As a freshman in college, in 1978, like many in my dorm, I bought some small scale cooking appliances.
From Lechmere, I bought a GE model T114/3115 toast 'n broil TOAST-R-OVEN.
For 44 years it made toast, reheated leftovers and made itself useful. It died last month. Heating element failure.
Perhaps you've seen this model. It even came with a fancy broiler pan:
They don't make them like they used to. This one outlived the store that sold it to me by decades!
I went to Wirecutter and Consumer Reports for advice on a replacement. They definitely don't make them like they used to.
Apparently nobody buys toaster ovens that small any more. I had to re-arrange my counter top to accommodate the smallest one I could find that was from a respected manufacturer, and that would do toast, reheat, bake and broil.
The first one I got, I simply hated, and returned it. I was surprised to discover that shielding behind the heating element that keeps the top from getting too hot is not a common part of current designs.
I've got another one, still bigger than the old, dead one, that touts the hot top as a plate warming feature. (I'm not making this up.) Even so, this other one only gets to about 120F whereas the one I hated and returned clocked in at over 200F, and had instructions to move the oven 4 inches away from all walls and other objects during use.
This post is a lamentation for the departure of a good and faithful servant and for the over-designed appliances that you simply can't get any more.
Goodbye Faithful Toaster Oven
