Basic Toasters

[palo]

I think a "Variety of colours" may be limiting - (hey, if you're in Canada, says so in your profile!)

 

p

[ElsieD]

I'm interested in this as well.  We currently have a Breville and it no longer toasts evenly.  The only way I can get it to toast at all is to keep flipping and turning it, and even then some of the outer edges are a bit burnt.

[Smithy]

7 hours ago, wibago said:

My mother wants a toaster to the following criteria:

1. 2 slice capacity

2. Variety of colours

3. Not made in China

4. Cost pretty much irrelevant

Any advice appreciated

 

I've been pleased with the CUKOR 2-Slice Long Slot Toaster with Window, Bagel Toaster with Warm Rack and 7 Bread Shade Settings, Glass Toaster with Automatic Lifting, Slide-out Glass Panel and Removable Crumb Tray (eG-friendly Amazon.com link) that I bought in 2020. It works, it toasts well, you can see what's going on with it because of the transparent sides. The only caveat I have is that if you don't like seeing pale stripes along your toast where the support wires are holding it upright you'll be unhappy with this one; the stripes are thin but quite visible.

 

Note that this is one long slot. It isn't long enough for 2 pieces of bread sliced from the middle of a boule, but it's plenty long for 2 pieces of standard loaf-sized bread. I like it because it will take long slices of bread, which is what I typically eat.

 

This particular toaster is no longer available on Amazon, but Amazon offers some similar designs. Maybe the Cukor can be ordered elsewhere, or Amazon's substitutes may be just as good.

[TdeV]

For a long time we had a Breville long slot toaster which eventually died.

 

Then we started using the Anova steam oven to toast bread (0% steam). It was the only automated program I used from the app. However it took 8 minutes to make toast! And DH refused to use it. So I bought a cheap toaster which didn't really toast the bread.

 

In January of this year we purchased a new Breville Die-Cast Smart Toaster 4 Slice Long Slot. It was a lot more money and may have been made in China. It does toast however. And the long slot means it will accept homemade bread.

 

The new Breville does toast marvellously, @ElsieD. The electronics have definitely been upgraded since my first Breville toaster.

[Tropicalsenior]

I think that I have posted before about the difficulties of getting reliable appliances in Costa Rica but I could write a book about my travails with toasters. I have bought cheap that I have bought expensive and they all seem to die within a year. Another of my pet peeves is all the adornments and curlicues (grease catchers) the manufactures insist on putting on toasters. You can spend more time trying to clean the suckers than actually toasting bread in them.

The last one that I bought died in 2016 and my housemate, Carlos, had a toaster that somebody had given him.

He'd  had it for about 5 years and never used it but we decided to give it a try. It's the best toaster I've ever had. It's a Sunbeam. The toast always comes out perfect and it is so easy to clean. It has extra wide slots so homemade bread is no problem and I've even toasted Bagels in it.

I checked for Sunbeam toasters on the internet and Walmart has them as does Amazon.

I love this toaster. I use it almost everyday and it just keeps on keeping on.

[lemniscate]

My antique T-20 and my vintage Toast R Oven (1970) both gave up this month.   I think it was a suicide pact.  

I bought a Breville BTA730XL.   It is a big toaster.

I got it yesterday, but I'm out of bread LOL.

 

[palo]

@lemniscate "I bought a Breville BTA730XL"

 

After a number of toasters over the years, I would rate this as one of the best, if not the best I have had.

 

They have really gone up in price since I purchased mine in 2020 (CDN$88) , now they don't seem to be available on Amazon.ca directly (CDN$165 + $20 import fees) I hope yours was a lot cheaper 😃

 

p

Edited July 9, 2023 by palo
added quote (log)

[ElsieD]

I had a Breville BTA820XL that finally gave up toasting.  I recently replaced it with a Cuisinart CPT-T20C.  I've only used it a few times but so far I'm happy with it.  Here in Canada it lists for $120 and I bought it on sale for $40.  I don't expect it to last forever but for $40 I don't expect it to.

[lemniscate]

3 hours ago, palo said:

I hope yours was a lot cheaper 😃

 

I paid ~$60 USD for it off Amazon Warehouse.   I regularly purchase Warehouse items (they are graded Like New all the way down to Acceptable).   I have had pretty good luck with A-W stuff.   I actually have had to return very few items.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

8 hours ago, lemniscate said:

 

I paid ~$60 USD for it off Amazon Warehouse.   I regularly purchase Warehouse items (they are graded Like New all the way down to Acceptable).   I have had pretty good luck with A-W stuff.   I actually have had to return very few items.

 

In contrast I have found there is a reason why people have returned stuff.  Even if not obvious to cursory testing.  Not all customers returning problem items are trying to exploit the system.

 

[liuzhou]

In 2021, my 35 year old Black and Decker finally went off to toaster heaven. I replaced it with this.

 

 

A no name Chinese number with top-up feature as well as defrost setting. I'm happy with it, especially at a cost of $14 USD equivalent. Won't suit those who demand non-Chinese goods, though. Any of you got  iPhones?