Breville BOV450XL vs Instant Omni Plus 18L Toaster Oven Side-by-Side Comparison
Breville BOV450XL vs Instant Omni Plus 18L Toaster Oven. A comparison between two smart countertop toaster ovens, one is small and the other is large.
Specifications
Design
The Breville BOV450XL has a good capacity for a small oven. However, while it has a high wattage and quartz heating elements, it lacks a convection system, so the fancy heating elements don’t improve performance much.
Not being designed to accommodate a convection system was probably why it didn’t come with any useful additional accessories like an air fryer basket. And as a kicker, the interior has a non-stick coating but is black and contains no internal lights, unlike the Panasonic NB-G110P-K.
The design of the Instant Omni Plus 18L 140-4002-01 Air Fryer Toaster Oven shows attention to detail and makes use of modern technology, which resembles the larger Ninja DT201 a lot. While not perfect, its strong points are more than enough to make up for the minor drawbacks.
Stood out to us were the combination of one nichrome and four quartz heating elements as well as the oven’s powerful convection settings. However, the spacing between the four rack levels made it difficult to place a baking pan to catch drippings while roasting a whole chicken with the rotisserie kit.
Usability Comparison
The Breville BOV450XL is simple to use and to clean. Unfortunately, most of its unique features aren’t useful, including the toggles and cooking presets. Its smart heating algorithms as well as automatic preheat phase also didn’t add much to the test dishes we cooked. Cleaning it was an extremely easy task, though.
The Instant Omni Plus 18L 140-4002-01 Air Fryer Toaster Oven is the opposite of a simplistic analog unit like the Cuisinart TOA-60. It maximizes its ease of use but that leads to some weak points in and of itself; the same goes for its user control.
The oven’s touchscreen LCD is very easy to operate with all of its separate cooking functions and feature toggles despite having only one master-control knob and a subpar color contrast. Due to insufficient space, however, the cooking chamber can get quite tricky to clean in case of big greasy messes.
Performance Test
The Breville BOV450XL produced great toast and adequate results when roasting a whole chicken and baking french fries. However, it left a lot to be desired when we tried a pizza. We suspect this was due to the inconsistent heating of the oven.
Moreover, the fact that the oven didn’t have a convection system didn’t help in this regard. A model of the same brand that improved on this was the medium-sized Breville BOV845BSSUSC.
The performance of the Instant Omni Plus 18L 140-4002-01 Air Fryer Toaster Oven is consistently great. In particular, it’s excellent at baking/ air frying fries and roasting a whole chicken. This is thanks to its great design, strong convection system as well as useful accessories—including an air fryer basket and rotisserie kit.
Overall Scores
Pros & Cons
- Unique feature buttons
- Non-stick interior
- High-contrast digital display
- Sturdy construction
- Cool-touch door handle
- Easy-to-clean stainless steel exterior
- Convenient slide-out crumb tray
- Informative and eye-catching package
- Smart Programs and cooking status bar
- Electrical safety feature for the door
- Convenient slide-out crumb tray
- Safeguards for all heating elements
- Complimentary app with detailed instructions and numerous recipes
- Helpful toggles
- Easy-to-clean stainless steel exterior
- No interior lighting
- No convection fan
- Inconsistent heating elements
- Touchscreen digital displays need more contrast
- The master-control knob can be confusing
Conclusion
The Breville BOV450XL and the Instant Omni Plus 18L are two of the best toaster ovens on our list. By comparing them, we can more clearly see the strength and weaknesses of their respective size categories.
Performance-wise, the Instant excelled at almost every test except for making toast where its convection fan wasn’t deployed. Even with the same power rating of 1800 W and four quartz heating elements, the Breville didn’t perform as well in baking pizza, french fries, and roasting a whole chicken. Moreover, we suspected the Breville’s smart heating algorithms may have caused inconsistencies in the elements.
Despite both being smart toaster ovens, the Breville’s unique features aren’t really useful besides the temperature conversion button. The status bar, automatic reminders, toggles, and presets make the Instant a lot more convenient than its competitor.
Both ovens have a sturdy build with a slide-out crumb tray and tray-level indicators on the glass door. However, the Instant shows more investment in the design department with its touchscreen and interior light. In addition to the basic baking rack and pan, it comes with an air fryer basket and rotisserie kit to cover more cooking methods.
In the end, the winner in this match is the Instant Omni Plus 18L — our current pick for the best smart toaster oven. Although the Breville BOV450XL lost, it’s still our current choice for the best small-sized toaster oven.
Behind the Comparison
Alan Nguyen is a writer and product reviewer at HealthyKitchen101. His major in English language teaching taught him to present concise information. In addition to his cooking hobby, he values the practical aspects of household appliances.
Tuyet Pham is an award-winning Saigonese chef passionate about delicious and healthful foods. At HealthyKitchen101, she develops recipes and collaborates with our Research, Testing, and Review lab to evaluate the performance of cooking appliances. Her assessments add a strong authoritative voice to our product scoring process.
Lap is Head of the Research, Testing, and Review Team (RTR Team) at HealthyKitchen101.com, where he directs and supervises the testing of kitchen gadgets and appliances.
