Help me find the elite of toasting

[the Interceptor]

That's it! Since my cheapo toaster gave up in smoke yesterday, I'm fed up with buying this cheap china crap (my apologies to the Chinese!). I want a real toaster. One that actually does what it's supposed to do. One that browns a slice of toast equally and evenly on both sides. Once that can produce good results consecutively.

What I found was this one: the KitchenAid 5KTT780



What I didn't find were any trustworthy words on whether this actually is good. The toaster comes at quite a price *cough189Euroscough*, so I want to be absolutely sure it is perfectly capable. I know you guys love cooking, so I hope you can give me some advice on some good toasters. I'm not sold on this one yet, so I'm open to other brands and models also.

[ladora]

Oh, toaster woes. I have them. My toaster goes through periods where it browns the bread just right, and then it'll suddenly decide to throw a hissy fit (even though no one has touched the settings) and burns everything in sight.

Sorry I couldn't have been of more help, just wanted to let you know from one burnt toaster to another that you're not suffering alone.

[the Interceptor]

Originally Posted by ladora

Sorry I couldn't have been of more help, just wanted to let you know from one burnt toaster to another that you're not suffering alone.

Balm for my tormented soul - thank you!

[Jacobfox]

The elite of toasting is dualit. Those things are fucking bulletproof and toast a great bagel. We've had ours for quite some time and aside from emptying the crumb tray, we haven't had to do anything and it still works like a charm.

[The_Finn]

Published December 1, 2005.

Can you buy something decent for less than $30?
products tested (listed alphabetically)

* Black & Decker Classic Chrome 2-Slice Toaster
* Cuisinart Electronic Cool Touch 2-Slice Toaster
* Farberware FST200
* GE Classic 2-Slice Toaster
* Hamilton Beach Classic Chrome Extra-Wide Slot Toaster 22559
* Oster 2-Slice Toaster
* Proctor Silex Cool-Touch 2-Slice Toaster
* Rival Bagel Wide Cool Touch Toaster
* Sunbeam 6253
* Toastmaster Cool Touch Bagel Perfect TT2CT

See Product Comparison Chart

Look in any fancy catalog and you'll see some pretty expensive toasters. For $250, you can buy a lot of features—pretty knobs, sleek design, vibrant color—but in our experience that money doesn't necessarily buy you a good slice of toast. With such a seemingly reasonable goal in mind, we selected 12 two-slot toasters that ranged in price from $15 to $30 and put them to the test.

Toasters use infrared radiation to toast bread. To produce that radiation, wires made of nichrome (an alloy of nickel and chromium) are wrapped around mica sheets on either side of the slot. The radiation is produced where the wire comes in contact with the mica sheet; the more wires, the more heat, the darker the toast. When you press the lever a timer is set; when the timer goes off, the slots are released and the toast pops out.

The best toasters, we found, had a good number of wires (about nine per slot) that were evenly spaced, allowing for even toasting. Low-rated brands either had too few wires (which translated into spottily browned bread) or had wires that were clustered at the bottom of the toaster (which caused the bottom of the bread to burn).

We also required consistent performance. Some models failed in this regard, turning out toast that was too dark immediately following a pair of perfectly toasted slices, or vice versa.

We were skeptical about added special features—do you really need a special setting for pastry or waffles? No. We were equally unimpressed with the "bagel" setting found on many toasters. We did like the defrost setting, which defrosted and then toasted bread in one cycle.

To sum, up we learned that extra features and fancy designs don't make a good toaster. And, unfortunately, we found that even our simple request that a toaster consistently deliver evenly brown toast proved too much for many of our models. However, one model did deliver as promised.

see results

Alternately you could always go for a Toaster Oven which while somewhat larger offers greater versatility... Cooks Illustrated also did a comparison of those as well right HERE

[the Interceptor]

I have to register for a 14 day free trial at that website. Do you have access to the actual results?

[The_Finn]

Highly Recommended
Farberware FST200

We were able to brown toast to five different shades, from no color to deep, dark brown. The plastic exterior stayed cooler than the exterior of any other toaster, and the defrost feature worked perfectly. One downside: With the controls on a long side, this toaster took up more counter space than most.
$26.99

Highly Recommended
Black & Decker Classic Chrome 2-Slice Toaster

We were disappointed with the defrost feature on this model, which left bagels cold in the middle at all but the highest setting. Consistency, however, was mostly good.
$29.99

Recommended
Oster 2-Slice Toaster

Though the slots on this model were long, we did have some trouble with thick bagels. Consistency was good at all but the highest setting, but the exterior of the toaster got very hot. The defrost setting, however, worked well, and the settings were mostly distinct.
$27.99

Recommended
Sunbeam 6253

We were mostly unimpressed with the array of special features on this model (everything toasted just fine at the basic toast settings), though we did like "defrost" and "reheat," which warmed cold toast without adding more color.
$32.99

Recommended with Reservations
Toastmaster Cool Touch Bagel Perfect TT2CT

Consistency was an issue with this model, as the bread sometimes had wide strips of white at the top or was spottily browned. Still, we were able to produce five distinct shades of toast for the five settings. The slots were just a bit too short, causing the bread to catch sometimes on the way down.
$23.99

Recommended with Reservations
Hamilton Beach Classic Chrome Extra-Wide Slot Toaster 22559

The higher settings of this model were much better than the lower ones, producing mostly consistent toast at varying shades of brown. The chrome got very hot, and the dial was difficult to read. Both "defrost" and "reheat," however, worked perfectly.
$33.60

Not Recommended
Proctor Silex Cool-Touch 2-Slice Toaster

While consistency was good with this model, we simply couldn't get dark toast in one cycle. Even at the highest setting, the toast was only golden brown. In addition, the bread barely fit into the slots and sometimes needed a little help going down.
$15.99

Not Recommended
GE Classic 2-Slice Toaster

We liked the large slots and excellent defrost and reheat features, but the toast was often spotty and uneven. Without a "cool-touch" feature, the exterior of this chrome model got very hot.
$24.83

Not Recommended
Cuisinart Electronic Cool Touch 2-Slice Toaster

Consistency was a serious problem with this model, which toasted bread more heavily on one side, and even that unevenness varied from batch to batch.
$29.00

Not Recommended
Rival Bagel Wide Cool Touch Toaster

The bread didn't quite fit into this toaster, so we often had to push it down to help it along. Three batches produced at the same setting were inconsistently toasted.
$17.97

[The_Finn]

found a newer test....

stars are for:
Toast
Bagels/Pastries
Design

*** = good **= ok *= shit

Published December 1, 2008. From Cook's Country.

Highly Recommended
Michael Graves Design Hamilton Beach 4-Slice Toaster

This toaster simply outperformed the others, producing evenly golden toast in test after test. The toaster’s carriage held all foods securely and prevented any possibility of items falling through or getting caught. Our sole complaint: This bulky toaster took up more counter space than we’d prefer.
* * *
* * *
* * *
$34.99
Recommended
Kenmore 4-Slice Toaster

The controls on this toaster were well marked and intuitive, and we liked the light-up display around the dial and the backlighting for the “cancel” button. There was minor inconsistency in the color between the two sides of the toast, but not enough for a serious downgrade.
* *
* * *
* * *
$49.99

Recommended
Oster Inspire 4-Slice Brushed Stainless Steel Toaster

This toaster produced some of the best toast with minimal consistency issues. Its drawbacks were in the design. Billed as a four-slice toaster, we found the two slots just a touch too short to fit four pieces of large sandwich bread, and there were no visual cues for which way to orient a cut bagel (the cut side should face inward). A few testers marked this model down because it lacked separate controls for the two slots.
* * *
* *
* *
$49.99

Recommended
Cuisinart Electronic Cool-Touch 4-Slice Toaster

This toaster performed admirably in the rapid-fire test, but there was some minor inconsistency between the sides of the toast. Testers loved the intuitiveness of operation and ease of cleaning (the crumb trays were great). There was no visual cue for which way to orient a cut bagel.
* *
* *
* * *
$49.99

Recommended
Black & Decker 4-Slice Toaster

This toaster had minor problems toasting both sides of bread evenly, especially at the higher settings, and toast was not consistent in our rapid-fire test. On the bagel setting, however, this model was a champ, nicely browning the cut side while gently warming the exterior. The crumb trays slid in and out easily, but were too shallow and thus messy to empty.
* *
* * *
* *
$24.88

Not Recommended
Sunbeam 4-Slice Toaster

The slots on this toaster were too short for our large sandwich bread. With 11 wires on one side and 14 on the other, the toaster produced inconsistent (but acceptable) toast. Several testers didn’t notice the “cancel” button, which blended into the plastic face below the carriage lever. This toaster’s crumb tray was too shallow.
* *
* *
* *
$22.99

Not Recommended
Farberware Millennium 4-Slice Toaster

Because it has controls on both the front and side, we constantly needed to shift the toaster to access the different features. Top-heavy pastries tipped over and toasted unevenly in the angled slots. Even with bread, toasting was spotty and almost the same at light and medium settings. The crumb tray was well designed, but crumbs accumulated in the lower corner of the angled slots and never fell down into the trays.
* *
* *
*
$49.99
Not Recommended
Toastmaster Dual Control 4-Slice Toaster

Bread had to be run through this toaster a few times before it was adequately toasted; the exterior of the toaster became dangerously hot. The bread guides inside the toaster didn’t hold any of the food securely and actually tilted one side of the item closer to the heating element. A trap door released crumbs from the bottom, making “cleaning” messy and awkward.
*
* *
*
$27.00

[the Interceptor]

Thank you, now I'll have something to read.

EDIT: seems like the best ones are not available in Germany, neither did I find a shop that ships internationally for them. I'd take the Michael Graves Design Hamilton Beach 4-Slice one, it sounds good and solely got good reviews. However, it seems I still have to stick with Dualit and KitchenAid.

[DarkReaper]

Doesn't look like you can buy any of those in germany.

You could try that Porsche design toaster.

[GerFix]

Originally Posted by Jacobfox

The elite of toasting is dualit. Those things are fucking bulletproof and toast a great bagel. We've had ours for quite some time and aside from emptying the crumb tray, we haven't had to do anything and it still works like a charm.

Yup, Dualit. Had ours for 10 years ... really simple with no malfunctioning electronic crap to go wrong with it.

[syncview]

Originally Posted by DarkReaper

Doesn't look like you can buy any of those in germany.

You could try that Porsche design toaster.

or the toyota scion xb toaster, a bit on the expensive side, but VERY reliable

[Shawn]

I have this Krups one that works quite well. It got pretty poor reviews on Amazon, but I went ahead and bought it and it's fine... granted, I don't toast stuff more than once or twice a week... but when I do use it it works well.

[syncview]

Now being serious, we've a Tefal toaster for like years... more than 6 years I suppose.. and its still working fine.

[DarkReaper]

Originally Posted by syncview

or the toyota scion xb toaster, a bit on the expensive side, but VERY reliable

Just for reference. All these are designed by F.A. Porsche. Porsche design designs a lot of stuff for hire. There's even a kitchen designed by Porsche design.

[Firecat]

There is a battlestar galactica toaster which toasts an image of a cylon on your bread.

I've had this bad boy (Dualit, but with white sides) for several years now, but lately i've been questioning the results. I usually chow 3 or 4 slices, so the 2-slice models don't cut it for me.

[DarkReaper]

I favour single slot models anyway. Far better versatility.

[Magnet]

Really, a toaster is a toaster. They toast, and after a some years, they break too. Usually it's part of the frame that drops the bread down, part of it fatigues from the constant heating and cooling.

When I was buying a toaster a few years ago, the 8 year old in me came out and I bought the one with the lights and display panel on it.



It's an Australian brand - a Breville Ikon (to be honest I didn't know what it was and I had to go into the kitchen to check). It's got a begal, defrost and crumpet setting as well. It's been going strong for 4-5 years with no problems. You just have to remember to turn the toast setting down for the second lot as the elements have already heated up from the first batch.

[Jacobfox]

Breville is good stuff. I have one of their panini machines.

I still maintain that the dualit is the way to go if you never want to have to buy a toaster again.

[the Interceptor]

Originally Posted by Jacobfox

I still maintain that the dualit is the way to go if you never want to have to buy a toaster again.

That, basically, is what I want. I want a toaster that is as good as it can be, instead of being a product that's being made because a company can. I want to leave this everlasting circle of buying cheap crap I expect to break after a while. That's not what a product should be like - at all. I want to leave the "buy cheap and simply replace when broken" chain, because I grew to hate it. I simply want an excellent product, and I'm willing to spend the appropriate amount of money for it.