Ten dollars for a toaster oven that nearly burned my kitchen down

Picked up a beat-up toaster oven at a church flea market in Akron last month. Plugged it in, set it to toast, and smoke poured out of the back within two minutes. The heating element was arcing against the metal tray, clearly a wiring issue the seller never mentioned. Now I refuse to buy any used appliance with a frayed cord or rusted interior, no matter how cheap. Anyone else had a kitchen gadget from a thrift store turn into a fire hazard?

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hugo_jones23d ago

It’s funny how we only learn this stuff after the smoke clears, right? I mean, people will spend thirty seconds checking the date on a carton of milk at the grocery store, but nobody blinks at a toaster oven with a cord that looks like it was chewed by a dog. I’ve got a theory that we collectively assume cheap stuff is just gonna be ugly, not dangerous, and that’s how corners get cut in the worst way. Once something sparks or smells like burnt wire, you realize the five bucks you saved was never worth the 3 AM what-if.