Hamilton Beach 31401 vs Hamilton Beach Easy Reach 4 Slices Toaster Oven Side-by-Side Comparison

With our Toast test, we determined the best option was right at the position of the Toast icon—around 4 minutes 15 seconds on the timer, scoring a 7.7/10. Turning the knob halfway down would result in no color and turning it halfway up nearly burnt the toast.

With 4m 15s, the Hamilton Beach produced 4 pieces with a light golden brown color on the top and golden on the bottom. Although that was great, the top and the bottom were quite different and they were both only about 80% even throughout. Thus, we gave it a 7.5/10.

The first batch of toast had a nice balance of crispiness on the outside and softness on the inside, deserving an 8/10 for taste. Our head chef Tuyet Pham determined it would go well with pretty much everything including eggs benedict, omelet, and especially sandwiches. It wasn’t as suitable for soup but the second batch was.

The second batch got crispier and more even in color. However, it also became browner so we gave it a 7.3/10 for consecutive usability. If you want the second batch to be the same as the first, remember to only turn the knob to ¾ to Medium—around 3 minutes 40 seconds.

To start off our Toast test, we placed four pieces of bread on the lower tray level and turned the time knob to the point just before the toast icon, which was around 4 minutes 5 seconds on the timer. The bread came out only lightly toasted on top.

Thus, we tried increasing the timer to 5 minutes and had a pretty good result. We then tried increasing the timer again to 7 minutes and 20 seconds just for good measure, but that almost burnt the toast.

With everything in mind, we decided 5 minutes of toasting would yield the best possible result and the final score was 6.7/10. It was quite tricky to get the exact toasting time due to the analog control knob so we used an external timer.

The top of the four pieces of toast had good golden-brown color in areas that were closest to the center of the oven, but was only lightly toasted in areas furthest away from the center of the oven. On the bottom, the lightly toasted areas were even larger, so we gave the toast a 7/10 for even surface color.

The toast was a bit too crispy in the golden-brown areas and a little dry in the lighter areas, so we could only give it a 6.8/10 for taste. Our head chef, Tuyet Pham, determined it would go well with omelets and eggs benedict, but not sandwiches and soups.

The second batch came out brown on both the top and the bottom and crispy throughout, which could be more suitable for soup than the first batch. However, there were still lighter areas on both sides and the bottom even had some burnt ends.

Thus, we could only give the oven a 6.3/10 for consecutive usability. If you want the second batch to be the same as the first, around four minutes on the timer should be enough.

The Hamilton didn’t perform well in baking a 9-inch thick-crust meat pizza scoring a 5.6/10.

Compared to the recommended 10 minutes on the label, the oven took only a tad bit longer at 10m 30s. However, this meant that it failed the cooking time criterion with 10 minutes being the time limit for our Pizza test.

For the most part, the crust didn’t have a good toasted coloring and was soft so it got a 6/10. The toppings had pretty good caramelization but some darkened areas of the cheese lowered the score to 7.5/10. After tasting the pizza, our chef gave it a 7/10.

We used the Hamilton to bake a 9-inch thick-crust meat pizza at 450°F for our Pizza test and the final score was 6.6/10. To our surprise, the oven took 6 minutes to bake the pizza, which was very fast and worthy of a 9/10 for cooking time.

Unfortunately, the crust showed the oven’s uneven heat distribution. The bottom right quarter of the crust almost became brown before the rest could turn an ideal golden-brown color. The crust was also mostly soft, so we could only give it a 6/10.

The same problem also showed in the toppings, giving the oven another 6/10. While the cheese was only slightly melty and most of the meat was not caramelized, some pieces of meat had some burnt ends.

With that said, our chef gave the pizza a final 6/10 after tasting it.

This was one of the rare occasions where an oven failed the entirety of our Whole Roasted Chicken test. Our speculations concerned the instability of the heating elements and the fact that the chicken grazed the upper safeguard during cooking.

After 1h 30m—our time limit, the oven wasn’t able to roast the chicken to a desirable outcome and failed the first criterion. After roasting, the skin had no noticeable caramelization and barely enough for a 5/10.

The chicken reached an internal temperature of 176°F which was quite good. However, the meat itself was undercooked and still pink in a lot of areas. Thus, it was another failure. Due to the meat being undercooked, our chef couldn’t taste it to give a score.

The cooking chamber of the Hamilton technically didn’t have enough space for a 3 lb whole chicken as required in our Whole Roasted Chicken test. Thus, we had to place the chicken directly in front of the upper heating element, which led to a number of problems.

On the bright side, the result wasn’t too bad at 6.6/10 for a total score. If you choose to roast a whole chicken in this oven, we recommend flattening the chicken out, cutting it open, or cutting it into pieces.

The oven took 1 hour 20 minutes to roast the chicken, which was 20 minutes longer than the standard cooking time, so we gave it a 6/10.

Looking at the skin, the side that faced the door lacked color due to the lower temperature. In addition, the chicken grazed the upper heating element’s guard a number of times, which caused parts of the chicken to burn and led to the oven smoking during roasting as well as burnt bits on the guards afterward.

The silver lining in this was that the burnt areas actually had a nice golden-brown color. However, due to a lower power draw, the skin on the sides basically had no color. With everything in mind, we could only give the skin a 5/10.

Interestingly, the chicken had near-perfect doneness at 9.8/10. The meat had no pink spots and an internal temperature of 174°F-183°F, which was really close to the USDA recommendation.

The ideal doneness helped maintain the tenderness and juiciness of the meat. However, the skin was really unappetizing, so our chef could only give the chicken a 6/10 for taste.

The Hamilton Beach wasn’t suitable for baking 12 oz of french fries scoring only a 4/10.

There were no noticeable changes to the fries after 30 minutes of baking in this oven. Due to our time limit of 25 minutes, this constituted a failure in the cooking time section of our Baked French Fries test.

There was no change in the fries’ color so they received a 5/10. The oven basically thawed and heated the fries so they were very soggy scoring another 5/10. Our chef could only give the fries a minimal score of 5/10 for taste.

The Hamilton was at its weakest baking 12 oz of frozen fries for our Baked French Fries test, scoring a 3.6/10.

At 26 minutes, which was over our time limit, the fries still had no significant change in color. Thus, we stopped the baking process and gave the oven a 0/10 for cooking time.

Color-wise, the fries didn’t look much different before and after baking. The only saving grace was that the fries were actually cooked, so we could still give it a 4.5/10 for color.

Similarly, the fries had a texture like they were air-dried, which was still better than boiled french fries that are simply soft and soggy. Thus, it got another 4.5/10.

After tasting this batch of french fries that lacked both color and texture, our chef couldn’t give a higher score than 4.5/10.