models in this price range.

Despite being space-saving, the Breville has a roomy interior that can fit an 11” inch pizza or four slices of toast. Most compact ovens can only fit a 9” pizza, so you can see the difference.

Many customer reviews that the toaster is a great substitute for a traditional wall oven, as you don’t have to wait to power up the Breville—it gets your right temperature quickly.

But the real high point is that it cooks food in the same manner as a traditional oven, outputting French fries or a batch of cookies without uncooked spots or burnt or frozen insides.

In short, Breville boasts even cooking no matter what the food.

The Breville also has a “smart” internal sensor that automatically adjusts power and calculates cooking times. This is a great feature that you will only find in higher-cost ovens.

Panasonic FlashXpress: Best Toaster Oven with Infrared Heating

This is the most affordable and best-reviewed toaster oven that offers infrared heating.

Infrared heating means no preheating required.

Infrared heat technology is relatively new in the toaster oven category.

What exactly is infrared heating?

The technology eliminates hot or cold spots in the oven to deliver food that is always evenly cooked.

Because there is no preheating, the infrared brings the oven to temperature immediately, which means you can quickly reheat leftovers in the fastest method possible.

In addition, the lack of preheating means you can cook frozen food without defrosting first.

Even though this Panasonic is very affordable, it has double-infrared heating.

This works when quartz and ceramic heating elements are placed in the front and back of the oven to evenly cook food no matter what it is.

The front is used to cook the outside of foods and the back element cooks the inside.

Hamilton Beach Oven & Toaster: Best 2-In-1 Toaster Oven

This 2-in-1 combination is both a toaster oven and a toaster. You can cook more in less space and in one place by simply sliding a lever to switch cooking modes.

This combo oven cooks at 40% in less time than a traditional large oven. This saves you from spending a lot of time in the kitchen.

While this oven bakes and broils, its emphasis is on toasting slices of bread.

The toaster warms up slices of bread quickly and more efficiently, giving you just the amount of crispiness that you want from toasted bread.

There is no sogginess in the middle of the bread and the bread comes out toasted evenly.

If you put bread in the oven to toast, you get the same results.

The toaster part of the oven even has extra-wide toast slots that allow you to fit larger pieces of bread like artisan bread and bagels. There is even a bread lifter that makes getting your toast out easy.

Moreover, there is a separate “toast shade selector” that allows you to make golden brown toast or something lighter with perfection.

The 1-hour timer with an auto-shutoff feature eliminates the chances of overcooking and makes the 2-in-1 safe.

Black + Decker 4-Slice Black Stainless Steel: Best Budget Toaster Oven

If you want a toaster oven but don’t have the countertop space for it or if you don’t want to shell out more than fifty dollars, the Black + Decker toaster oven is just for you. It costs around $30.

For this price, of course, you aren’t getting any bells and whistles, but you still get a handy toaster oven when you don’t want to fire up your large oven to heat leftovers and snacks.

Because of its size—it’s slightly larger than a toaster—you can only fit a 9” frozen pizza and four slices of bread.

But then again, the pricier models we chose that made our list also can only fit that pizza size and also four slices of bread.

You can not only toast, but also bake, broil, and keep food warm.

B+ D has an “EvenToast” technology that toasts bread up to 30% more evenly so that you will get a perfect crisp and a little browning on your toast every time.

Instant Pot Vortex Pro 9-in-1 Air Fryer Oven: Most Versatile Toaster Oven

The Instant Pot Vortex is a dedicated rotisserie and so much more.

The 10-quartz size is large enough to fit a whole chicken in rotisserie mode.

The oven has a basket that’s used on the rotisserie rod that cooks meats as they roll around in the basket. The result is convection-style cooking, as chicken, French Fries, and other foods cook evenly.

Also, the 1-step even-crisp technology means the oven can crisp food on the outside and keep it tender inside.

Who doesn’t like rotisserie chicken that has crisp skin and is moist inside?

The Instant Pot is a great deal, cooking almost anything you want. With 9 built-in controls, you can choose to air fry, roast, broil, bake, toast, reheat, proof and dehydrate.

However—and this is important—the Vortex doesn’t advertise that you need to flip food halfway through to get even cooking.

But the Vortex makes up for it with its “overheat protection,” which reduces the risk of burning food, and when in Standby mode, the display indicates “OFF” for peace of mind.

What is a Toaster Oven?

A toaster oven is an alternative to a pop-up toaster and a traditional or conventional oven.

Most toaster ovens are space-saving and can stay on your countertop. That’s for small to medium toaster ovens.

But if your cooking needs require you to use a larger toaster oven, that oven may still fit on your countertop but, in truth, will take up a lot of space.

A toaster oven is convenient for reheating meals, making breakfast, or baking pizza and, of course, toasting your slice of bread to perfection.

But no matter the size and features of a toaster oven, it should be able to do three things with aplomb: toast, bake, and defrost.

In comparison to a conventional oven, the toaster oven heats up quickly and there is little to no preheating, which saves you time.

And since a toaster oven is great for reheating breakfast, and you’re in the hurry to get to work, you don’t need to fire up the conventional oven just to heat a small meal.

And besides, the toaster oven cooks food in the same manner as a traditional oven but faster, which saves you time.

The toaster oven is also an energy saver. A toaster oven uses electricity to power it, unlike ovens that use gas.

According to industry representatives, a toaster oven uses about 1/3-1/2 less energy than a conventional oven.

Why Would You Want to Buy a Toaster Oven?

For starters, toaster ovens were first built around the idea that it will brown up bread when toasted, and it will also toast bread with just enough crispness.

If you still think you need a toaster oven primarily to make good toast, the reality is you don’t need one and should instead buy a standard pop-up toaster.

But if you want to save time and energy and want to use your toaster oven to roast a chicken, bake a cake, and air fry onion rings, then you’re in the market for a toaster oven.

The toaster can be a lifesaver if you always have guests over or are having a dinner party or are cooking for large groups in your home.

If you don’t have double ovens or need another oven to accommodate the amount of food you’ll be cooking, the toaster oven can serve as a secondary or additional oven.

So, as you search for the best toaster oven that meets your needs and budget, it’s important to know how and why you will be using it.

Think of your household too. If it’s just you and your spouse, then a small to medium-sized toaster oven will do. But if you have a family with kids, a larger model may be your best bet.

There is a drawback though. Even the largest toaster oven can’t stand up to cooking full meals for a four-person family or an even larger group.

What are the Qualities to Look for When Choosing a Toaster Oven?

Price

Toaster ovens range in price from as low as $40 to as high as $1200.

The higher the price, the more features you’ll get.

If you just want to toast bread or heat up a single-serving leftover, then you can skip advanced features and buy a budget model.

However, if you have the money, advanced features on a more expensive toaster oven may come in handy. But only if you know you’ll use them.

Pricier models come with air fryers and convection cooking. These models can be used as a substitute for a wall oven.

And if you want your toaster oven to look stylish in design, have lots of power and feed more than two people all with greater energy efficiency, a mid-to-high end oven may be worth the investment.

Ease of Operation

A good toaster oven should be easy to use. This means clearly labeled controls and knobs that are easy to turn.

And if you like simple cooking with the touch of one button or a turn of a knob, then look specifically for a toaster oven that’s easy to use.

This kind of toaster comes with idiot-proof cooking functions with another touch of a button.

In basic models, these functions will include “toast,” “defrost” and “bake.”

Budget and entry-level toaster ovens rely on analog controls.

Presets Make it Easy to Choose the Temperature

Mid-to-higher-end models come with more presets or cooking modes, such as “broil,” “bake,” “ toast,” “warm,” “pizza” and many more.

These functions come in handy because they take out the guesswork when trying to broil a steak and you don’t know what temperature to use.

Digital Display for Precision Control

A digital display is much easier to use (and see) and features more precise controls and sensors that can regulate the temperature of your oven.

You’ll find digital displays in mid-to-high range ovens.

Built-in Lights to Check on Your Food

Some ovens have built-in lights to let you see the food you are cooking inside without having to open the door.

Cleaning Made Easy

The best toaster oven has a non-stick interior to make it easy to clean.

Dishwasher-safe accessories like racks also make a toaster oven easy to clean.

A Full-Proof Way to Never Overcook Your Food

A timer with an auto shut-off feature can help assist you from overcooking your food if in some way you forget that the toaster oven is on and cooking.

In most cases, the timer is usually set in increments of 30, 60, and 90 minutes.

Some Basic Features in Basic Models

The most basic features are adjustable temperature controls and adjustable toast-shade settings so you can get bread toasted exactly the way you like.

And the most basic models have old-fashioned knobs and levers.

How a Toaster Oven Fits in Your Kitchen

Small ovens are good for those who have limited kitchen countertop space, such as a kitchen tucked into a small studio.

They can accommodate three of four pieces of toast. And you can get away with cooking a batch of cookies or a 9-inch pizza, as well as flat food such as fish and steaks.

But it’s important to know that three-dimensional food like a two-tiered cake won’t fit in a small toaster oven and will bump up against the top element.

So, when picking a toaster oven, make sure its interior capacity has enough space for the food you most cook.

A larger unit is preferred for families because you can cook a few things at once, heat the entire contents of your leftovers, and even roast an entire chicken if the interior space is roomy.

But a large capacity oven can weigh a ton, making it difficult to move around on your countertop in your kitchen.

In general, the exterior dimensions of the largest of these toaster ovens is nearly 2′ x 1′ x 18″. This means you will be giving up a lot of space on your countertop.

Unfortunately, the countertop may be the only space where the toaster oven can be placed.

As such, and if you plan to buy the oven online, you need to measure your countertop to see if the toaster oven will fit.

In contrast, a small oven has a low weight and you can usually hide it in a cupboard or an existing appliance drawer or, if you’re lucky to have one, in a butler’s pantry.

If you have an existing microwave on the counter, the microwave is nearly the same size as a toaster oven and this means you will have two bulky appliances on your counters.

Do you want to sacrifice prep space with another electronic? And if you don’t want the larger toaster oven outside for all to see, you’ll have to make a choice. Mostly, that would be choosing between a mid-size or small oven.

How Much You Can Fit Inside a Toaster Oven

Many oven brands don’t brazenly tell you the interior capacity of the toaster oven because they use a different metric for customers to help them better understand the inside size.

Keep in mind that the general size of the toaster’s interior is calculated in cubic feet CFT). A multi-function toaster oven generally ranges from 0.5 CFT to nearly 1 CFT.

But some manufacturers use inches to measure a toaster oven. For example, a budget toaster oven has the following measurements. It is usually 15 to 18 inches across, 9 to 14 inches deep, and 8 or 9 inches high.

As for the metric, manufacturers convey the size of their toaster oven and their cooking capacity by telling you how many slices of bread it can hold (from four and up to nine) and giving you the diameter of the pizza it can accommodate (the diameter usually starts at 9 inches for a small oven and goes up to 12 inches for more capacious ovens).

For these makers, the amount of food it can hold is the best way to convey to potential buyers the oven capacity. This makes it easier for people to understand.

And by the way, if you were wondering why we keep referencing how much toast and the size of the pizza that can fit inside a toasting oven, that’s your answer!

Preparing Food in Your Toaster Oven

Many models at different price points have excellent cooking features to prepare your food.

With convection heating, you get quicker results and even heating.

With infrared heating, you get food cooked evenly too. There’s no preheating involved, and the oven needs the least time to heat up.

Infrared heating is best known for defrosting food quickly, such as frozen pizzas or frozen biscuits, because you can quickly cook the food in the fastest method possible.

With air-frying, you skip deep-frying using tons of oil and still end up with crisped food like French fries. Air-frying is also healthier.

With rotisserie, you get to cook a whole chicken as if you bought it at Boston Market—crisp on the outside, moist on the inside.

Design

Your toaster oven will most likely be put on your counter. Since it’s out and in the open, you’ll want an aesthetically appealing toaster oven.

Your best bet is to choose a stainless-steel model, as that can fit in almost any type of kitchen design.

If you are on a budget, look for something like “stainless appearance,” which is not stainless steel but looks like it.

Rack Positions

No matter how much you paid for your toaster oven, it will mostly come with two racks.

But aim for three racks, as the added rack means there is more usable room inside the oven, especially if you are roasting a whole chicken or air frying French fries.

You’ll have to spend more on a toaster oven with a third rack because the interior capacity of the oven will need to be larger.

As a general rule, the larger the toaster oven, the more expensive it will cost.

If you are working with three racks, here’s some guidance.

The top rack is used for broiling.

The middle rack is used for toasting bread and baking.

The bottom is used for baking large roasts or pizza.

Accessories

From budget to high-end toaster ovens, one thing they have in common is that they come with accessories. The most popular is a crumb tray, an oven rack or two (and even sometimes three), and a baking pan.

Some toaster ovens include a lot more accessories, and these additions may depend on how much you’re willing to spend.

Before you buy, check to see if the parts—from the crumb tray to the baking tray—are dishwasher safe. This is important, as throwing all the accessories in the dishwasher means you can keep your toaster oven looking new and shiny.

Also, try to buy a toaster oven with a rack or set of racks that are easy to push in and pull out while the oven is hot.

If the rack doesn’t slide out easily and you have to yank it out, use mitts, or a tongue to push out your food, that’s a safety hazard because you may get burned.

What is a Convection Toaster Oven?

A convection toaster oven uses fans to circulate hot air around the food to cook more evenly.

In addition, a convection toaster takes less time to prepare food.

What is the Difference Between a Toaster Oven and a Convection Toaster Oven?

A toaster oven and a toaster convection oven are nearly the same.

Both cook food relatively the same, but the convection works better to heat food evenly because of the fans and works just like the same as a traditional wall oven when it comes to baking cakes, pies, and cookies.

Many bakers rely on a traditional oven that has convection because all sides of the desserts are cooked uniformly and rise when they need to rise.

A baker can also use a convection toaster oven, but one of the drawbacks is that the toaster oven may not fit a cake because of its oven capacity.

A traditional oven does not have this problem.

What’s the Major Difference Between a Budget Toaster Oven and a Higher-End Model?

In terms of cooking, the quality of how the food comes out is usually the same no matter how much you’ve paid for your toaster oven.

The difference between cheap and expensive is that the expensive one has more cooking functions or presets so you can rely on the device to properly cook your food at the right temperature with ease and little worry.