Tikkabik

I have really, really bad toaster oven karma, I've decided.

It's not like we toast things or bake things in toaster ovens all the time, but we do use them frequently -- not only for the occasional bagel and english muffin, but to make the kids some chicken nuggets for lunch, or to reheat some leftovers, or what have you. They're useful appliances.

But it seems no matter which model I buy and no matter how much I spend, I can get barely a year out of these things before they crap out.

Such is the case with our Black and Decker model, which we picked up on sale at Bed, Bath and Beyond about a year ago. It was a pretty nice design -- a rounded front that allowed you to put in four to six pieces of bread, plenty of room for toasting or baking or reheating. Sensible controls. It didn't cost too much -- less than $40, I think (we had a coupon, too).

I first noticed it was having a problem toasting a few weeks ago -- it seems whatever timing circuit activated the coils for toasting had been shot, so while you could crank it up to toast, it wouldn't actually heat (though the timer would count down and go ding). You could, however, turn on the bake setting and the toaster would heat up just fine -- so that's what I did.

Some time this week the entire apparatus gave up the ghost, though. Now it isn't heating up at all, no matter how much I beg, cajole, threaten and shake it.

*sigh.*

Any recommendations?