Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

The first Cuisinart TOB-40 Toaster Oven I received was defective: the dial that controlled the darkness of the toast didn't work. If the dial was set anywhere but at the lightest setting, the toast was burnt. At the lightest setting, it produced hot bread. I tried moving the dial in tiny increments hoping to find a "just right" setting, but no luck. The dial simply didn't work. I phoned Cuisinart. They didn't come right out and admit that my toaster oven was defective, but what they said amounted to the same thing: "It's an issue with the toaster oven itself." (I suppose the other choice is: "It's the fault of the stupid customer.") They were willing to replace the toaster under the warranty (I'd only had it 3 days) but -- here's the catch -- they wanted me to pay return shipping (the package probably weighs around 30 lb) PLUS give them $10 to ship me the new one. What incredible nerve! So I went to Amazon's returns and explained that the toaster they shipped me was defective. They immediately shipped me a replacement (same toaster, same model) and even paid the postage to send back the defective one. Cuisinart: 1 star; Amazon: 5 stars. I'd give Cuisinart a zero-star rating if I could. The second toaster had exactly the same defect. I didn't return it. We needed a toaster and it's a hassle to get the thing back into its original carton and lug it to the post office (my husband and I are in our mid-70's). Also, it didn't seem fair to ask Amazon to pay two-way postage TWICE when it wasn't Amazon's fault -- it was Cuisinart's! So I'm using this defective toaster oven. I bought a wonderful little timer from Amazon (the Polder 898- 90) and I set the timer to 2 min 45 sec when I make toast. The toaster dial is worthless. The manufacturer's boast ("Always even shade control monitors the temperature and adjusts timing to consistently toast to the shade selected every time") is a pants-on-fire lie. There are other things wrong with this toaster. The door doesn't close tightly. As others have noted, the "auto slide-out tray" function is a joke. The controls are poorly designed, especially for older users: the (black) dials have a slightly raised (black) ridge that's supposed to serve as the pointer, but under normal lighting conditions the ridge is almost invisible. I have to feel the knob to tell which way it's pointing. Twenty or thirty years ago, we had a Black & Decker toaster oven that served its purpose perfectly and never gave us any trouble. They don't make 'em like that anymore, alas.