Cuisinart TOB-40N vs Instant Omni Plus 18L Side-by-Side Comparison
Cuisinart TOB-40N vs Instant Omni Plus 18L. A classic toaster oven goes up against a modern convection toaster oven with smart technologies.
Specifications
Design
The Cuisinart TOB-40N has a simple design but with some nice attention to detail. To accommodate its spacious interior, the oven uses 1800 W.
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 Cuisinart TOB-40N doesn’t offer much in terms of ease of use. While the control panel is simple, not having a timer means you’ll need an external timer when using this oven. The oven posed no difficulties in cleaning but nothing to help either.
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 Cuisinart TOB-40N performed well in making toast and whole roasted chicken despite not having a convection system. However, the lack of convection resulted in uneven surface colors on our test dishes.
Even though the oven runs on 1800 W, it wasn’t able to produce a good result in baking french fries. This made the oven pale in comparison to our top picks.
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
- Spacious and non-stick interior
- Auto-slide rack
- Easy-to-clean stainless steel exterior
- Slide-out crumb tray
- Cool-touch door handle
- Stay-on feature
- High power output
- 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 convection fan
- No internal lighting
- No safety mechanism for the door
- Touchscreen digital displays need more contrast
- The master-control knob can be confusing
Conclusion
Throughout our performance tests, the Instant Omni Plus 18L consistently produced great results. While the Cuisinart TOB-40N roasted a whole chicken very nicely, it just can’t compete with the Instant. In particular, the Instant Omni Plus excelled at baking french fries, where the Cuisinart struggled. They went toe to toe toasting bread, though.
Both ovens use 1800 watts of power but the Instant Omni Plus is a lot more efficient. It has four quartz heating elements and one nichrome heating element as opposed to the Cuisinart which contains only four heating nichrome elements.
Of the two, only the Instant Omni Plus has a convection system, and it’s a strong one at that. The oven’s touchscreen display shows a cooking status bar with automatic reminders. Besides the standard accessories, the rotisserie kit and air fryer basket make full use of the oven’s extra functions.
Nonetheless, the Cuisinart’s 100% analog control with easy-grip dials is more suitable for people who like a straightforward control panel. Moreover, the oven has the ability to stay on indefinitely — something the Instant Omni Plus can’t do.
Both ovens are built sturdy and include their own convenient slide-out crumb tray. The Cuisinart, however, has the extra touches of a safety hook for its level-2 tray and an auto-slide rack.
The Instant Omni Plus 18L is the winner in every aspect with its clever design, smart technologies, and overall efficiency. Nonetheless, the Cuisinart TOB-40N is still a solid choice that does the job at an inexpensive price.
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.
