I have the large oven, and it's on the counter. I have enough space, so it's not in the way and the heat it produces (which I don't regard as excessive) has not been a problem for me. This is one of the best appliance acquisitions I ever made, although I was lucky enough to 'purchase' it with points through an employer incentive program. Good luck.

We keep the small one on the counter at the end of a cabinet run, next to the coffee maker. The coffee maker has a very long, thick cord, which did melt a little when we had it coiled behind the toaster oven initially (not enough to render it unusable or unsafe by any means). We now keep the coffee maker cord away from the back of the toaster oven (the sides of the oven don't generate as much heat thank goodness!).

I have the large smart oven. We keep it on the counter and haven't been bothered by excessive heat. We don't use a microwave, so this oven is used daily. We love this oven. We use this for toast, bagels and reheating all our food.

I have the large Breville oven and love it. I keep it on the counter - it's only 13" deep (15" if you count the handle) so there's no problem. Since in my case I plug it in right behind the oven, I keep the oven 4" from the wall so that the oven doesn't touch the plug or cord.

I've had my Breville on the counter under some upper cabinets for at least 6-9 months and have not had a problem. Was your microwave shelf enclosed on 3 sides? That might have trapped the heat and made things melt.

In our remodel, I plan on putting the oven on the counter in the corner - it will give me a bit more depth of counter for it. You are right that it does take up much of the counter depth, but that oven is such a workhorse that it earns every inch it uses!

I bought one based on the high recs on this forum, and IMHO it's just kinda ok.

Toasting is wicked slow. I guess to a certain extent the racks on any toaster oven are going to impede with even browning, but here's what you can expect. Note - This is after SEVEN minutes of toasting, on the highest setting mind you, and it's whole wheat bread which is brown to start and doesn't help me make my case but it's all I have in the house.

{{gwi:1473603}}

For baking it's not too bad. Fairly even with convection. But if you put anything with a bit of heft in there, prepare yourself for the rack popping out of its tracks:

Note that this picture was NOT staged. The pot has about an inch of oil on it, I set it in the oven, pulled it out and right on cue the right side collapsed.

It's great at reheating or baking smaller dishes. Perhaps a tray of chicken nuggets for the kids.

Broiler isn't bad for a cheese-melter type application. Only downside is it cycles a lot if the door is closed, and the door won't stay partially open on its own. It feels like it "should" at about an inch open, but it doesn't. [Warning - If you prop it open with a tape measure and then don't notice that the tape measure fell in the oven until after the next time you use the oven, the tape measure is shot. Not that I've ever done something stupid like that.]

Heat has not been a particular issue. Yeah, I've melted a shopping bag touching it but it's not like it's going to warm the room to a noticable extent. Top and front seem to get hotter than the sides which I suppose is why they sell the optional cutting board. I just take advantage of that heat by using the top as a plate warmer.

Convection fan seems effective. I thought it was noisy at first, but either it's quieted down or I've just gotten used to it.

Overall, again I'd say it's just ok. I have no experience with other toaster ovens on the market today so I can't compare, but $250 seems like a lot of money for what I got.

LOL after all that I realize I didn't answer the question in the least! It's on the far end of a counter, against a wall.

Oh well, hope my post helps someone!!!

I just bought the larger Breville and am planing on putting it on a short counter that will be only 22" deep, and the plug is to the side and not behind it.

They have an unusually large plug, and not the 'flush' kind that I've started to see with computer cords.

I think the counter is the best place, but I'd find a more convenient place for the plug receptor than directly behind it.

We have ours on a wood counter against a cabinet side and haven't had an issue with heat, but the plug is a PITA. I had intended to plug it in behind the oven, but the size of the plug made this completely infeasible. (We tried it every which way, too, with power strips and the like...no dice!) So instead it's draped across the counter---not exactly ideal, but in the end it was workable. Had we realized this in advance, I would have looked at recessing the outlet or otherwise doing something creative with it...ah well. We have several Breville appliances, and while I love the performance on them all, they all have the same stupid plugs which are really difficult to put anything in front of.

Also, on the toasting front---not sure this will help on the large oven, but on the compact oven, the difference between toasting on the lowest oven rack position and toasting on the middle "toast" position is night and day. Toast on the middle setting is browned nicely in a few minutes, whereas on the low setting where we generally leave the rack for baking, it's painfully slow and browns the sides unevenly. So...even though it's a pain, I've gotten into the habit of moving the rack before toasting, and it's solved that problem. (The large oven may be a different beast, though!)

I bought the large Brevelle Smart Oven to use while my kitchen was being renovated and I was without my traditional oven. It worked so great that I now keep it on the one end of a breakfast bar I have with my coffee pot on the other end. My bread drawer is right under the Brevelle. This is great for morning toast, bagels, etc., and has also been used a lot as a 2nd oven. I love it and use it every day. I have not found any issues with the heat generated by the Oven. My counter top is 25" wide and 8 feet long so space wasn't an issue.

I'm also remodeling soon and was looking for the same information.One helpful thing I found, since we're remodeling, ask for a recessed plug where you're gonna put it

This thread is ancient but popped up again for me, and in the 14 years since I posted the last response, our original Breville died (the heating element went out—we actually ordered and ultimately repaired it but it took so long for the part to come that we got a new one in the meantime and then gave the old one away!) Between the 2010 and 2024 iterations of the compact smart oven, the plug and the back of the oven were redesigned to be much better for plug/counter placement. For the current models, I don't think a recessed plug is especially necessary, though nice if you happen to have it.

Ha! Old but now relevant to me! Any one built this into a cabinet on a pull out tray behind pocket doors? Really don’t want this on the counter.

^^ The exterior gets hot during operation (on the Mini I have, anyway) so it needs to be out during use and cooled sufficiently before stowing away.

Hmmm. Can it be out on a shelf like this? If strong enough and far away from the cabinet to protect from
heat? The oven would be on the bottom shelf to the right of what I plan to be a coffee station. Interestingly, the builder, architect, and cabinet maker are going back and forth on this so not a clear answer… yet.

A open shelf as shown should be OK. (Or are you referencing the pull-out shelf?) There are protrusions/spacers at the back corners of the Mini (if that's what you'll have, I can't say about the larger models) that also serve as a cord wrap which should keep it from contacting the back wall. Keep it far enough from the side(s) and any other items to avoid potential damage to them.