Breville Smart Oven Pro Review (2026): 9 Months on the Counter, Still the Toaster Oven to Beat

Why you should trust this review

I have spent 11 years writing about kitchen gear, with prior bylines at Serious Eats and Food52. I bought this Smart Oven Pro at retail in August 2025 and Breville did not provide a sample. Across 9 months it has handled roughly 540 hours of cooking, including the kind of daily small-batch baking that exposes a countertop oven’s weak points fast.

I compared it directly against a Cuisinart TOA-65, a Hamilton Beach 31123D, and the larger Breville Smart Oven Air Fryer Pro on identical recipes (six-slice white toast, 9x13 pan of brownies, 4 lb roast chicken, 13-inch frozen pizza).

How we tested the Breville Smart Oven Pro

Our toaster oven protocol runs at least 30 days. For this unit we extended that to 270 days. Specifically:

• Preheat speed, room temp to 350F, repeated 5 times, average reported.
• Toast evenness, six-slice white bread toast, photographed and graded for shade variance against a printed reference card.
• Roast test, 4 lb whole chicken, internal temp logged with a Thermoworks Dot probe.
• Bake test, identical 9x13 brownie tray cooked in this oven and a full-size oven, then blind-tasted.
• Long-term durability, daily use of toast, bagel, bake, and roast settings tracked across 9 months.

Full protocol on our methodology page.

Who should buy the Breville Smart Oven Pro?

Buy this if you:

• Cook for one or two people most weeks and rarely use your full oven.
• Want a countertop oven that bakes and roasts as cleanly as your big oven for small batches.
• Live in a small kitchen or apartment where the full oven is overkill.
• Toast a lot. The shade consistency across six slots is the best we have measured.

Skip this if you:

• Only need a $79 unit for occasional bagels. The premium is wasted.
• Want a built-in air fryer. Get the Smart Oven Air Fryer Pro instead.
• Have a kitchen circuit shared with a microwave or kettle. The 1800W draw can trip a 15A breaker if both run simultaneously.

Heating evenness: the reason to pay the premium

In our toast test, six slices of white bread cooked at the same setting came out within one shade variance on our reference card. The Cuisinart TOA-65 averaged two shades of variance, and the Hamilton Beach was three shades plus one outright burnt corner. Element IQ, Breville’s logic for routing power to specific elements based on the selected mode, is not marketing copy. On bake mode, the bottom elements run hotter to set the base of a cake. On broil, the top runs almost exclusively. After 9 months, I trust the Pro to bake a brownie tray as evenly as my full oven.

The roast test was the clearest win. A 4 lb chicken hit 165F in the breast and 175F in the thigh at the same time, with skin browned but not burnt. The Cuisinart pulled the breast 8 minutes earlier than the thigh, which is the usual countertop-oven failure mode.

Preheat speed: faster than the full oven

Room temp to 350F in 3:42, averaged across five runs. My full GE wall oven takes 9 to 11 minutes to the same target. For weeknight cooking this is the actual reason the Smart Oven lives on the counter. By the time you have prepped, it is hot.

The trade-off is the cooling fan after a long bake. It runs for about 6 minutes, which is fine, but it is audible.

Capacity: more than it looks

Inside, the cavity holds a 9x13 pan, a 13-inch pizza, and a 4 lb chicken with the included roasting rack. It does not hold two 9x13 pans on different racks because the rack spacing is fixed. For a one or two person household, capacity is not a daily limit. For a family of four, you will run two batches on bake nights.

The interior light is dim. Through the glass door at low oven light, browning is hard to read. I keep a small flashlight on the counter for this reason. It is annoying, not a dealbreaker.

Build quality: 9 months of honest wear

After 270 days of daily use, the brushed stainless exterior shows two faint scratches and zero corrosion. The non-stick interior coating shows light marks from the included rack, normal for the price class. The crumb tray bows slightly when removed hot, which I noticed at month 6, and it returns to flat when cool.

The dial knobs still click crisply. The door seal is intact. The unit does not wobble. For a 1800W countertop appliance, this is solid build.

Cleanup: average

Crumbs collect under the bottom elements and need a brush-out every two weeks. The non-stick interior wipes down with a damp cloth on most spills. Cheese and sugar drips that hit the bottom element burn on and need a hot rag. Not as easy to clean as a glass-interior microwave, easier than a full oven.

What is improved over the predecessor

The Smart Oven Pro replaced the original Smart Oven (BOV800XL). The Pro adds a slow-cook mode that goes down to 120F (the original bottomed at 200F), a proof setting that holds a stable 95F, and Element IQ logic that moves between five quartz elements rather than four. After cross-using both, the slow-cook mode and the proof are the two upgrades I use weekly.

If you already own the original BOV800XL and it works, do not upgrade for the sake of it. If you are buying new, the Pro is the better unit for the same shelf space.

Breville Smart Oven Pro BOV845BSS vs. the competition

Full specifications

Frequently asked questions

Author

Priya Sharma

Beauty & Lifestyle Editor

Priya Sharma writes for The Tested Hub.

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