Do More with a Convection Oven Toaster: Best Reviews in Japan

If your kitchen space isn’t paying the rent, you may need to think about more versatile and multi-functional appliances. The more your cooking appliance can do the better. But at the same time, you don’t want to deal with over complexity. This is where a convection oven toaster in Japan can fill the gap. They’re easy to use, and don’t take up much more space than a typical microwave.

A convection oven toaster is similar to a typical countertop oven, but smaller and generally less expensive. They are very energy efficient and you can expect them to last for about 5 years.

With standard oven temperatures and a convection fan, these handy appliances are good for air fried foods, homemade pizza, and reheats of deli foods and frozen favorites.

A good sized convection oven toaster can manage a small roast or whole chicken, a medium casserole dish, as well as small treats like pies, cinnamon rolls, and smaller loaves of bread.

Buying Tips for a Convection Oven Toaster in Japan 

A good convection oven toaster in Japan can range in price from below ¥10 000 to around ¥20 000. Parallel imports cost a lot more.

• Size matters
• Strengths and Limitations
• Convenient Presets
• Accessories 
• Rotisserie 

Size Matters 

First check the outer dimensions of the oven that catches your eye. Is it going to be tight fit or will there be room to spare? You will need about 30 to 40 mm at the back for ventilation, and some ovens can produce quite a bit of residual heat. 

 Inner dimensions are just as important because you need to know exactly what you can put inside— what size pizza, how many slices of toast, how big a roast can go inside? 

Some convection oven toasters only have one rack position and limited internal height, while others have two or more slots so you can bake, roast, and grill in a more standard way.

Key Strengths and Limitations

1. Temperature Range

For most ovens made in Japan, the upper temperature setting is 250℃, but the temperature will cycle up and down once reaching about 230℃ to prevent overheating. A low of at least 60℃ to 70℃ is needed for keeping things warm, and 40℃ is good for fermenting doughs, yoghurt, or other stuff. 

2. Convection Capability

Most ovens allow you the choice of using or not using the convection fan. Typically, you can only use convection when running both elements (oven mode), but this is not always the case. Ovens with digital presets often have forced convection, meaning it deploys automatically for specific functions. If you use convection for toasting, this tends to dry out the bread. However, to overcome this there are also steam convection oven toasters to choose from.

3. Timer Settings

Timers can also be a deal breaker. Most convection oven toasters will have a 60 min timer, but some might give 1.5 to 2 hours. Smaller ovens will only have 30 min or twice that of a typical oven toaster. 

Usually, the timer starts and ends the bake cycle, but with some ovens you can override the timer and put the oven on continuous bake.  For safety reasons, a lot of ovens don’t allow you to do this.

4. Rack Maneuverability 

A convection oven toaster is not so big and there’s not a lot of space to grip hot cookware. With a telescopic rack, the rack will come out as you open the door. For other racks, you may need to be more careful with how you get things in and out of your oven. 

Convenient Presets 

If your oven only has dials, then what you see is what you get— unless there’s an additional digital interface. Digital presets mean you don’t have to worry so much about setting time and temperature. There’s often a doneness level or toasting level, and presets for frozen foods. Digital ovens may be more convenient for some people, but they cost more and their lifespan is less.  

Accessories 

It’s always nice to have a few little extras thrown into the box. Apart the rack, you will usually get a drip tray which doubles up as a roasting pan or griddle. If you’re lucky, you might get a special pizza plate or additional broiler pan.

Some people feel at a loss when they open up their package and there’s no recipe book, so they have no idea what to do with their oven. Some ovens come with a nice recipe book which is helpful even to the seasoned cook.

Rotisserie 

Affordable range ovens typically don’t have rotisseries, so many people actually buy a countertop oven or convection oven toaster for this very feature. Rotisserie ovens will always be a little taller than other kinds of convection oven toasters.

Most rotisseries can only handle a 4—5 lbs (1.8 – 2.2kg) bird or a 3 lbs (1.4 kg) roast beef. Rotisseries can be messy, so research user comments for ease of cleaning. These rotisserie ovens are basically all foreign imports. 

Convection Oven Toaster Previews: Best 5 in Japan 2021

Best Two Parallel Imports Preview

Full Reviews of the Convection Oven Toaster in Japan

If you’re not completely sure which convection toaster oven is the one for you, read a little further and our detailed reviews will hep you decide.

Best to Buy – Iris Oyama Convection Oven Toaster

アイリスオーヤマ コンベクションオーブン トースター PFC-D15A

The design is nothing special but does a good all round job. For a more modern design, have a look at the Iris Oyama steam convection oven toaster. 

The wide interior fits 4 slices of toast or a 25 cm pizza pan or casserole dish. The interior height is 19.5 cm, but with space taken for the elements, you have a little less to play with. It can comfortably manage a 17 cm chiffon cake. 

You can deploy the lower element [下ヒーター] or upper element [下ヒーター] separately. Using just the top element is for traditional fish grilling. If you want to make watery dishes, stews or do slow cooking, you just use the bottom element.

Convection [下上コンベクションオーブン] can only be deployed with the oven function using the lower and upper [下上ヒーター] elements together. You can do any kind of convection baking and roasting, including air fry for chicken and potatoes fries.

User Tips and Comments

This is a well rated oven, and for the price, most people are really happy with it. Normal bread toasting takes about 3 min, from the fridge 5 min, and frozen bread will toast in 8 min. 

To preheat your oven, use the upper and lower elements together and set your temperature—it takes about 5 min to preheat to 190℃. If you roast a whole chicken, cover the top with tinfoil, otherwise it will burn.

If you’re worried about electrical costs, running the oven for 1 hour will cost about ¥30, but using convection dramatically decreases cooking times.

Best Runner Up – TwinBird Convection Oven Toaster

ツインバード ノンフライオーブン TS-4118

The TwinBird is a little bigger on your counter. However, the Iris gives slightly more inner width, while the depth is the same. TwinBird, with a lower temperature of 100℃, cannot keep warm or proof.

It’s key advantage, however, is the select convection fan which operates with a simple switch. This means you can use convection with the upper or lower element, or both. This is an excellent choice for a home pizza oven.

User Tips and Comments

This oven gets overwhelmingly positive reviews from new buyers and longer term users alike.  As with most small ovens, you have to be really careful when unloading heavy trays or pots. 　

For standard baking or moist cakes, deploy the upper and lower elements. Use the convection fan for faster results and a crispier exterior. The upper element with the convection fan will speed up grilling and broiling. For slow baking and watery dishes like casseroles or stews,  just use the lower element.

Best Small Oven – Yamazen Convection Oven Toaster

山善 ノンフライ＆トースター YNA-100

There’s not much more to know about this oven, except that when you set it up, it’s recommended to dry bake for 5 min at a moderate temperature. This will rid the oven of any manufacturing residue, so open up windows and put on ventilation to get rid of fumes. 

For non-fry foods or oily foods using the convection fan, make sure to place the net upside down into the baking tray. This way oil will drip to the bottom. For toasting of course, all you need to insert is the net. During heating, temperature sensors regulate the internal temperature, so occasionally the elements will cycle from on to off, so there’s no need to worry about this.

When the switch at the bottom is set to [トースターメニュ] that means the convection fan isn’t working which is best for not drying out toast. Set to [ノンフライ調理/惣菜あたため] means convection is working which is good for reheating fried foods or deli foods including bentos. 

There’s a cooking guide in the manual which suggests which foods to use with which mode. Frozen pizza does best on toast mode, but to make it super crispy you can pop on the convection fan two thirds of the way through. 

User Tips and Comments: 

For standard sized shokupan you’re limited to two slices at a time, but with smaller sizes you could fit four. The tray can take a 21cm pizza. The distance from the tray to the top element is 8cm, but when using the net it’s 10 cm. 

Like all convection ovens, timing and temperature are different so it’s best to consult the temperature and time guide in the manual to get a hang of things. Although a fairly low priced oven, it generally meets expectations especially with fried foods, but toasting isn’t completely even on both sides as with a top end oven toaster.

Best Avant Garde Design – Tiger Convection Oven Toaster

タイガー コンベクション オーブン トースター KAS-G130-SN

For popular favorites, this toaster oven is designed for fast toasting , pizza baking, making butter table rolls, croissants, and cup cakes. It has a dedicated mochi and gratin function too. It can do other things like fries, sweet potatoes, and light baking with fish, meat cuts, or chicken pieces.

It’s hard to fit any kind of baking dish in this oven for quiche or lasagna, but it comes with a high quality, enamel baking tray which can easily take a 25cm pizza. It can take two small one menu gratin dishes. The grill wire net rack is telescopic and comes out when the door is opened, and the enameled griddle pan is high quality.

Key Specs

The temperature range is from 60℃—250℃, and the timer can be set up to 30 minutes. The temperature setting is digital and incremental so you can choose any temperature you want [無段階温度調節/mudankai-ondo-chousetsu]. The bottom heater is a special far infrared heater [遠赤ヒーター] and it works in conjunction with the [焼き色] knob which sets the level of the convection fan. 

How To Use The Tiger Convection Toaster Oven

Making toast:

• Select your browning level with the [焼き色] knob.
• Choose the number of slices by pressing the [トースト] button.
• Continue pressing to select [冷凍] for frozen bread and slices.
• Press the [スタート] button on far right under logo.

You cannot use the timer or temperature setting with toasting. If you just want to warm up bread, you press the [パンあたため] button and then [スタート]. 

Baking pizza and gratin:

Other items like pizza or gratin can be heated up or cooked by first selecting the temperature with the knob [温度調節], then the time with the timer knob [タイマー], and finally press start [スタート].

The [こんがり上火] button is for intense heating from below with far infrared heating. After selecting this option , you then choose [焼き色] for the convection level and press start [スタート]. This function is great for crisping and browning, roasting, or when your food just needs a little more cooking. 

Making butter rolls:

For making pastry rolls, after shaping and placing them on the tray, you first select the [手作りパン] button. If you press once the cycle will start with [発酵] or ferment for the second rising— to bypass this,  just press the button again and you can start the cycle with [焼き色] or bake. Then you just press start [スタート]. This is an automatic function so you cannot use the timer or the temperature setting, and the second rising takes 40 minutes. Cooking timer, excluding fermentation or rising, is 10 minutes.  

Affordable with Digital Presets –  Hitachi Convection Oven Toaster

日立コンベクションオーブントースター HMO-F100

You an select any temperature from as low as 40℃  for fermentation to as high as 250℃, but then the oven is only good enough for small things like butter rolls. The timer is only 30 min, so it’s not intended for anything other than light meal preparations. 

Although it lacks height and only has one rack position, it’s still wide enough to take a 25 cm pizza or 4 slices of toast. The rack is not telescopic so it doesn’t slide out, but there is a little device to help pull the rack if you need to.

A few other pros about this convection oven toaster is the nice enamel baking tray, a recipe book, it comes in two colors— read and white, the top elements are far infrared, and there are 5 levels of doneness or shiagari-guai [仕上がり具合]. 

The timer can set in 10 sec increments up to 5 min. From 5 to 10 min the interval is 30 sec, and the rest is set in 1 min increments. You cannot adjust the temperature while cooking. However, at the end when the oven beeps, if you turn the timer knob you can get up to an extra 5 min without resetting anything else. 

How the Presets Work 

A handy preset guide is written on the oven door. Pizza for example has two choices. If you press the pizza button once the oven selects chilled pizza [チルド]and [1-3] will appear on the screen. If you press twice it selects frozen pizza　[冷凍 ] displaying [2-3]. Then, you turn the middle knob to select the doneness level in the screen, and finally press start. 

Toast has four settings. Room temperature bread at 2 or 4 slices and frozen for the same. Toast will always brown slightly more on the top than on the bottom. Toast only has two doneness levels. For anything frozen, you should first scrape of loose frost.

While using the preset menu options, you cannot operate any of the manual oven modes, including the temperature. Preset modes will deploy convection accordingly and at the optimal time. Toasting never deploys convection. 

As with the manual oven, you can’t make any temperature adjustments while cooking. Not all foods are perfectly suited for the presets, so if more time is needed, you simply press the original preset button after the beep, and cooking will continue until you press cancel. 

If you experience any hassles with switching between presets and the manual oven, just unplug and plug-in again to reset the oven

Use Tips and comments 

If you’re used to a simple toaster oven, this one is not so intuitive in how it works. It may cook faster, but not as evenly as one would expect.

This oven is compact and good enough for standard toasting, making pizza, grilling fish, or heating up deli and frozen foods. It’s restricted height (6.5 cm) means that it’s not so great with thick slices of bread or extra toppings pizza. It’s good enough to bake small butter rolls and muffins, but not things like home-cooked chicken breasts or yaki-tori. 

The defective product rate is higher than normal, so it’s best to purchase an extended warranty as Hitachi may not pay return postage on the warranty.

Best 2 Parallel Imports – Convection Oven Toaster

Most Versatile Oven –Maximatic Elite Rotisserie

There’s a lot you can do with this oven, but it does have its quirks. The top griddle works by running off the broil element, so this means you can’t use the upper griddle without heating the interior as well. It’s good enough to fry a steak, bacon, eggs, and tomatoes. The steam function is much appreciated too. It works by adding water to the griddle pan, and then closing the lid. You can also put a steaming basket inside. 

User Tips and Comments

Users report that the oven keeps a fairly accurate temperature. The temperature is set with a manual dial, which takes getting used to if you’re not used to Fahrenheit. 

The rotisserie is good for a 4 lbs / 1.8 kg chicken or slightly more, and you can use the griddle of course at the same time. One 4 lbs chicken takes about 2.5 hours, and there’s an override for the 60 minute timer. People are happy with the rotisserie performance and results.

The interior is big enough for a 9 x 13 inch cake (23 x 33 cm), 6 slices of toast or a 12 inch (30cm) pizza, but the toaster only does one side at a time and takes a bit longer than normal. 

Epeios Rotisserie Convection Oven Review

Best Programmable Oven – Breville Smart IQ Pro

People say ‘you get what you pay for’, and for this Breville that’s certainly true. Size wise, this oven sits closer to a toaster oven, but the price is in the range of a larger countertop oven. Breville is an Australian company well-known for high-end appliances, polished stainless steal exteriors, and high quality LCD displays. This oven is imported from the US.

Outstanding Control Functions

If you’ve ever done a lot of baking, there’s one thing you’ll really like about this oven. Regardless of whether you’re baking, roasting, or broiling, you can adjust the temperature as you like without disrupting the course. Each function starts with an automatic preset which you can adjust as well.

Broiling has three preset temperatures of 300°F / 150°C, 400°F / 205°C, and 500°F / 260°C. Broiling can be done up to 20 minutes, and you cannot use convection while broiling.

For baking, the temperature range is from 120°F / 50°C to a maximum of 450°F / 230°C. Normal baking can be done for 2 hrs, as can roasting, with or without convection. Sensors adjust element output for a more even temperature. This means you can get superior results even without a convection fan.

Slow cook has a Hi and Lo feature for both baking and roasting. For temperature above 300°F/150°C the time limit is 2 hrs, and below that it’s 10 hrs.

Automatic keep warm maintains food at a safe 160°F/70°C, but this can be adjusted up and the lowest temperature you can get is 120°F/50°C – so it can be used for some fermentation processes, but not most kinds of bread.

Some other nice functions are automatic power adjustments for the number of bagels, toast slices, or size of pizza you select. The pizza sizes range from 6 inches /15 cm to 13 inch / 33 cm.

• To know more, view the online manual or peruse the recipe book (PDFs).

User Tips and Comments 

This Breville is one of the most popular and highly rated convection toaster ovens internationally. There’s not too much people dislike about it, but there three issues that often come up with this oven.

Some people find that the toast function doesn’t work so well. The browning is not always even, so when you get your oven, it’s best to test the toasting function first.

This is a powerful oven and it vents out the sides, so you need to be very careful of the residual heat, especially on the sides. Considering this, you might want to think about where you will place the oven.

Lastly, it appears that these newer, high tech ovens don’t have such a long product lifespan— at least not yet. On average, a convection toaster oven should last up to five years. The older Breville often did, and the Cuisinart (not always available in Japan) often lasts a lot longer. So far, most reports on this oven are between two to three years – so it’s worth opting for an extended 3yr retailer warranty.