As the population in the United States grows older, many people are finding themselves in situations where their kids are off to college and they are now empty nesters. Also, as our population ages, more people are finding it wise to down size their living spaces by trading in their larger homes in favor of the condominium.

With the reduction in family members living in the home or reduction in the living space itself, the need to reduce the size of appliances sometimes becomes necessary. From the fridge to the washing machine to the oven, we are beginning to find that our need for large appliances no longer exists.

Leave it to good old fashion American ingenuity to recognize this trend and respond to it. Appliance designers have responded to this trend with fully functional appliances that do exactly what their larger counterparts do - only they are smaller.

One appliance that most of us would have great difficulty living without is the oven. And riding the trends discussed above, the countertop convection oven has emerged. And don't you think that this countertop oven can't do what your big one can do.

If you are looking to augment or replace your regular oven and are looking for something smaller to give you the same results, there are two types of toaster ovens that you will find on the market. Make sure you can tell the difference.

The best toaster oven will toast your bread, bagels, pizza and broil your steaks but will not bake your casseroles, cakes, or muffins. If you want a true bake function, then you need a convection toaster oven. Open the door and look for the fan on the inside wall.

Toaster ovens are simple to use but do incorporate a variety of control systems. You will find some with manual knob controls and you will find some with pushbutton controls and back lit screens. I personally prefer the pushbutton digital controls because I feel that this gives you more accurate time and temperature settings.

Some toaster ovens with the convection function are large enough to enable the incorporation of the rotisserie function. This allows you to roast a whole chicken or small roast. As we talked about above, these things really can replace a large oven for upwards of a small family.

Another benefit for a family that has down sized is that your new toaster oven is not going to cost you as much to operate as the big oven. Why use all that electricity to heat up all that space that you don't need anymore?

If it has become your time in life to down size your things - your fridge, your washer/dryer, your home - you might want to take a look at downsizing your oven as well.