In the last two years, its gotta be our air fryer/ convention oven. No preheating time for anything that needs to be cooked in the oven, exceptional heat distribution due to the convection and super consistent. If I cooked something at 400f for 15 minutes it will always come out the same way every time. I never use our big oven anymore. I love it.
We have the one that the Wirecutter recommends which is the Cuisinart Chef’s Convection Toaster Oven TOB-260N1.
I don't eat hash browns so I can't say for certain but I've made fries, onion rings, calamari and chicken nuggets in it and they all came out perfectly crunchy so I'd image hash browns wouldn't be a problem.
I’ve held off because that’s the best recommended one I’ve always landed on but it doesn’t use a basket. My stove also has a small top oven already but I know the air fryer would be awesome. The only people I know that have them have basket models and I’m worried I will have buyers remorse if I end up with just a third oven that sits on my countertop.
We purchased it as both a counter top oven and air fryer all in one sort of deal so it was worth the purchase for us since we didn't have a counter top oven prior to it. If you already have a counter top oven then the purchase may not be worth it as much. The reason why this purchase was excellent for us is because it's an extremely good counter top oven and it can air fry.