Breville BOV450XL vs Hamilton Beach Easy Reach 4 Slices Toaster Oven Side-by-Side Comparison

• Model: BOV450XL
• Warranty: 1-year limited
• User Manual
• Baking Rack
• Baking Pan

On the packaging were some illustrations and basic information, and the oven was couched nicely between two foam pads. Breville’s user manual explains in detail how each oven function works. 

The default accessories, a baking rack and baking pan, were packaged in a fitted carton box. You can opt to buy a separate 11” pizza pan and/or a broiling rack to cover more cooking methods.

• Model: 31344DA
• Warranty: US - 1 year; Canada - 5 years
• User Manual
• Baking Rack
• Baking Pan
• Removable Crumb Tray

The Hamilton toaster oven, along with its accessories and a simple user manual, came in a basic cardboard box. The oven is secured with two foam pads and the accessories are duct-taped to it.

The small size didn’t stop Breville from designing a sturdy stainless steel outer shell. The shape of the back buffers makes it easy to wrap the power cord around them once things have cooled.

Also, the tray-level indicators on the glass door and the slide-out crumb tray are always nice touches. However, the oven’s exterior doesn’t provide good grip points to carry the oven.

We measured the oven’s footprint to be 15.74" x 14.17" x 8.86" which was slightly different in terms of height from the manufacturer’s 16.1" x 14.2" x 10.4".

Although simple, the Hamilton has all the basic exterior features of a toaster oven and also something more: The roll-top door is a neat feature that can make it easier to move food in and out of the oven and save some space on the kitchen counter.

To make it easy to carry the oven, the two sides of the casing have shallow arches. The oven has a cool-touch door handle and two back buffers to prevent it from being too close to the walls.

Our measurements of 15.75" x 11.93" x 8.39" for the oven coincided almost completely with the manufacturer’s 16.12" x 11.93" x 8.97", with marginal differences being less than an inch.

The control panel consists of 1 control knob for 8 functions and 4 buttons to set the time, temperature, and/or toasting mode. The digital display and the Start/Cancel button both shine blue when the oven’s plugged in and red when it’s cooking.

Beyond the standard stuff, you’ll find 3 unique buttons: Temperature Conversion (°F-°C), Frozen Foods, and A Bit More. The latter adds a specific amount of time depending on the cooking function.

The LCD screen will display ‘E01’ or ‘E02’ when there is a non-resettable issue with the appliance. When this happens, immediately unplug the cord from the wall outlet and call the Breville Customer Service Center.

The ‘E03’ shows up when the oven temperature exceeds its design limit. Should this occur, unplug your oven, allow it to cool for 15 minutes, then plug it back in.

The ‘E04’ appears when the room temperature is below the set minimum. If this happens, unplug the oven and move it to a warmer area.

The Hamilton has two simple control knobs: one for temperature and one for time. The timer has a stay-on setting to help with its short range, similar to many other small toaster ovens.

The temperature knob indicates the lowest temperature setting to be 200°F, which is quite limited. Interestingly, however, we could actually set the temperature as low as 120°F by only turning the knob until we heard a small clank before the 200°F mark.

• Toast (7 levels, 4 slices maximum)
• Bagel (7 levels, 4 slices maximum)
• Bake (1h 30m maximum)
• Broil (High and Low levels, 20 minutes maximum)
• Pizza (55 minutes maximum)
• Roast (1h 30m maximum)
• Cookies (55 minutes maximum)
• Reheat (370°F maximum)

For safety reasons, all cooking functions have a predetermined timer limit after which the oven stops cooking. If you want to continue cooking, simply operate the oven in standard mode. The High setting of the Broil function does the job faster than Low and you’ll need to experiment with it to learn how quickly it cooks.

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Not having multiple functions doesn’t affect a toaster oven’s mechanism, which is to heat air up to a certain temperature to cook food. However, it does mean that the user won’t have any way to operate only the upper or lower heating elements individually.

The Breville’s interior has a non-stick coating, 4 heating elements, and 3 tray levels (quite rare for its size). However, it has no internal lighting or convection system.

The oven uses 4 quartz heating elements, each with its own safety guard to prevent direct contact with baking pans and food. Unlike the more common nichrome style, these don’t heat the air in the oven, but rather radiate the infrared heat directly to the food or pan.

Overall, they produce more heat and cool down faster than nichrome. In addition, they’re easier to clean and are more energy-efficient but not as durable. However, if grease splashes onto the heating elements while cooking, it’ll leave permanent stains.

The Hamilton shares the same lack of interior features, including a convection system and an interior light, similar to many other units of the same size. The design didn’t allow for maximum use of the space inside the cooking chamber even though it had two tray levels like most other small toaster ovens, including the Mueller MT-175.

It also only has two quartz heating elements, which can usually lead to uneven heat distribution compared to four or more heating elements. Nonetheless, they use infrared light to cook, which makes the process faster and more energy-efficient than the more common nichrome heating elements.

They also cool down faster and are easier to clean but not as durable. However, if grease splashes onto the heating elements while cooking, it’ll leave permanent stains.

The BOV450XL had enough space for four slices of toast, an 11-inch pizza, or barely a 3 lb whole chicken.

We measured the cooking chamber’s volume to be 13.86 liters compared to the manufacturer’s provided capacity of 12.74 liters. However, it could just be because we measured from the cooking chamber’s walls to walls whereas the manufacturer stopped before reaching the heating elements.

While we couldn’t find the manufacturer’s capacity, we measured the cooking chamber’s volume to be around 13.28 liters. The 31344DA can accommodate four slices of toast or a 9-inch pizza, but not a 3-pound chicken due to insufficient height.

The power cord is roughly 40.94"—plenty of length for household use—and can be wrapped around the back buffers for storage. The plug also has a nice little handle which makes it easier to grab.

The power cord has enough length for household use and an oven this size— roughly 34.65". The fact that it protrudes from the bottom of the oven may lead to some inconvenient bends, though.

The rack fits perfectly on the guide rails, which helps prevent accidents when placing your food in the oven.

The baking rack has two supports below to slide the baking pan in. It fits perfectly with the guide to prevent accidents when placing your food in the oven. The supports narrow at the back to prevent the pan from sliding out, but the entire thing doesn’t conform perfectly.

Although the baking pan is a bit smaller than the rack, it still has more than enough space for a 3 lb chicken. Thus, it keeps most of the mess off the heating elements. 

However, even with the enamel coating, the chicken skin still stuck to the pan during our roasting test. Also worth noting is that the dishwasher can damage this coating.

The baking pan fits nicely below the rack to catch any meat juice and drippings, which helps prevent any mess and the risk of fire from dirty heating elements. Keep in mind that it isn’t 100% non-stick, so it may be prone to stubborn stains after a hefty roast. During our performance tests, the pan bends when heated but luckily didn’t cause any issues.

The Breville is well-constructed and durable with a high power rating of 1800 W. All of its parts fit nicely and work smoothly, especially the LCD display and the buttons.

Thanks to the good insulation of the casing, the oven gets hot to the touch only after cooking for a long period of time at high heat.

The Hamilton’s exterior shell is made from alloy steel, which has a higher tensile strength than stainless. We speculated the reason for this choice was to have the roll-top door—which can be easily removed for cleaning—more durable.

The casing also seems to have good heat insulation and only got hot to the touch after a long cooking time at a high temperature (>400°F). The knobs turn smoothly and have a contoured design for better grip.