COMFEE CFO-BB101 vs Breville BOV450XL Toaster Oven Side-by-Side Comparison
COMFEE CFO-BB101 vs Breville BOV450XL Toaster Oven. A comparison between two small countertop toaster ovens at two different ends of the price range.
Specifications
Design
While being compact, the Comfee CFO-BB101 has a good capacity compared to the similar-sized Hamilton Beach 31401. Moreover, it still has all the standard exterior features, plus a neat detachable crumb tray. However, it’s very lacking in terms of the interior even though it uses quartz heating elements. Its overall construction also leaves a lot to be desired.
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.
Usability Comparison
The Comfee CFO-BB101 doesn’t have anything strong going for it in terms of usability. The simple control has some drawbacks and doesn’t provide much convenience. However, a detachable crumb tray makes it easier to clean the oven, especially if the oven is of this size.
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.
Performance Test
The Comfee CFO-BB101 has only two heating elements, and this often resulted in uneven coloring on our test dishes. Our speculation was that the low power output hinders the oven’s performance in test dishes that require a high temperature (> 400°F), including pizza and fries. One solution could be to decrease the amount of food compared to what we used for our test amount.
In addition, it was hard to input an exact temperature and time due to the limited settings on the control knob, especially for making toast. A small unit that doesn’t have temperature and control problems is the Breville BOV450XL.
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.
Overall Scores
Pros & Cons
- Extra-small size
- Energy-saving
- Quartz heating elements have safeguards
- Cool-touch door handle
- Stay-on feature
- Detachable crumb tray
- 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
- No convection fan
- No internal lighting
- No safety mechanism for the door
- No interior lighting
- No convection fan
- Inconsistent heating elements
Conclusion
The Breville BOV450XL came out on top against the COMFEE CFO-BB101 throughout all of our performance tests except for only one. These results can provide some insight into the strengths and weaknesses of each of these two small toaster ovens.
The Comfee uses 1000 W to power its two quartz heating elements. Meanwhile, the Breville supplies its four quartz heating elements at 1800 W. This could be the reason why the latter performed better in dishes that require a high temperature (> 400°F). However, we suspect the Breville’s smart heating algorithms might have caused inconsistencies in heat distribution which caused its subpar roasted chicken.
Design-wise, the Breville uses more durable material for its casing and also its accessories. It also has a non-stick interior coating for easy cleaning. While the Breville has a slide-out crumb tray, the Comfee has a detachable crumb tray.
Compared to the Comfee which has no additional features of convenience, the Breville has a number of unique features. Unfortunately, they didn’t prove to be of much use except for the temperature conversion button.
Overall, the Breville BOV450XL is the better performer with additional features and at a higher price. On the other hand, the Comfee saves more space and energy while doing the job to an acceptable degree.
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.
