Hamilton Beach 31401 Countertop vs Black+Decker CTO6335S Toaster Oven Side-by-Side Comparison
Hamilton Beach 31401 vs Black+Decker CTO6335S Toaster Oven. A comparison between a small, energy-saving countertop toaster oven and a budget large unit.
Specifications
Design
With a basic design, the Hamilton Beach 31401 doesn’t have any exterior feature that stands out. It makes up a little for this with its interior having quartz heating elements with safeguards.
The Black+Decker CTO6335S has a sturdy construction. Standouts for us were the baking pan plus broiling rack combo and the quartz heating elements.
Usability Comparison
While the Hamilton Beach 31401 doesn’t offer much in terms of usability, it also doesn’t cause any inconvenience. Although the analog control knobs can make it difficult to pinpoint an exact time and temperature, it wasn’t a big problem.
The Black+Decker CTO6335S has an easy-to-use control panel. However, it doesn’t have any features that encompass convenience. Even the automatic preheat feature isn’t very useful. In addition, its door and buttons are a bit dodgy.
Performance Test
Our test results showed that the Hamilton Beach 31401 did a good job of making toast. However, it didn’t perform well in dishes that require a long cooking time and/or a high temperature, including pizza, whole roasted chicken, and baked french fries.
Our resulting test dishes were also mostly lacking in color, except for the toast. This was possibly due to the oven’s low power output in addition to having only two heating elements, unlike the Breville BOV450XL. One solution could be to decrease the amount of food compared to our test amount.
The Black+Decker CTO6335S performed quite well in most of our test dishes except for the baked french fries. We speculated that 1500 W wasn’t able to heat the elements fast enough to keep up with the oven’s large capacity.
Overall Scores
Pros & Cons
- Lightweight and small size
- Easy-to-clean stainless steel exterior
- Cool-touch door handle
- Simple control knobs
- Stay-on feature
- Quartz heating elements have safeguards
- Energy-saving
- Large capacity
- Highly affordable
- Easy-to-clean stainless steel exterior
- High-contrast digital display
- Sturdy exterior
- Cool-touch door handle
- Convenient slide-out crumb tray
- No convection fan
- No internal lighting
- No safety mechanism for the door
- Convection fan isn’t all-applicable
- No internal lighting
- Buttons not reliably responsive
Conclusion
In our performance tests, the Hamilton Beach 31401 would have been a total debacle compared to the Black+Decker CTO6335S if not for the slight edge it gained when toasting bread. We suspect that the Hamilton’s performance could be improved by cooking less food compared to our test amounts at a time.
The Black+Decker has a higher power output of 1500 W and four quartz heating elements as opposed to the Hamilton with 1200 W of power and two similar heating elements. To top it off, unlike the Black+Decker, the Hamilton doesn’t have a convection system to help distribute heat evenly.
Besides the size difference—the Hamilton is small and the Black+Decker is large—the Black+Decker scored higher in the design and usability departments. It has a tamper-resistant casing with a slide-out crumb tray.
The Black+Decker’s various cooking functions are all the more useful for beginners in the kitchen. The Hamilton does have a stay-on feature, though, which is helpful considering its short timer.
Unless you specifically want a lightweight, energy-saving, and small-sized toaster oven, there’s no reason to choose the Hamilton Beach 31401 over the Black+Decker CTO6335S. The latter is priced better and received better overall ratings.
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.
