Black & Decker SpaceMaker Traditional Toaster Ovens
by Black & Decker
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Product Summary
Manufacturer: Black & DeckerBrand: Black & Decker
Kitchen and Housewares Reviews of Black & Decker SpaceMaker Traditional Toaster Ovens
Customer Review: Nice appliance, but overhang installations can be problematic
Summary: 4 Stars
My beloved decade-old under-the-cabinet Black and Decker toaster finally gave up the ghost this spring. As I shopped for a replacement, I was chagrined to find that there were no more basic slim toasters sold--only toaster OVENS. Apparently there were lawsuits over things catching fire in the toasters, so those of us who loved them are out of luck.
Since we have a tiny kitchen, counter space is at a premium, so I opted for the B&D under-cabinet toaster oven. I had read the many installation horror stories online, but since I have successfully installed many gadgets in the house, decided to go for it anyway.
The toaster oven arrived promptly, and I carefully read over the installation instructions. Once I felt I had a thorough understanding of how installation went and how to put up the mount, I proceeded.
The first stumbling block I came to was in folding the template that shows where to drill the holes. The template has tick marks labeled for where to fold depending on the width of your cabinet overhang. The labels go up to 3/4". The labels don't go above 3/4" (though the tick marks do) because the location of two of the quarter-inch holes you are to drill are barely beyond the 1" mark. So if you fold the template beyond 3/4", you are in the impossible situation of trying to drill into and through your overhang.
My overhang was 1 1/16" wide. The instructions did not cover the situation (and I worried that it could not be installed), so before returning it I gave B&D customer care a call.
The nice lady who picked up my call from the hold queue only had at her immediate disposal the same instructions that I had, so she put me on hold to research my question. She came back and said that I *COULD* install the toaster oven, but that it would not be flush with my cabinet. I asked her how then to modify the directions in order to do a non-flush installation, but she said that she did not have that information. I would have to figure it out myself.
I decided to drill the holes for a 3/4" overhang, which would set the toaster oven back the minimum possible. Since my cabinet overhang is 1 1/4" TALL, and I was doing a non-flush installation, I grabbed the longest screws available, which were 2 1/4". I put on the washers. Since my overhang also projects upwards inside the cabinet, the plastic washers in front were not lying flat. A pair of garden shears snipped off part of the circle, so that now they would lie inside the projection of the overhang.
Then I got the spacers that I though I would need and tried to put them on the screws projecting from the underside of the cabinet. Unlike the old Spacemaster toasters, these spacers were loose on their screws, so they wouldn't stay. A little thing called gravity kept interfering. This is the part where it would really help to have a third arm, since you're trying to hold two sets of multiple spacers AND maneuver the mount for the toaster oven into place. I used a little scotch tape to help me hold the spacers and managed to get the mount in place before they fell down.
After starting the rear screws into the mount, when I tried to set the front screws I ran into a real roadblock. The front screws were nowhere NEAR long enough to reach. Before calling customer care again, I did a quick calculation: washer 1/8" + cabinet overhang 1 1/4" + cabinet floor 3/8" + oven mount 3/4" + non-flush 1/8" = 2 5/8" MINIMUM. The 2 1/4" screws simply would not do.
I traveled to three hardware stores--machine screws of this length are special order items, so don't bother trying.
I called customer care again, guns ready. Instead of arguing however, the rep who I reached simply asked if 3" screws would be long enough. I said that yes, providing that the extra would not interfere with putting the toaster oven in place once the mount was installed. She said that it would be okay, but that the screws were on a two-week backorder.
So the project had to wait for a little over a week, and my packet of parts arrived. The packet contained not only 3" screws, but another whole set of spacers and washers. This proved forthunate, because I ended up having to install an extra 7/8" of spacers beyond the 1 1/4" of my overhang height to account for the non-flat AND non-flush installation. I strongly suspect that the instructions are slightly incorrect, and that if you have ANY non-flat cabinet, you will need an extra 3/4" of spacers to account for the height of the space in the oven mount itself.
The installation is now history, and the toaster oven looks very smart hanging in the corner of my little kitchen. I've only made toast in it so far, which works fine, though a machine this size is more than you need for just toast. I look forward to being able to comment on how it performs in other cooking in the future.
Edit--added 31 Jan 2011
Last week the knob that controls the timer (which you must use each and every time you make toast, or use the toaster oven at all) broke off. I called B&D, waited a long while on hold, and then reported the problem. The nice representative checked on the availability of a replacement. Not only was the knob back-ordered, but there was no forecast on when a new one would be available.
To make toast, the user must rotate the knob past the 10-minute mark, and then back down to the desired time setting. Turning the knob back requires a fair amount of torque. Also, the toaster oven set on the "toast" temperature quickly gets very hot, and can turn bread from toast to charred within a ten-second period, so one must watch the process and turn the knob down again before the toast burns. Since the knob is made of plastic, the breakage is quite predictable, and will probably be repeated twice annually.
FORTUNATELY, a butter knife inserted into the groove in the timer pin works GREAT at controlling the timer--even better and easier than the original knob. I can't really see what the time is that way, but I'm confident I'll find a workaround for that soon.
I'm still happy with the toaster oven--it works, saves on counter space, and saves me heating up a large oven for smaller items. The bumps along the way are acceptable.
Description of Black & Decker SpaceMaker Traditional Toaster Ovens
The return of a classic. The new Spacemaker Toaster oven responds to thousand of requests for this versatile favorite. Designed to satisfy the needs of the traditional Spacemaker user, it provides sturdiness, performance and more counter space. Intuitive, easy to use features and classic design, make this the perfect companion for the Spacemaker traditional consumer.Toaster Ovens
Kitchen and Housewares