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Joanne Lewsley

Cuisinart TOA60 Air Fryer Mini Oven review

Image shows the Cuisinart TOA60 Air Fryer Mini Oven.

The Cuisinart TOA60 Air Fryer Mini Oven is a countertop air fryer and convection oven that offers up to seven cooking functions, including air frying, baking, grilling, toasting and roasting. You can even cook your favorite paninis, toasties and pizzas in it or keep cooked food warm until you’re ready to serve.

Cuisinart TOA60 Air Fryer Mini Oven: Key specs

Type: Air fryer and toaster oven
Material:
Stainless steel
Capacity:
0.6 cubic feet
Power:
1700 watts
Dimensions:
D 13.5 x W 15.75 x H 14 inches
Weight:
22.8 lbs
Number of settings:
7
Included in the box:
Oven rack, baking tray and air fryer basket
Dishwasher-safe trays:
Yes
Warranty:
3 years

Beautifully designed and sure to suit any kitchen interior, this air fryer and oven combination replaces your toaster and air fryer. It can also help you reduce your energy bills by offering an alternative oven to roast or bake in. With no need to preheat, except five minutes for baking, you can speed up your cooking time and reduce your energy output.

We reviewed the Cuisinart TOA60 Air Fryer Mini Oven over a couple of weeks at home, trying out every single one of the seven cooking functions available, from toasted sandwiches and cakes to grilled bacon and air-fried chicken thighs. We evaluated how easy it was to set up and use and how convenient it was to clean. We also looked at what customers who bought it have to say and compared it to other popular air fryers, ovens and Cuisinart products.

If the Cuisinart TOA60 Air Fryer Mini Oven isn’t the right air fryer for you, or you need a larger capacity to feed a big household, check out our buyer’s guide to the best air fryers, with a wide range of air fryers that feature digital controls, large capacity, and multiple cooking settings.

Cuisinart TOA60 Air Fryer Mini Oven: Design

There’s no doubt that the Cuisinart TOA60 Air Fryer Mini Oven is an attractive addition to any kitchen. The matt charcoal steel casing combined with touches of silver in the handles and function dials looks and feels expensive. 

(Image credit: Joanne Lewsley.)

Two handles at the base of the oven allow for easy lifting, while the glass door lets you keep a careful eye on your food during cooking. A pull-out crumb tray at the base of the oven is easy to miss unless you check the manual. Inside is an oven rack, baking tray and airfryer basket, all stainless steel.

The standout features must be the array of silver-ringed control dials at the top of the Cuisinart TOA60 Air Fryer Mini Oven, alongside the small interior oven light button. The whole design of the oven feels sophisticated and chic, especially when compared to high-sheen air fryers which can have a cheap and plastic look about them.

(Image credit: Joanne Lewsley.)

Cuisinart TOA60 Air Fryer Mini Oven: Features

The Cuisinart TOA60 Air Fryer Mini Oven has seven settings in all, six of which are cooking settings plus a keep warm setting for cooked food. These include: 

• Paninis & toasties: Used for browning and grilling flat foods. You can also use it to melt and brown off gratins and cheese toppings, cook bacon and toast sandwiches.
• Grill: Used for grilling meat such as pork, sausages, bacon, lamb chops and burgers. It can also be used for kebabs and fish.  
• Toast: Used for toasting crumpets, bagels and other breads.
• Bake: This is a conventional oven setting and can be used just like a standard oven. Anything baked in an oven, such as cakes, muffins, quiches, pastries and meringues can also be baked using this setting.
• Roasts & pizzas: Again, similar to a conventional oven, you can use this setting to roast chicken, beef, lamb or pork, as well as roasting vegetables and cooking pizzas.
• Airfry: Probably the most important setting of all if you already have an oven, this setting can be used to fry any food with the minimum of oil for a healthier option. Use this to fry chicken wings and thighs, seafood, french fries, vegetable wedges and even make vegetable crisps.  

(Image credit: Joanne Lewsley.)

It may take a little time to become familiar with each of these different functions, but we found the more we used them, the easier it became to figure out the best function for what we wanted to cook that day. 

For most settings, you’ll first spin the dial to the cooking setting you require, then select the temperature you want. Then set the timer dial to the desired cooking time.  The only exception to this is the toast function, where you choose a ‘shade’ from the dial from 1 through, with 1 being the shortest toasting time. 

In all settings, the oven timer will ring out to indicate an end to the cooking time, and the Cuisinart TOA60 Air Fryer Mini Oven will stop cooking your food. At any time, if you want to end cooking before the end of cooking time, simply turn the timer dial to zero or turn the toaster function to off.

If you’re unsure how to airfry, there are many easy recipes to discover online. The Cuisinart TOA60 Air Fryer Mini Oven user manual also features a handy table of guidelines for certain foods, from bacon and chicken wings to hand-cut French fries and even frozen foods, as well as a list of handy hints and tips for each setting. 

Whatever you’re cooking though, it’s a good idea to keep checking on your food by using the interior oven light or simply opening the door. 

Cuisinart TOA60 Air Fryer Mini Oven: Setup and assembly

The Cuisinart TOA60 Air Fryer Mini Oven comes well packaged in a cardboard box and polystyrene surround, with clear plastic bags protecting the oven and accessories. Unfortunately, not all packing materials may be recyclable, depending on where you live. 

(Image credit: Joanne Lewsley.)

It’s super easy to set the appliance up, but it is fairly heavy at around 23 lbs, so you might need help lifting it on to the kitchen worktop. Also, ensure that any furniture near your oven can withstand a minimum temperature rise of 185 degrees Fahrenheit, that your worktops are not prone to heat damage, and that you leave four inches of clearance around the front, back and sides.

(Image credit: Joanne Lewsley.)

It comes with an oven rack, baking tray and airfryer basket, all of which must be thoroughly washed first.

There are two grooved rails for placing the oven rack or baking tray, and detailed instructions on where to place them depending on what yor’re cooking and what setting you’re using. For example, use the baking tray or oven rack for roasts and bakes and place nearer the base of the oven. Use the airfryer basket on top of the baking tray for airfrying or grilling and place near the top of the oven, etc.

We soon got the hang of it, and once you do it all feels like common sense advice.

The Cuisinart TOA60 Air Fryer Mini Oven isn’t small. It’s not the kind of appliance that you can out away in a cupboard when you’re not using it, so you’ll need to ensure you have enough countertop space to give it a permanent home. We experimented with a few different positions in our fairly small kitchen, trying to ensure that it was near our extractor fan and wasn’t underneath a wall cupboard, because of the heat. We eventually settled on a deep space where we could pull the oven out to use it.

Overall, the footprint of the Cuisinart TOA60 Air Fryer Mini Oven is around 1.5 square feet or 1.7 cubic feet, but this doesn’t include the clearance you need to leave.

Cuisinart TOA60 Air Fryer Mini Oven: Performance

Over the course of a week and a half, we air fried, baked, grilled, toasted and roasted anything and everything we could, to check how well each of the separate cooking settings functioned. Both of us are keen cooks so we were excited to find a way to reduce our energy bills and cooking time, as well as enjoy a variety of fried foods without worrying about the extra calories and fat from oil. 

The first task was to cook a chicken breast, using the air fryer setting. We coated the chicken breast in a little 1 kcal spray oil and seasoned it, then popped it in the air fryer basket. We set the temperature to 375 degrees Fahrenheit and the timer to 20 mins. 

The chicken came out perfectly cooked, with the juices running clear and an internal temperature of 165 degrees Fahrenheit when tested with a food thermometer. It was a little dry at the edges, where we had overcooked it slightly, but the rest of the meat was moist and succulent.

(Image credit: Joanne Lewsley.)

Over the next few days, we air fried hand-cut French fries and roast potatoes, which were golden brown, crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside. Theoretically the air basket and baking tray combination allows air to circulate right around the food, so there’s no need to toss halfway through. However, we did find that a quick toss midway through cooking helped to brown food more evenly.

We also got great results with bacon, which crisped up nicely, and chicken thighs, which emerged with deliciously crispy skin and succulent flesh.

(Image credit: Joanne Lewsley.)

But its versatility is where the Cuisinart TOA60 Air Fryer Mini Oven really differentiates itself from other air fryers. With five other cooking functions and a keep warm setting, you can use it daily without sticking to fried food. For example, we used the grill function one evening to melt a cheesy topping on nacho and baked a light and fluffy victoria sponge a few days later.

There is no need to preheat the oven, unless you’re baking cakes, in which case the instruction manual advises preheating for just five minutes in advance. It’s roomy enough to fit a standard-sized cake tin, although we did find our standard muffin trays were too wide for use.

(Image credit: Joanne Lewsley.)

The oven is quiet during operation, measuring in at 54 decibels - around the same as a bathroom exhaust fan and a little quieter than a microwave.

While there’s no child safety lock, the oven does stop working if you open the door. However, as with any oven, always keep an eye on small children in the kitchen. The food, baking trays and oven grill will be very hot to the touch.

There’s also an interior oven light which you can switch on or off at any time to have a quick look at your food as it cooks.

(Image credit: Joanne Lewsley.)

Where could the Cuisinart Air Fryer Mini Oven improve? First, we found that the icons on the dials were so small it was hard to make them out, and because they were icons, we had to keep referring back to the manual, although we became more familiar with them over time. The temperature and time dials are also analogue rather than digital - so you’re never 100% sure what exact time or temperature you’ve set.

When we cooked moist food, such as raw potatoes, we found that a lot of condensation escaped out the sides of the oven, causing a little moisture on the countertop. The manual does mention this though.

A tool or handle to pull out the baking tray or airfryer basket would also be a bonus, given that the oven is quite cosy compared to a standard oven. A muffin tray to fit the oven dimensions would also be a great additional accessory.

Cuisinart TOA60 Air Fryer Mini Oven: Care and maintenance

The user manual that comes with the Cuisinart TOA60 Air Fryer Mini Oven gives plenty of helpful tips and advice on care and maintenance.

Most of the time we used the dishwasher to clean the air fryer basket and baking tray. Both can fit in most dishwashers but should be placed on the top rack. 

The manual recommends cleaning the oven after each use. Once the oven cools down, make sure it’s unplugged from the socket and give it a quick wipe with a damp cloth and liquid soap. This should remove grease. Don’t use metal scourers or steel wool on the interior. 

Regularly inspect the crumb tray and empty it of any build-up, giving it a quick wipe before you re-insert it into the base. 

The exterior is also easy to clean whenever it gets dusty or greasy. Again, use a damp cloth and liquid soap. 

The Cuisinart TOA60 Air Fryer Mini Oven comes with a generous three-year warranty, which gives peace of mind should there be any problems or faults with the appliance. You can also buy replacement oven racks, air fryer baskets and baking trays from the Cuisinart website. 

Cuisinart TOA60 Air Fryer Mini Oven: Price and availability

  • $229.95 / £250.00 

Cuisinart’s offering sits at the slightly higher end of the market for air fryers that double up as convection ovens and grills. Many similar models from DeLonghi, Cosori and Gevi are available at similar or cheaper prices and also offer digital controls or larger capacity. 

However, the quality of build and design you get with Cuisinart is hard to beat, and the generous three-year warranty is triple what most brands offer. You’ll often find earlier models of Cuisinart air fryer/oven combos on sale too. 

The Cuisinart Air Fryer Mini Oven is available from the Cuisinart site, Amazon and Best Buy, and other selected retailers.

Cuisinart TOA60 Air Fryer Mini Oven: User reviews

At the time of writing, the Cuisinart TOA60 Air Fryer Mini Oven had an impressive 4.6 stars out of 5 on the Best Buy website, with 75% of happy customers giving it the full 5 stars. On Amazon it had 4.4 stars out of 5, with 72% of users giving it 5 stars. 

Happy customers rate how convenient it is in terms of the multiple cooking settings, with one user explaining how it replaced their existing air fryer, toaster and toaster oven all at once. Others say they no longer use their standard oven as frequently, with one user claiming, “I didn't turn my big oven on for the entire summer.” They also enjoy how quiet it is during operation, and many reviewers say the air fryer function is excellent and gives great results on a wide variety of foods.

More critical reviews say the oven is hard to clean, especially the baking tray, with many suggesting that you should line the tray with foil. In addition, many users report inaccuracy of the analogue dials when setting the temperature and timer. There are also reports of defective units, settings malfunctioning after many months, and poor customer service from Cuisinart in addressing issues. 

Cuisinart TOA60 Air Fryer Mini Oven: What the experts say

Cira Jones, Marketing Manager at Russell Hobbs, says air fryers/mini ovens are a much more efficient method of cooking than using a standard oven. "You are heating up less space and the preheat time is much quicker, meaning you have the unit on for a shorter time than an oven too.” 

Jones also has some expert tips on maintaining your air fryer for a great performance every time."Keeping your air fryer clean is the best way to maintain its performance. We recommend cleaning the cooking pot from the unit each time after use, by placing it in the dishwasher, or hand washing in warm soapy water to prevent build-up of crumbs, which can burn if not cleaned properly and can taint the taste of the food you’re air-frying. Avoid using abrasive cleaners as this can damage the air fryer and ensure it has dried thoroughly before storing it away or using it again."

Should you buy the Cuisinart TOA60 Air Fryer Mini Oven?

The initial cost, and the lack of digital features, may put some buyers off the Cuisinart Air Fryer Mini Oven. Still, based on our at-home testing, its versatility for cooking and the energy-saving benefits makes it a good value buy in the long run.  

How does the Cuisinart TOA60 Air Fryer Mini Oven compare to competitors?

The full-size Frigidaire GCRE3060AF Electric Range Smart Oven was one of the first standard ovens to offer air frying as an extra setting, so if you have yet to buy an air fryer, you may see this as the ideal solution. With a 5.7 cubic feet capacity, three shelves for cooking and space for five cooking elements on the cooktop, alongside digital controls, its cutting-edge technology will ensure you’ll maximize its use.

If you love the idea of the Cuisinart Air Fryer Toaster Oven, but you haven’t got a great deal of space on your countertop, the Cuisinart Compact Air Fryer Toaster Oven may be the perfect solution. It features all the cooking settings of the larger model but has a much smaller footprint. So if you have a small household or only need an extra oven for the occasional dish, the smaller capacity may suit you better.

If you’re after an air fryer that can bake, grill, roast, dehydrate and reheat, but has precise temperature control with a digital interface, the NuWave Brio 37001 6-Quart Air Fryer is one of the most versatile combinations in our buying guide. With a large capacity and six convenient presets, it also offers interior dividers to separate foods during cooking.  

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