Basic Toasters

[JAZ]

2 hours ago, Katie Meadow said:

I come from another school altogether. The one thing I want least from a toaster is speed. If there's anything that annoys me it's a charred exterior and a damp interior. Avoid any product that claims to toast your bread quickly. 

 

That's interesting to me. What I like about my toaster is that it can brown (not char) the outsides of the bread without drying it out. I like a moist interior and crusty exterior. I'm not sure that my toaster is quick, but it gives me that result.

[Margaret Pilgrim]

1 hour ago, JAZ said:

 

That's interesting to me. What I like about my toaster is that it can brown (not char) the outsides of the bread without drying it out. I like a moist interior and crusty exterior. I'm not sure that my toaster is quick, but it gives me that result.

It's interesting how we often fail to define very simple words, like toast.   Do we want a browned but supple piece of bread or are we looking for something more approaching zwieback or rusk.   Husband likes an English muffin just warmed through; I want mine crunchy and browned.   But we talk about them as if they were the same thing.  

[chromedome]

Before buying the toaster mentioned up-thread, I tried one that was marketed on its speed. It did indeed give me browned bread very quickly, but I was unable to think of it as toast because the middle of the slice hadn't heated enough to gelate and still had a "plain bread" texture. There was also the minor matter of the damned thing  tossing 70 percent of my toast right onto the counter or floor (I won't name it here, but it has a sylishly diagonal appearance...a few seconds' Googling, and reading of Amazon reviews, will identify the culprit).

 

I don't personally want my toast to be a crouton, though I know some like it that way. I want the sides deeply browned, and the interior soft like bread fresh from the oven. Speed isn't an issue, because frankly I'm not moving super-fast myself in the morning.

[weinoo]

Also, and not for nothing, we're probably all toasting different things; I think the experiment or our conclusions work best if we were all working with Pepperidge Farm White Bread or Thomas' english muffins.

[chromedome]

6 minutes ago, weinoo said:

Also, and not for nothing, we're probably all toasting different things; I think the experiment or our conclusions work best if we were all working with Pepperidge Farm White Bread or Thomas' english muffins.

True, if the point of the exercise is to arrive at a standardized comparison of toast-making devices.

 

From my perspective that's meaningless information, since I'm concerned only with how a given device handles my own home-baked bread sliced the way I slice it.

[weinoo]

53 minutes ago, chromedome said:

True, if the point of the exercise is to arrive at a standardized comparison of toast-making devices.

 

From my perspective that's meaningless information, since I'm concerned only with how a given device handles my own home-baked bread sliced the way I slice it.

I thought that's what is being asked? 

[Katie Meadow]

On 7/19/2020 at 8:25 PM, Margaret Pilgrim said:

It's interesting how we often fail to define very simple words, like toast.   Do we want a browned but supple piece of bread or are we looking for something more approaching zwieback or rusk.   Husband likes an English muffin just warmed through; I want mine crunchy and browned.   But we talk about them as if they were the same thing.  

Agreed. Anyone who thinks toast is a simple matter will be unburdened of that opinion when a piece of charcoal sails halfway across the room. In other words, just the words "pop up" require a second volume.

[CentralMA]

On 3/15/2019 at 12:44 PM, Alex said:

 

Do you live near a Goodwill or similar resale shop? Regular toasters are frequent visitors. For $5 or so, it's worth the gamble. In fact, if you bring some bread with you, they should let you try it out before you buy. And with luck, you might find a very cool vintage Sunbeam.

 

Yeah, keep an eye out at the thrift stores.

 

A few months ago I came into this beauty for a rediculously low price:

 

https://forums.egullet.org/uploads/monthly_2020_03/front.jpg.a4392bc9cf2beb94a2c10a5d6bb2b1a8.jpg

 

UK made Dualit.

Edited July 21, 2020 by CentralMA (log)

[andiesenji]

As some of you may know, I collected vintage and a few antique toasters over a 40-year time span.  i still have and use my grandparent's Sunbeam T-20 B they purchased in 1949. I had a new cord installed 30 years ago and it still works brilliantly.  However many of my homemade breads and a number of commercial ones DO NOT FIT in the slots, nor do bagels even when sliced in half.  

At one time I had 143 toasters of various types, brands, styles, etc., all made before 1980 - when Made in USA no longer appeared on 95% of electric appliances.

A couple were made in Canada and were of the same quality (and weight) as those made here.

I have also had 4 toasters made in England for the American market, 3 were Dualit, one was a Russell Hobbs 4-slice toaster with warming rack.

 

As far as "modern" toasters are concerned, I have had several, including 2 Breville toasters, expensive but reliable - gave both away to people who really needed them.  

Also several "novelty" toasters which I also gave away.

 

One of the Breville toasters had an audible beep  to let one know the toast was done  - this most recent one described above also has a lout beep I can hear easily from the next room.

 

America's Test Kitchen recently tested a number of toasters, including the Magimix  and toasted thousands of pieces of toast.  Their rating agrees mostly with mine.

 

I like CRISP toast that remains crisp and doesn't become limp and unattractive after a few minutes of cooling.  

Also, I have yet to find a "toaster oven" that is really efficient and works rapidly enough for MY taste -  some are great for making Melba toast or toasting pre-buttered bread but mostly they fail to produce what I want in "regular" toast.

[kayb]

24 minutes ago, andiesenji said:

I like CRISP toast that remains crisp and doesn't become limp and unattractive after a few minutes of cooling.  

Also, I have yet to find a "toaster oven" that is really efficient and works rapidly enough for MY taste -  some are great for making Melba toast or toasting pre-buttered bread but mostly they fail to produce what I want in "regular" toast.

 

Re: "Regular" toast. As we did not have a toaster, "regular" toast for me will always be made on a cookie sheet in the oven, under the broiler, with four pale squares where the thin pats of butter sat. Toast the buttered side first, then flip. I did not, in those days, appreciate my Mama as I should have.

 

I still love toast made in the broiler (or in the CSO, toast setting), but with the butter smeared from crust-to-crust as opposed to the four pats.

 

[Jess_What]

I just got my new toaster after a few months of research. I now have the Breville Smart Toaster Oven, although I find the Revolution Cooking R180 High-Speed 2-Slice Stainless Steel Smart Toaster very appealing (but expensive). I opted for something a little more practical. 😉  I found this article helpful during the months of deliberation. 

[Smithy]

On 7/19/2020 at 1:52 AM, andiesenji said:

Amazon sent me another toaster to test.  It was just released for sale a few days ago and already other reviewers have raved about it.

Cukor Glass Toaster Model:  WT-8420    

 

Like the iconic Sunbeam T20  and all its descendants,  this is a SELF-LOWERING and SLOW-RISING toaster.  The controls are simple, intuitive and on top of the toaster which has a long, SINGLE slot.  And it has a warming rack that fits on top.  It has a very good instruction manual and has an 18-month warranty.

It toasts much more rapidly than other toasters, even on defrost!

It toasts evenly except for a little more browning at the very bottom edges of end slices that curve a bit and are therefor closer to the heating rods.

  

 

 

Thanks to this post and my continued irritation with an Oster toaster with too-short slots, I purchased one of these. We like it very much. The toasting is easily controlled and fairly even (it's a bit darker at the base than at the top) and we like the automatic rise. Even my DH, whose hearing is not the best, can hear the beep when it's done. The glass side adds a certain novelty element: although it looks pretty, I wouldn't have paid extra for it. It did, however, force me to clear some clutter so it could be seen, and that's a plus in my darling's book.

[TdeV]

I have a Breville Model CT75XL toaster, about 10 years old. Looks like this.

 

Today the handle would not stay down, so no toast could be had.

 

Any ideas about what is causing the malfunction? What kind of repairman to look for?

[chromedome]

42 minutes ago, TdeV said:

I have a Breville Model CT75XL toaster, about 10 years old. Looks like this.

 

Today the handle would not stay down, so no toast could be had.

 

Any ideas about what is causing the malfunction? What kind of repairman to look for?

This is a long shot, but when mine did that (Calphalon-branded, no idea who actually makes it) the problem turned out to be...that the cord had come partway out of the power bar.

[ElsieD]

42 minutes ago, chromedome said:

This is a long shot, but when mine did that (Calphalon-branded, no idea who actually makes it) the problem turned out to be...that the cord had come partway out of the power bar.

 

I hate when that happens.

[TdeV]

I tried that early in the reboot cycle.

I have a vague memory that clicking one of the front selector buttons disabled the toaster, but I don't remember very well, and, in any event, that didn't change anything today.

Thanks for your troubleshooting hints though.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Twenty years ago my toaster failed.  I consulted my younger son for help.  (He at least has a degree in engineering.)  Sadly he misinterpreted my query.  One of our all time favorite computer games is Wasteland.  In Wasteland toaster repair is a highly valued skill.  But I was asking about real life.  Computer games can be brutally realistic.  Eventually I was able to get my toaster mechanism unstuck.

 

@TdeV you might want to forget about eating and try computer games instead.

 

[weinoo]

7 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

 

 

@TdeV you might want to forget about eating and try computer games instead.

 

 

Or figure that 10 years, of what I'm guessing is fairly consistent use, is a good lifespan for a consumer product. And send it off to the recycler.

[TdeV]

Oh, @weinoo, @JoNorvelleWalker is enjoying the toast produced by the Anova Precision Oven. This calamity is truly dangerous!

[weinoo]

I have no idea what you're writing about vis-a-vis calamities.  But I am glad @JoNorvelleWalker has found the toast of her dreams.

[Toliver]

16 hours ago, TdeV said:

I tried that early in the reboot cycle.

I have a vague memory that clicking one of the front selector buttons disabled the toaster, but I don't remember very well, and, in any event, that didn't change anything today.

Thanks for your troubleshooting hints though.

Here's the manual for your toaster found through Google: (click)

 

This sounds like your issue but I don't understand what it's saying.

Quote

If the toaster is not plugged in and switched on
at the power outlet, the high lift lever will not
click into place.

I hope you're able to find a solution.

[TdeV]

On another site someone said "I had the same problem with a toaster I had. It turned out that it just needed to be cleaned. It's a magnet that makes the handle stay down and when there is an accumulation of crumbs and/or oil on the magnet, it won't stay down."

 

Most concrete explanation yet.

 

Thanks all!

[CentralMA]

A couple of years ago my wife told me about a good looking toaster at the local Goodwill. Stopping be there a couple of days later I found it, a four slice Dualit. $15.

 

Couple of dents in the top, otherwise a very nice toaster.

 

Month ago the timer (analog, think tic tic tic tic tic mechanical) would hang at the 30 second to go mark. Burnt a few slices that day, filled the kitchen with smoke.

 

New timer found on Amazon, $50. 10 minute install/replacement. Came with a new front dial knob. Gotta love those Brits....

 

Edited August 21, 2021 by CentralMA (log)

[Eatmywords]

1 hour ago, lauras said:

I recommend Nostalgia BST3AQ 3-in-1, I really like this toaster oven. The grill and coffee portion was great, very quick to have a breakfast. 

Ooh, 3 in one, pretty cool design, I see it as a space saver for camping/motor homing, but for home, as any appliance that has multi functions, what to do when one function dies?  I do like the idea and at under $100, good gamble.

[paulraphael]

Serendipitous timing that this thread is back from the dead. 3 years later our Breville smart(ish) oven is dying. The bottom heating elements only come on when they feel like it, resulting in jeckyl/hyde slices of toast. And it's started shrieking at us. It sounds like a bad fan bearing, but we see no evidence that there's a fan anywhere in there. It's not a convection model. Nothing deep in the bowels looks fan-like. So I can only conclude that it's either haunted, angry, or in some kind of deep psychic pain. 

 

At first we could distract it back into quiet servitude with a crisp zen slap. But after a while it needed multiple slaps. Eventually it needed one or more full-on haymaker punches, right to the midsection. Now it's dented, madder than ever, and defiant—violence no longer works at all. 

 

The happy news: Breville has offered to fix it. It's way out of warranty, but our story must have made them feel sorry for us. I suspect fixing it will take a long time, and we don't want to be without a toaster oven (the untoasted life being not worth living, etc.). So we've ordered a new one. Same model, to test our luck. When it shows up, we'll send the old one for repairs, and when that eventually comes back we'll give it to someone.

 

Someone who likes toast, and doesn't mind a slight fist-shaped dent. 

Edited October 28, 2021 by paulraphael (log)