Black & Decker 6-Slice Countertop Convection Toaster Oven

Overview

I spent a few weeks living with the Black & Decker convection toaster oven as my primary countertop cooker for toast, reheats, small bakes, and quick broils. On paper, it checks a lot of boxes: convection fan, a 60-minute timer, a slide-out crumb tray, a non-stick interior, and a rack that advances as you open the door for easier access. It fits a 9-inch pizza, which is the sweet spot for a compact kitchen. In practice, though, the experience is a mix of useful convenience and design choices that range from quirky to frustrating.

Design and Build

This is a larger toaster oven than the “compact” tag implies. At roughly 20 x 16 x 12 inches, it occupies microwave-like space and will demand real estate on your counter, plus a few inches behind it for airflow. The upside to the size is capacity—you can toast six slices at once or lay out chicken pieces without crowding. The downside is that it’s relatively lightweight for its footprint, which makes it feel a bit flimsy, and it can shift slightly when you’re opening the door if you’re not careful.

The glass door swings down nearly flat, which makes loading and unloading easy, especially with the rack-advance feature that slides the rack forward. There’s no damping on the hinges, though. If you let go mid-swing, the door drops fast and can slam the counter. The handle is broad and easy to grab, but it does heat up during longer bakes. I learned to keep a silicone mitt handy for opening during or right after a hot cycle.

Controls and Usability

Controls are straightforward but not particularly refined. You get a small LCD for time and temperature, a bank of preset buttons, and a bright blue power indicator. The functional problem here is legibility. The LCD isn’t backlit and is dim at certain angles, while the blue indicator is intense and can wash out the display. I often found myself shading the light with a hand to read temperature and time. The button labels are petite and not high-contrast; if your kitchen lighting is less than ideal or your eyesight isn’t perfect, expect a learning curve.

The 60-minute timer works reliably and a chime sounds at the end of a cycle. It’s not subtle; think smoke-alarm-esque beeps rather than a gentle ding. That’s great if you’re in another room, less great if you’re in a small space and sensitive to sharp tones.

Heating Performance and Temperature Accuracy

I tested the oven’s thermostat with an independent oven thermometer in both bake and convection bake modes. The unit comes up to temperature quickly for its size, but it struggles with accuracy and stability. At 350°F, my readings oscillated between about 325°F and 370°F, which is a wide swing for precise baking. At setpoints of 400°F and above, the oven often settled in the mid- to high-300s during actual cooking, especially with a load inside (like a pizza or a full tray of cookies). The convection fan improves air movement, but I still observed a hot spot toward the back-left quadrant. Rotating the tray halfway through is essential for even browning.

For tasks that aren’t temperature-sensitive—reheating, toasting, open-faced melts—the variance is less of a problem. For pizza, breads, and cookies where you want steady heat, plan on compensating by increasing the set temperature slightly and rotating your food. Even with those adjustments, getting crisp, even results at 400°F-style recipes is hit-or-miss.

Toasting and Everyday Tasks

Toast and bagels are squarely in this oven’s comfort zone. It’s quick to heat, and six slices toast evenly enough in the middle rack position. The front-to-back gradient still exists, but using the rack-advance feature to pull your slices forward briefly before finishing helps reduce unevenness. English muffins, frozen waffles, and quick cheese melts all turned out well. For reheats—leftover pasta, roasted vegetables, and casseroles in small oven-safe dishes—the convection setting added a noticeable boost to surface texture without drying the interior.

One caution: because the door drops quickly, reaching in to grab small items without a mitt isn’t wise. I brushed a wrist on the inner rim once while snagging a bagel half; after that, I always used tongs or a mitt.

Baking and Broiling

Baking is where this oven’s limitations show. Cookies spread a touch more than usual and browned faster at the rear. I had the best results by using a light-colored pan, setting 25°F higher than the recipe, and rotating at the halfway mark. Even then, the batch-to-batch consistency wasn’t perfect.

Frozen 9-inch pizzas technically fit, but performance varied. Thin-crust pies did okay with a crisp bottom and patchy top color; rising-crust styles never truly hit their stride because the oven couldn’t maintain a true 400°F under load. If pizza is a weekly ritual for you, this wouldn’t be my pick.

Broiling small items—halved peppers, shrimp, thin chicken cutlets—worked fine as long as I watched closely. The single rack with two positions limits fine control of broil distance, and the hot spot means you’ll want to reposition halfway.

Capacity and Footprint

Capacity is generous for a single-rack oven. A 9-inch pizza fits; a shallow 8x8 pan works for brownies or casseroles; and you can line up four chicken thighs without crowding. The tradeoff is counter space and heat clearance. This oven gets hot on the exterior during longer runs. Give it several inches of space around all sides and don’t tuck it under a low cabinet without protection. At 12.1 lb, it’s easy to slide out to use and push back, but consider a heat-resistant mat if your counter is delicate.

Cleaning and Accessories

The stainless, non-stick interior wipes clean easily after a warm-cycle wipe-down. The slide-out crumb tray is effective and quick to empty. The included rack is sturdy enough, but the included bake/broil trays were the weak point of my kit. Mine arrived with a slightly oily feel out of the box and didn’t inspire confidence. I hand-washed thoroughly before use, and after a couple of cycles I shelved them in favor of third-party, uncoated pans that fit the cavity better. If you plan on frequent baking, budget for a small set of quality pans and avoid dishwashing any coated accessories to extend their life.

Heat, Noise, and Safety Notes

The convection fan is audible but not loud. The beeper is sharp. The door opens wide and the rack-advance is handy, but the lack of hinge damping plus a hot handle means you should treat the door like a true oven door—deliberate, two-handed motion is safest. The exterior gets hot enough to soften low-quality decals and can warm adjacent items. Keep cords and plastics away from the sides and top, and let the unit cool fully before wiping down.

Warranty and Support

A two-year limited warranty is better than many budget toaster ovens and offers some peace of mind. That said, the quirks I encountered—temperature stability, hot spots, legibility—aren’t defects so much as design choices that a warranty won’t solve.

Who It’s For

• Good fit: Small households that primarily toast, reheat, and do the occasional quick broil. Users who can live with dim displays, bright indicator lights, and the need to rotate trays.
• Not ideal: Bakers who need accurate, steady temperatures; frequent pizza night fans; anyone sensitive to bright/blinking lights or sharp beeps; and users who want a damped, slow-dropping door for safety.

Verdict

There’s a competent everyday toaster oven inside this chassis, particularly for toast, melts, and reheats, and the convection fan does add useful crispness. The interior cleans easily, the crumb tray is practical, and the rack-advance is genuinely helpful.

But the compromises are significant: imprecise temperatures, a persistent rear hot spot, a bright indicator that washes out a dim display, an undamped door that can slam, a hot handle during long cooks, and accessory pans that I wouldn’t rely on. These aren’t deal-breakers for light-duty use, but they add up if you want to bake regularly or cook at higher setpoints.

Recommendation: I don’t recommend this model as a do-it-all countertop oven for serious cooking or frequent baking. I would only recommend it to budget-focused users who mostly toast and reheat, are comfortable rotating pans and compensating for temperature variance, and don’t mind the fussy controls. If that’s you, it will get the job done. If you want reliable, even baking and a more polished interface, you’ll be happier stepping up to a toaster oven with tighter temperature control, better damping on the door, and a readable, backlit display.