Oster French Door Toaster Oven In-depth Review

6.0Toast

We began our Toast test on the Oster with the default toast level 4 and got pretty good results right off the bat. For good measure, we continued to try the toast level 3, where the timer was slightly too short for the color to develop evenly on the toast’s surface.

Finally, we tried level 5 to get a reference of a darker shade, only to end up with burnt toast. Unfortunately, while level 4 was the best option, it didn’t exactly have the highest score—only 6/10.

On this setting—7 minutes 25 seconds on the timer, the four pieces of toast on the upper tray level mostly had a nice golden brown color.  However, the color became dark as it got to the edges, especially in the areas where the bread was less dense.

A big part of the bottom right piece was also significantly lighter than the rest, possibly indicating a cold spot in the cooking chamber. With such unevenness, we could only give the surface color a 6/10 despite the good golden brown color.

With such a long toasting time, the bread became very crispy on the outside and dry on the inside. Our head chef, Tuyet Pham, said this crispiness would be great for eggs benedict and especially soup, but maybe not omelets and sandwiches. Unfortunately, the dark edges gave the toast a bitter taste preventing it from getting higher than a 6/10 from our chef.

We placed the second batch of four in immediately after the first one. We chose level 4 again whereupon the oven automatically deducted the timer to 5 minutes 31 seconds.

Since the oven was already hot, the aforementioned cold spot became less apparent. The toast was not as crispy nor dry as the first batch, which made it more suitable for sandwiches and omelets. However, the burnt edges were still a problem, so the oven received one final 6/10 for consecutive usability.

6.3Pizza

We didn’t choose the Pizza preset because its temperature was only 400°F and didn’t match our Pizza test requirement of 450°F. Instead, we chose Turbo Convection as convection is desirable when baking pizza. Nonetheless, the Oster’s final score for baking pizza wasn’t very high, only 6.4/10.

We were impressed that the oven only took 9 minutes to bake a 9-inch thick-crust meat pizza placed on the upper tray level. According to our data on average toaster oven performance, this deserved a 9/10.

Unfortunately, the oven probably wasn’t powerful enough to crisp up the crust in such a short cooking time. Thus, parts of the bottom crust still got stuck despite the grooved pattern of the baking pan. The crust only had a light golden color on the surface, so it got a 5.5/10.

The main reason we decided to stop baking was that some tips of the meat and parts of the cheese started charring. It was a shame that the cheese wasn’t able to melt before this, so we could only give the toppings a 6/10.

We were able to prevent the toppings from burning and, thus, a bitter taste. However, the crust and the topping weren’t good enough for the taste of the pizza to get a score higher than 5.5/10 from our chef.

8.1Whole Roasted Chicken

The abundance of space seemed to help the Oster produce impressive results in our Whole Roasted Chicken test, scoring an 8.1/10. We placed a 3 lb chicken belly-up on the upper rack level and flipped it after the first 40 minutes.

After a total of 1 hour 10 minutes, the chicken was able to reach a desirable color, scoring a 7/10 for cooking time. Our chef suggested that roasting it any longer wouldn’t result in better skin caramelization. Thus, we decided to stop the roasting to not decrease the cooking time score further and to avoid overcooking the meat.

The skin mostly had an appetizing golden color, except for the sides of the two drumsticks, where the color was a little light. Because the oven’s heating elements and convection system weren’t very powerful, the skin only crisped up slightly, enough for a 7.5/10.

Nonetheless, the oven was able to maintain its temperature well enough to cook the entire chicken thoroughly without any pink spots. What surprised us the most was the fact that the chicken’s internal temperature was 181°F, nearly spot-on with the recommended 165°F - 180°F by the USDA. These earned a whopping 9.8/10 for doneness.

Interestingly, the meat came out so tender that the bone we held onto simply fell off as we tried to carve the chicken. If the skin was crispier, the chicken would have received a higher score than 8/10 for its taste.

4.1Baked French Fries

We didn’t expect the Oster to score so low on our Baked French Fries test, at 4.1/10. Our assumption was that the cooking chamber was too large in ratio to the oven’s power output, so the oven wasn’t able to maintain a proper temperature for baking frozen fries. 

Even after 30 minutes—way over our time limit of 25 minutes—the fries had no significant color change. Thus, we had no choice but to stop the baking and give the fries a 0/10 for cooking time.

Most of the fries had a pale color like they were air-dried instead of air-fried. Some small pieces had a light golden color, but that wasn’t enough to get a score higher than 5/10.

Texture-wise, the fries were soft but dry on the outside, barely enough for a 5.5/10. With all that said, the taste couldn’t be any good. The only silver lining was that the fries were cooked, so our chef could still give it a 5/10 for taste.

In the Box

• Model: TSSTTVFDDG
• Warranty: 1 year (US and Canada only)
• User Manual
• Baking Rack x 2
• Baking Pan
• Removable Crumb Tray

Upon delivery, the Oster TSSTTVFDDG is positioned inside its packaging with two foam pads. The four pieces of accessories are placed inside carton boxes and taped to the oven. While the box only has some basic information, it also comes with a user manual.

8.0Exterior

With the Oster’s large size, it’s useful to have air ventilation holes on all sides (+3). At first glance, what stood out to us the most was the tempered glass french door which is complemented by the cool-touch door handles (+3).

It also has a back buffer to prevent it from being too close to the wall but we do think it could be longer(+2). In addition, while the oven’s bottom stands are sturdy, they are a bit small. 

Our measurements of the oven’s footprints were 21.53" x 19.96" x 12.79" which matched closely with the manufacturer’s 22" x 19.5" x 13". On a side note, we weighed the oven to be around 16.75 lbs while the manufacturer stated the entire package to be 13.87 lbs.

Control Panel

The Oster has an LCD and 15 flat buttons including 8 for functions, 2 for timer adjustment, 2 for temperature adjustment, a Clock button, a Stop/Cancel button, and a Start button. The oven has an interior light but not a toggle button for it.

Cooking Functions of the Oster XL Digital Convection Toaster Oven

• Toast (level 1-6)
• Bake (150°F-450°F)
• Turbo Convection (150°F-450°F)
• Broil (450°F)
• Pizza (400°F)
• Warm (150°F)
• Defrost (150°F)
• Dehydrate (150°F)

The Oster has eight cooking functions including Toast, Bake, Broil, Pizza, Warm, Defrost, Dehydrate, and Turbo Convection. The last one is basically the Convection Bake function and it’s the only one to deploy the convection system in this unit.

Allowing for the maximum temperature range from 150°F to 450°F are the Bake and Turbo Convection functions. The Toast function has 6 preset levels from Light to Dark, Meanwhile, the Pizza function is set to 400°F and Broil is set to 450°F; both can not be adjusted.

The user manual recommends not preheating the oven when using Defrost and Dehydrate. These two functions are set to 150°F—the lowest temperature possible for this oven—and cannot be adjusted. However, 150°F is a bit high compared to common dehydrators which operate at around 100°F.

For some reason, we couldn’t find the set temperature for Warm in the manual. Nonetheless, we were able to identify the temperature to also be 150°F.

7.0Interior

The Oster uses three nichrome heating elements and has quite an interesting design for its upper heating element, but we’re not sure how useful it is (+3). Looking at the cooking chamber, most other same-sized units would have four upper heating elements, two bottom heating elements, and a power draw of 1800 W.

However, the Oster has only one upper heating element which bends across the cooking chamber’s ceiling and back to cover the same area as four do. Since the power draw is divided equally between working heating elements, we speculated this design choice was to help with the oven’s lower power draw of 1500 W.

The TSSTTVFDDG is advertised to have ‘easy clean interior walls’. While they are not nonstick, our cleaning test showed that the oven was, indeed, easy to clean (+1).

The convection fan is situated on the right side of the cooking chamber(+2). While the oven has an interior light, it’s fully automatic meaning you can’t decide when to turn it on or off (+2).

Having only two rack levels, the oven doesn’t really require indicators on the glass door (-1). Looking at the user manual, it’s recommended to use the upper rack position for toast and pizza and the lower rack for other foods. It’s worth noting that the guide rails are assembled parts instead of being hollowed out of the cooking chamber’s walls like many other toaster ovens.

Keep in mind to not place the baking pan under the baking rack and slide them into the lower rack level. During testing, we noticed that doing this would result in the tray coming in direct contact with the bottom heating elements.

Capacity of the Oster Double Door Oven

According to the manufacturer, the TSSTTVFDDG can fit 14 slices of toast and two 16-inch pizzas on its two racks. However, our hands-on operation showed each rack only had enough space to fit 6 slices of toast or a 15-inch pizza. While it wasn’t clear how big a whole chicken the oven could accommodate, our test showed it was plenty enough for a 3 lb one.

Although the manufacturer didn’t state a capacity, we measured the cooking chamber volume to be around 42.83 liters which was our biggest number to date. Unfortunately, we think having only two rack levels wasn’t enough to utilize the oven’s capacity.

Power Cord

The power cord is 25.79" long which is enough for household use. However, it could be a bit longer since such a large toaster oven like the Oster require at least 5 inches of clear space on all sides. The oven also doesn’t have storage space for the cord like some models.

Accessories: Baking Rack x 2

The Oster has two baking racks which are slightly different from one another. One rack has two supports below to slide the baking pan under it.

Accessories: Baking Pan

The baking pan has ridges and grooves which can give your food attractive roasting marks and catch the dripping better. It also has wide edges to stay firmly on the supports of the baking rack, unlike some other designs we’ve seen.

However, it’s not big enough to fit into the rail guides and can only go on top or below the baking racks. This means it won’t make full use of the oven’s capacity. In addition, it has a coating but isn’t completely non-stick so it can be prone to stubborn stains.

Accessories: Removable Crumb Tray

The crumb tray is always a useful accessory to clean up the pesky debris, especially with large toaster ovens like the Oster. Pay attention to the crumbs falling to the cooking chamber’s floor as you take out the tray since it’s gonna be quite a hassle to tilt the oven to get them out.

6.0Build Quality

The TSSTTVFDDG is light for its size and has a simple rectangular shape, both of which make it easy to carry around and position on your kitchen counter (+2). It also has a sturdy build and durable stainless steel casing (+4). The LCD is black while the numbers are yellow and the settings are red, making everything easy to see (+1).

Unfortunately, during use, we found that the flat buttons usually required quite a bit of force to register (-1). Moreover, the door hinge could be firmer to minimize the chances of the door slamming shut.

8.0User Control

In all honesty, the Oster’s control panel is easy to understand since it’s just really simple (+2). The LCD doesn’t provide any extra information but it’s easy to see (+2).

Its buttons also don’t have any fancy features but at least they are distinctive from one another (+2). While the manual said you can press Stop/Cancel button twice to turn off the oven, we weren’t able to do so, unfortunately (-1).

The temperature can be adjusted in increments of 5°F. The timer can reach from one minute to six hours which is quite a large range (+1). Time can be adjusted in increments of 1 minute when it’s below 2 hours and in increments of 0.5 hours afterward (+1).

To first setup the clock, press the clock button once and the clock will flash. Second, use the arrow keys to set the four. Third, press the clock button again and use the arrow keys to set the minutes. Finally, push the clock button or the start button to set the time (+1).

5.0Ease of Use

As you select a function, the corresponding icons will illuminate. The TSSTTVFDDG has an automatic preheat phase which is only applicable for the Bake and Turbo Convection Bake functions (+1).

After choosing a time and temperature, you can then push start and the display will show PrE indicating the oven is in preheating phase. You can bypass this phase by pressing the start button a second time.

The phase lasts roughly 5 minutes and preheats the oven to an internal temperature of about 300°F regardless of input temperature. You can readjust the time and temperature only after the preheating phase.

Interestingly, we found that the unit would go back to preheat mode until it reach the actual new input temperature and not just 300°F. This is also stated in the user manual.

All the accessories fit perfectly with the guide to prevent accidents when placing food in the oven (+3). When the cooking cycle begins, the interior light will turn on automatically and then off when the cooking cycle ends (+2).

The french door and its cool-touch handle allow you to stay away from the heat wave upon opening after cooking (+4). This design allows you to single-pull both doors which is very convenient. However, it cannot open partially and can even slam shut if your hands slip (-2).

Keep in mind that opening the door doesn’t stop the oven or the interior light (-2). Be careful as the oven’s casing can get very hot after a long cooking time at a high temperature (-1).

When the cooking cycle finishes, the oven will beep once and return to the clock screen. Thus, it’s advised to unplug the oven after use.

7.5Cleanability

With a stainless steel exterior, the Oster was very easy to clean on the outside (+2). While the interior didn’t have a non-stick coating, it had no tricky nooks and crannies, so cleaning didn’t require much labor (+4).

After roasting a chicken, the baking pan accumulated some stubborn stains which we were able to remove by brushing it with a paste of baking soda and water (+1.5). We were worried that grease could splash inside the fan cavity while cooking but it luckily didn’t happen.