While the newest, most premium toaster ovens are often designed to fit almost anything you'd put in a regular oven, the space-challenged among us might still want something small. More compact options naturally can't fit bigger dishes (most options here won't fit the average frozen pizza), but you can still get feature-packed models that air fry, bake, and broil, all in a small package. Smaller ovens preheat faster, too, so even basic options can shine when you need a quick snack or want to reheat leftovers.
We've tested 20 toaster ovens, and below are our recommendations for the best small toaster ovens for various uses.
If you want to see what else is on the market or think a medium-sized oven would work better for you, check out our overview of the best toaster ovens. If you plan to do a lot of air frying in your toaster oven, one of the best air fryer toaster ovens or best small air fryers might be a better choice. Then again, if you plan to use your toaster oven more as a toaster and less as an oven, it's worth checking out the best 2-slot toasters and the best small toasters.
The best space-conscious toaster oven we've tested is the Ninja Flip SP151. This toaster oven has a compact design and a space-saving trick: you can flip it backward when not in use, saving counter space. Its wide cooking chamber offers more surface area than a lot of smaller toaster ovens, so it can fit an 11-inch frozen pizza or six slices of sandwich bread at a time. Overall, it's an impressive choice for multi-purpose use. It maintains a mostly stable temperature during cooking, which helps you get good results when baking. While it doesn't quite match the performance of a good basket-style air fryer, its air fry function works well for making evenly crispy, golden-brown foods like fries or chicken wings.
It does a good job of evenly toasting six slices of bread at once, although it's not the fastest toaster. There are also a few downsides to its design. The cooking chamber doesn't have much vertical space, so something like a loaf pan might not fit. It's also more awkward to reach into and clean compared with more spacious ovens, especially since the interior of the cooking chamber doesn't have a non-stick coating. If you're struggling to find this option, you can purchase it online at Best Buy.
If you plan to use your toaster oven for baking pizzas, cookies, and cakes, the Breville the Mini Smart Oven BOV450XL is a great compact option. This small toaster oven isn't quite as versatile as the Ninja Flip SP151: it doesn't have an air fry feature or a fan for convection baking, so it won't work as well for your favorite crispy snacks like chicken wings. However, it has some advantages for baking: the cooking chamber is taller and has three possible rack positions, so you have more options for where to place your food. You can even bake a couple of trays of cookies at once on different levels. Most importantly, it maintains a very stable temperature during cooking, which helps ensure your baked goods won't dry out or burn and makes it easier to follow recipes closely.
It's also a good choice for toasting since it's faster than the Ninja, although it can only fit four slices of bread. It's decently easy to clean, and its interior has a non-stick coating. However, it's awkward to reach behind the upper elements.
Toasting speed is the biggest downside of using a toaster oven instead of a slot toaster. If your kitchen is crowded in the morning or you tend to rush out the door, the slower performance can make these options much less appealing. There are some exceptions, though. The Panasonic FlashXpress NB-G110P fits four slices of bread and toasts faster than most toaster ovens, and unlike a slot toaster, you can use it to quickly heat snacks like frozen pizzas (up to nine inches), pastries, and hashbrowns. This compact model has a retro look and a simple design, with six simple functions including 'Waffle/Frozen,' 'Pizza/Frozen,' and 'Quick/Reheat.' It preheats quickly, making it a good choice for reheating leftovers.
This toaster oven is best suited for basic uses like toasting and reheating leftovers. It can't air fry, broil, or maintain a low enough temperature for uses like dehydrating. There's also only one possible rack position. That said, despite its small size and lack of a non-stick coating, its cooking chamber is easier to clean than that of many small toaster ovens.
The best budget small toaster oven that we've tested is the Black+Decker Natural Convection 4-Slice TO1756SB. You can pick this simple oven up for well under $100. It preheats fast and has good temperature stability, so it's a good option for reheating leftovers or baking things like hashbrowns and frozen pizzas. Its timer only goes up to 30 minutes, which is the same as the Panasonic, but it has a 'Stay On' option, so you can have it cook for as long as you want.
However, it's not the most versatile. It has no air fry function, and its toasting performance isn't the best since it's a little slow to make somewhat uneven toast. While it has good overall temperature stability, its performance in this regard isn't as strong as the previous picks', so it's more likely to burn or dry out delicate foods. It's also the most difficult option on the list to clean since it's hard to reach behind both the upper and lower elements, and the cooking chamber lacks a non-stick coating.
The BALMUDA The Toaster is a very small toaster oven designed for toasting and reheating small items like pastries. It can fit two slices of bread, so it's even smaller than the Panasonic FlashXpress NB-G110P. It also toasts much more slowly. It's one of the most expensive toaster ovens we've tested and one of the least versatile, but you might want to check it out for its very small size or its steam function.
See our reviewThe Dash Mini DMTO100 is a much cheaper and smaller option than Black+Decker Natural Convection 4-Slice TO1756S that will fit in the smallest of spaces. It's not good for much besides maybe heating a pizza pocket; it lacks temperature controls and its temperature varies wildly during cooking, so it's likely to burn food that requires a longer heating time.
See our reviewOur recommendations above are what we think are currently the best compact toaster ovens for most people. We factor in the price, feedback from our visitors, and availability.
If you'd like to do the work of choosing yourself, here's the list of all our toaster oven reviews. Be careful not to get too caught up in the details. While none is perfect, most are good enough to please almost everyone, and the differences are often not noticeable unless you look for them.