The Black & Decker CTO6120B is a well-designed countertop cooking appliance that is large enough to act as a second oven. This unit measures 18.5 inches wide by 13.5 inches deep and stands about 11 inches tall. It comes with a sliding oven rack, a multipurpose 10x12-inch shallow bake pan with broil tray and a slide-out front-access crumb tray.

The oven has three dial controls, including a function selector that lets you choose between the four cooking options (Bake, Broil, Toast or Keep Warm); an oven temperature selector (with settings from 150-450 degrees Fahrenheit); and a 60-minute timer/toast shade selector. We loved the inclusion of a timer for baking and broiling functions, and even found it convenient to use with the toast function, although it was difficult to get an exact shade setting. The space between the light, medium and dark notches is quite compact and you need to turn the dial past the 10-minute mark, before choosing your preferred setting. Even so, we achieved excellent toasting results by simply watching the cooking progress and stopping the oven when the desired toast color was achieved.

The rack can accommodate up to six standard slices of bread. Toasting is relatively quick. Two slices reached a medium brownness in about four minutes. Subsequent batches are completed in a shorter time. The oven dings when the cycle has finished and turns itself off. The oven also has a curved exterior wall that enables it to accommodate a 12-inch frozen pizza.

When baking, the timer is invaluable because it keeps track of the cooking time so you can move on to other tasks in the kitchen. The oven has four oversize heating elements (two above and two below) that do an excellent job establishing and maintaining a consistent level of heat inside the oven for wonderful results with cakes, muffins and brownies. The cooking time and performance was comparable to a full-size oven. The oven did an equally impressive job broiling hamburgers. Only the top two heating elements are activated when broiling, providing greater control without drying out foods.

We also liked the smooth turning dial controls for their ease of use. The function selector clicks into place at each setting, while the oven temperature dial glides smoothly between its notches for variable heat selection. The timer dial, on the other hand, offers slight resistance -- both when turning it clockwise to choose a setting and also when turning it counterclockwise to the Off position. You can bypass the timer altogether by simply turning the dial counterclockwise initially to get to the Stay On setting. The Keep Warm setting is a nice extra and lets you retain the temperature of cooked foods for a short time.

The reversible oven rack slides into one of two slots and is quite stable. We missed the automatic advancing rack offered on some other Black & Decker models but found that manually pulling the rack was easy enough when using oven mitts. The four different heights offered by using the rack in its high or low positions in the upper or lower slots lets you place the food in the optimum location in the oven for wonderful results.


Pros: Easy to use dial controls, roomy interior, quick preheating
Cons: Large unit requires extra counter space

Warranty
1 year, limited