The Black & Decker InfraWave Speed Cooking Countertop Oven is noticeably different from conventional toaster ovens. This appliance features an innovative design using infrared light waves to cook foods faster and more efficiently.

Styled in black and stainless steel, this unit is relatively compact, measuring just 18 inches wide by 13 inches deep by 18 inches tall. The interior has a usable space of approximately 11 inches wide by 10 inches deep by 5 inches tall. It comes with two baking pans, a broil rack, a slide-out front-access crumb tray, a slide-out wire oven rack, and an easy-grip pan holder. You also get an instructional DVD, which includes tips and guidance on using your new oven.

We are very impressed with this oven's performance. The light waves cycle on and off during cooking to deliver superior browning and crisping without drying foods. It is not only efficient but also fast; toast is ready in about two minutes! Frozen foods can be cooked without defrosting. And, unlike with traditional ovens, there is no preheating, which shaves at least 10-15 minutes off of the food prep time immediately. As an added benefit, the light waves illuminate the entire interior of the oven, providing an excellent view of the cooking progress.

The InfraWave oven has built-in "intelligent profiling" that is designed to cook foods according to their optimum settings. The digital control panel consists of a series of touchpad buttons. There are options for "Speed Toast", "Re-Heat", "Bake & Roast" and "Broil", as well as the specialty functions "Pizza", "Cookies" and "Quick Foods", which offers a variety of options including chicken nuggets, pizza rolls, and more. We had a lot of fun scrolling through the available cooking choices. The unit beeps as you depress the buttons and the selections appear on the digital screen. The buttons are a bit small but we had no problem navigating through the choices.

We love the unit's automatic timer, which counts down during cooking and shuts itself off when done. There is even a "Convert" button that translates recipe or prepacked cooking instructions into InfraWave cooking times. A meat entree that would normally take 20 minutes, for example, only takes 12 minutes in the InfraWave oven. It takes a bit of trial and error and some adjustments to get the hang of it, but you'll love the faster results and even browning.

The Infrawave oven can cook any foods that can be prepared in a regular oven. Its only limitation is with certain types of packaging, such as paper, cardboard or plastic, which can melt in the oven. Metal trays and baking pans, however, work fine. Glass containers are ideal, since the infrared light waves can actually travel through the glass.


Pros: Faster cooking with infrared light wave technology, touchpad controls, automatic oven timer with preset functions; front-access crumb tray
Cons: Touchpad buttons are small

Warranty
1 year, limited