Dang Entropy!

Blessings Darlings!

We use our toaster oven a heck of a lot.  Altho' it is not at all insulated, we figure that by heating the smaller space for small baking jobs we save energy and money.

No, I've not measured the electric use, I'm making a total SWAG (Scientific Wild Ass Guess) here.

About a week ago the toaster oven stopped being reliable.  We started having to hold one of the dials in place for it to work.  As the week went on, even holding the dang dial in place wasn't always working.  That is, it NEVER worked for me, but WOULD work for the chubby hubby.  Which seemed almost fair - we had just fixed a problem with the iron (a loose connection within the plug) that only behaved if I arranged the cord, but not if anyone else plugged it in).

An appliance that I use a lot that doesn't work for me is NOT acceptable.  An appliance that requires my husband to hold a dial in place to make his toast, meaning he can't scramble his eggs while the toast toasts, didn't work for him, either.  So today he worked on a DIY repair of it.

You'd think it wouldn't be too hard - maybe the dial had to be removed and some gunk cleaned from under it or something.  But noooooooooooooo.  The dial won't come off.  Trying to take the beast apart to get at it from inside failed - the thing is a miserable design, a rats nest that requires that you take apart multiple not LOGICALLY related interwoven parts to get to any other part.  After 2 hours he gave up.  Dammit, this one isn't even over 6 years old!

I'm going to buy a new toaster oven.  I'm debating between a no-name one at Walmart for about $25 and a Black and Decker at Target for about $40, but I'll also look at the Sunday ad inserts before deciding.

Anyone have recommendations on what brands you like ... or hate?

Frondly, Fern