Best Countertop Ovens, Picked by a Head Chef

From the kitchen: Gerzsi once baked a tray of cookies at home exactly as the recipe said: 350°F, 12 minutes. Out came twelve small charcoal briquettes. He blamed the recipe, then the flour, then the tray, and finally, in a dark moment, himself. Then Chef Tamás handed him a cheap oven thermometer. It read 400°F. The oven had been lying to him for two years. The cookies were innocent.

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Professional ovens and home ovens are very different machines, but the lessons from one carry over to the other. Here’s what years of cooking with professional ovens taught Chef Tamás, and the tested countertop ovens that bring those lessons home.

Chef Tamás’s note: At work: combi steam ovens, convection ovens and conventional ovens. At home: a built-in electric oven, a gas oven and an air fryer. Four lessons carry over: convection matters most, steam makes a big difference, the temperature on the dial is rarely accurate, and even heat is everything.

Every pick at a glance

Oven thermometers

Pick	Price range	Tested by	Key facts
ThermoPro TP16 · Check on Amazon	$25–50	ATK Best Buy, oven thermometers	Probe withstands up to 716°F; timer up to 99 h 59 min
CDN ProAccurate POT750X · Check on Amazon	Under $25	ATK best analog pick	Dial reads 100–750°F; stainless steel

Countertop ovens

Pick	Price range	Tested by	Key facts
Breville Smart Oven (BOV800) · Check on Amazon	$200–300	ATK toaster oven winner	1800 W, 9 functions, 5 quartz elements
Toshiba AC25CEW-BS · Check on Amazon	See today’s price on Amazon	ATK toaster oven Best Buy	Convection, fits 6 slices or a 12″ pizza
Breville Smart Oven Air Fryer Pro (BOV900) · Check on Amazon	Over $300	ATK air-fryer toaster oven winner	13 functions, 1 cu ft, fits a 14 lb turkey
Instant Omni Plus 18L · Check on Amazon	$200–300	Related to ATK’s Best Buy (Instant Omni 18L)	18 L, 10-in-1, fits a 12″ pizza
Anova Precision Oven 2.0 · Check on Amazon	Over $300	ATK top countertop steam oven	Steam and sous vide modes, 77–482°F

ATK = America’s Test Kitchen. Specs and prices are from the retailer or brand pages listed in Sources below.

Step 1: Check your oven’s real temperature (the cheapest upgrade)

Before you buy a new oven, find out what your current one is actually doing. America’s Test Kitchen notes that under NSF International standards an oven can swing as much as 25 degrees above and below the set temperature and still count as acceptably calibrated on average. In their popover test, a 25-degree difference was enough to ruin the batch. In cool ovens the popovers didn’t rise, and in hot ones they came out misshapen and too dark (America’s Test Kitchen).

• Best value: ThermoPro TP16. America’s Test Kitchen’s Best Buy digital pick, in the $25–50 range. It’s highly accurate despite minimal features (America’s Test Kitchen).
• Simplest: CDN Pro Accurate Oven Thermometer. ATK’s best analog pick is a budget dial thermometer with a wide, stable base and clear markings. This is the kind of “cheap thermometer” that saved Gerzsi’s cookies.
• Top pick: ThermoWorks Square DOT. The premium digital option. It shows a rolling average of the oven temperature.

ThermoPro TP16 · Good for: highly accurate readings on a budget. Not for: anyone who wants lots of features.

Step 2: Get convection in a countertop oven

A good countertop convection oven heats up fast, uses less energy for small batches, and gives you a fan-driven oven even if your main oven doesn’t have one.

Best overall: Breville Smart Oven (BOV800XL)

America’s Test Kitchen’s toaster oven winner. It aced every test they threw at it, turning out evenly baked cookies, golden pizza, tender-crisp asparagus and a crisp-skinned chicken. The controls are intuitive, the settings are programmable, and quartz heating elements keep the temperature accurate (America’s Test Kitchen).

Best value: Toshiba 6-Slice Convection Toaster Oven (AC25CEW-BS)

The Best Buy in the same test. It made even toast, did well with baking and roast chicken, and has a crumb tray and rack-position markings. The trade-offs are a limited broiler (350°F max) and a slightly confusing digital interface (America’s Test Kitchen).

Good for: convection baking, even toast and roast chicken for less. Not for: serious broiling. The broiler tops out at 350°F.

If you want an air fryer too: air-fryer toaster ovens

Tamás has an air fryer at home, and he uses it more than you might expect from a head chef. If you want one machine that toasts, roasts and air fries:

• Best overall: Breville Smart Oven Air Fryer Pro (over $300 at Breville in October 2026, on sale). America’s Test Kitchen’s winner, with intuitive controls and consistently the best food across air frying, toasting, roasting and broiling (America’s Test Kitchen).
• Best value: Instant Oven 18L Air Fryer Toaster Oven. It handled air frying, roasting and broiling well for much less money, though its toasting is limited (America’s Test Kitchen). The closely related Instant Omni Plus 18L (10-in-1) was listed in the $200–300 range at Walmart in October 2026.

Step 3: Add steam

Professional combi ovens combine convection with steam. For home cooks who want that steam side, countertop steam ovens are the closest option. (Before he knew this, Gerzsi’s home method for steam was a tray of water and a lot of hope. It works a little. A real steam oven works a lot.)

Top pick: Anova Precision Oven

America’s Test Kitchen’s top countertop steam oven. It controls humidity in 5% steps, can cook sous vide without a water bath or bags, has a built-in probe thermometer and five rack positions, and made excellent toast and bread. The drawback is the app. The connection was unreliable, and remote start from a phone “fell far short” in their testing (America’s Test Kitchen). In October 2026 Anova listed the Precision Oven 2.0 at over $300, even on sale (Anova). That’s a lot of money, so it only makes sense if you bake bread or cook with steam often. A tray of water is still free.

Good for: people who bake bread or cook with steam often. Not for: anyone counting on remote start from the app, which testers found unreliable.

Which one should you buy?

Check your oven first

Countertop convection ovens

Air-fryer toaster ovens

Countertop steam oven

Chef-picked. Beaver-approved.

More from Chef Tamás’s kitchen: the tools he uses every day, including the instant-read thermometer that tells you when food is done.

Sources

• America’s Test Kitchen: The Best Oven Thermometers
• America’s Test Kitchen: The Best Toaster Ovens
• America’s Test Kitchen: The Best Air-Fryer Toaster Ovens
• America’s Test Kitchen: The Best Countertop Steam Ovens
• Walmart: ThermoPro TP16 price and specs
• WebstaurantStore: CDN POT750X price and specs
• Breville: Smart Oven BOV800
• Breville: Smart Oven Air Fryer Pro BOV900
• Walmart: Instant Omni Plus 18L
• Anova: Precision Oven 2.0