Aroma Housewares AST-900E Aeromatic Convection Oven

I ordered the Aroma AST900E-Turbo Oven when the Aroma oven that I owned for over 2 years broke. To be precise, one of the three power prongs melted into the removable power cable. When I pulled out the cable, the prong came out with it and you could see where some of the rubber melted. Up until that fateful event, the oven worked great and my wife and I were very happy with it. With that I looked at other similar countertop convection ovens and decided to stick with Aroma as we could still use much of the racks and the big pot from our old one. We ordered it from Amazon on a Sunday night and got it on Wednesday - we were so happy to get our new one so quickly!When I started using the oven I noticed some differences...First, the power cord is permanently attached to the top heating unit - no more detachable plug. I liked having the detachable plug but it is no deal breaker. Makes me wonder if I was not the only one who had the power cord melting problem.Secondly, it is much quieter. So much quieter in fact that we thought it wasn't working properly when we got it. We were very wrong as our food cooks way faster with this new model. A definite plus - quieter and cooks better.All and all we are very happy with the new model although we can't vouch for its longevity yet but it cooks food wonderfully.One cooking tip (that can used for this or any similar countertop convection over...if you put a heat resistant plate below the lower cooking rack when you cook chicken, steak, or burgers (which cook fantastic by the way) all the grease drips onto the plate (instead of the bottom of the big pot) and cleaning up is a breeze. You literally only have to clean the plate and wipe around the bowl. Very convenient!UPDATE 2/11/2010It has now been over two years and our Aroma Convection oven is still going strong! We use it almost every day and it is our "go to" oven for almost all of our meals. I still highly recommend it and would buy another one if this one burns out. Hopefully that will be a long time from now!UPDATE 5/3/2013Yes - our Aroma Convection oven is still going strong. It is one solid appliance.

I've had an Aroma Oven for years. In fact, it's so old, it came with a metal pot rather than a glass bowl. I've used my oven for cooking everything imaginable, from reheating pizza to roasting gingered duck. Everything turns out well. In addition, the oven requires no pre-heating, and saves energy and time over a conventional oven. In summer, it's especially nice not to heat the kitchen up using the large conventional oven by simply using this small table-top unit instead.My old model's handles (on metal pot and top) had become cracked, so I decided to buy a new Aroma oven. Thats the only reason I bought a new one. This new one is a fine unit, except for the racks and steaming tray, which are flimsy and the tray is too small. My old unit came with a sturdy lower rack, two sturdy upper racks, and a sturdy 11 1/2" aluminum lipped tray pierced with many holes which were very functional. I will continue to use these and discard the new ones.If it were not for these new racks and tray, I would give my new Aroma oven a 5 star rating instead of a 4 star.

At 16 months use, I too had the handle break in two at the top where the metal detent ball and its holder are. I had been very careful with handle having read these reviews before buying it too. Poor engineering to place hole at weak point of hollow handle plastic. Called Aroma in San Diego and they said they would fix it for free other then my shipping costs. This was because they are aware of the defect and are waiting for a new oven design in Jan 2012. They said it would take them 2 weeks to fix.. too long for me. I decided to try and fix the handle with JB Weld. First I welded the broken halves together with a plastic weld glue from hobby shop, had to tightly hold pieces together for 30 seconds or so, and broken pieces welded together. This alone would not make it any stronger then before so,.... Then I mixed some JB Weld epoxy, and after reinserting the barrel, ball bearing and spring of the detent, I filled the hollow handle about 2 inches to each side of the break, making the hollow handle solid. JB weld takes 4 to 6 hrs to set. and cures completely in 15-24 hrs. The fix worked great, I'm cooking with it again, and will wait to see their new one next year. I do most of my cooking with this oven now, I can throw a frozen chicken breast in it set at 400 degrees, and in 45 min it is done. It will brown more on top then bottom, so if you care about the looks, turn meat over at half time. Tri Tips I cook very low temp 250 degrees with a digital thermometer, with probe, its cable will exit through the lid just fine, leaving it just slighly ajar. I then wait for 150 degrees internal temp.,just perfect. I have put an oven themometer inside to check heat and mine is running about 50 degrees low.