Hive Mind: please recommend a Brave Little Toaster
December 20, 2014 1:48 PM Subscribe
Yesterday the last of a long line of El Cheapo toasters finally kicked the bucket and I need a replacement. Except, this time I want the Rolls Royce of toasters and price is no object. What do I buy?
We are a 2 person household, so giant food-service toasters are probably not a good choice - a 2 or 4 slice is probably best, but happy to consider other options. We toast a wide variety of breads and it's generally weird sizes and rarely pre-sliced. It must make even and golden toast consistently. Easy of cleaning would be nice but not required. I don't care what it looks like or how pretty it is or if it comes in a dozen colours.
I am in Australia, have access to a large number of electrical retailers and I'm perfectly happy to order online and wait if I have to.
What do I buy?
We are a 2 person household, so giant food-service toasters are probably not a good choice - a 2 or 4 slice is probably best, but happy to consider other options. We toast a wide variety of breads and it's generally weird sizes and rarely pre-sliced. It must make even and golden toast consistently. Easy of cleaning would be nice but not required. I don't care what it looks like or how pretty it is or if it comes in a dozen colours.
I am in Australia, have access to a large number of electrical retailers and I'm perfectly happy to order online and wait if I have to.
What do I buy?
This one does toast well and other stuff too. I LOVE it!
posted by JohnR at 2:17 PM on December 20, 2014
posted by JohnR at 2:17 PM on December 20, 2014
The breville countertop convection toaster oven. Love, love, love. I am using it RIGHT NOW in fact! I use it every day, usually multiple times a day for everything from toast and frozen waffles to frozen chicken tenders and slice and bake cookies. Oooh! I almost forgot to say how well it does frozen pizzas too!!
posted by PorcineWithMe at 2:24 PM on December 20, 2014 [5 favorites]
posted by PorcineWithMe at 2:24 PM on December 20, 2014 [5 favorites]
Response by poster: My fault - I should point out that I want a toaster (as in making a couple of pieces of toast) and not a toaster oven. Stinkfoot's on the right trail, but I don't believe the Dualit is available for Australian voltage.
posted by ninazer0 at 2:27 PM on December 20, 2014
posted by ninazer0 at 2:27 PM on December 20, 2014
I've had the Dualit 4 slice as linked above for many years, we got it after having gone through many cheapo toasters. It is the toaster to last a lifetime, if the highly unlikely occurs and if needs to be repaired, you can get parts. A google search shows up many Australian websites like this one selling them, hopefully the ones they sell are made for the correct voltage.
posted by Requiax at 2:37 PM on December 20, 2014
posted by Requiax at 2:37 PM on December 20, 2014
Get a restored vintage one. There should be plenty on Ebay. Probably $100-200.
posted by Slinga at 3:03 PM on December 20, 2014
posted by Slinga at 3:03 PM on December 20, 2014
I don't believe the Dualit is available for Australian voltage.
Since Dualit is British, yes. They are... industrial and idiosyncratic. Manual ejector, so no pop-up: you set the timer and you lift the toast yourself. Some people hate that. But they're repairable and solid and fantastic items.
For something more like a conventional pop-up toaster, I wish I could point you to the Philips Essence that had an infrared sensor that detected the browning level and popped up when it reached the level you selected. My parents have one and it's fantastic, but for some reason it wasn't a commercial success and was discontinued.
posted by holgate at 3:09 PM on December 20, 2014
Since Dualit is British, yes. They are... industrial and idiosyncratic. Manual ejector, so no pop-up: you set the timer and you lift the toast yourself. Some people hate that. But they're repairable and solid and fantastic items.
For something more like a conventional pop-up toaster, I wish I could point you to the Philips Essence that had an infrared sensor that detected the browning level and popped up when it reached the level you selected. My parents have one and it's fantastic, but for some reason it wasn't a commercial success and was discontinued.
posted by holgate at 3:09 PM on December 20, 2014
Choice recommends the following:
Kitchen aid 5akmt223er0
Sunbeam Maestro 2 TA6240
Russell Hobbs Kitchen Metallics RHMT4RED
Russell Hobbs Silhouette 20640 - this might be the only one that suites long slices of bread
Cuisinart CPT-240TNA
I'll be following this thread as I want to upgrade my toaster too.
posted by poxandplague at 3:10 PM on December 20, 2014
Kitchen aid 5akmt223er0
Sunbeam Maestro 2 TA6240
Russell Hobbs Kitchen Metallics RHMT4RED
Russell Hobbs Silhouette 20640 - this might be the only one that suites long slices of bread
Cuisinart CPT-240TNA
I'll be following this thread as I want to upgrade my toaster too.
posted by poxandplague at 3:10 PM on December 20, 2014
As a lover of toast (although not Australian, so I don't have any specific recommendations) I found that in order to get the best toast, the toaster has to have the same number of heating elements on both sides of the slot. Just my general observation as a lifelong owner of taosters.
That being siad, the Russell Hobbs one with the see-through window certainly looks quite the thing.
posted by fiercekitten at 3:36 PM on December 20, 2014
That being siad, the Russell Hobbs one with the see-through window certainly looks quite the thing.
posted by fiercekitten at 3:36 PM on December 20, 2014
A two person household probably requires a 4 slice toaster to preserve civility by allowing you to eat together (who can eat just one slice of toast? Not me and not my wife!).
This is the detail not to skimp on. The other considerations are minor compared to the egalitarian awesomeness of eating equally warm toast. Your breakfasts will taste of justice.
posted by srboisvert at 3:37 PM on December 20, 2014 [2 favorites]
This is the detail not to skimp on. The other considerations are minor compared to the egalitarian awesomeness of eating equally warm toast. Your breakfasts will taste of justice.
posted by srboisvert at 3:37 PM on December 20, 2014 [2 favorites]
According to America's Test Kitchen it's the Magimix by Robot-Coupe Vision Toaster. But for 250 USD you could buy quite a few crappy toasters. A Best Buy is the KitchenAid 2 Slice Manual High-Lift Lever Toaster with LCD Display for $89.99. Not sure if either of these will work in Australia.
posted by H21 at 3:39 PM on December 20, 2014
posted by H21 at 3:39 PM on December 20, 2014
A friend of mine is a user-experience/design guru. A few years ago he was shopping for the very best toaster and he settled on a vintage Sunbeam T-20. That's the one that lowers the toast automatically, and has an infrared sensor to detect the level of "toastiness." I see them on ebay for between 50 to 200, depending on condition and particular subvariant. I seem to remember my grandparents had one and it was awesome.
posted by wuwei at 4:05 PM on December 20, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by wuwei at 4:05 PM on December 20, 2014 [2 favorites]
We bought a Breville long 4 slice toaster which is slightly less fancy than the one I linked. We bought it a couple of years ago and it still is doing fine. It seems to make pretty good toast.
posted by leahwrenn at 4:12 PM on December 20, 2014
posted by leahwrenn at 4:12 PM on December 20, 2014
I will tell you. The best toaster is the Black and Decker 2 slice jobbie.
See if you can get in Australia.
The thing is cheap as dirt. Mine is 14 years old and still going strong. I have purchased many toasters for work (I like toast at work) Kitchen Aid and Cuisinart and they take for motherloving ever to toast a freaking piece of bread.
Nope. For my money the best value, the best toaster is a Black and Decker. I am also potty about their 1 cup coffee maker. It's 25 years old and still brews a fine cup .
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 4:54 PM on December 20, 2014
See if you can get in Australia.
The thing is cheap as dirt. Mine is 14 years old and still going strong. I have purchased many toasters for work (I like toast at work) Kitchen Aid and Cuisinart and they take for motherloving ever to toast a freaking piece of bread.
Nope. For my money the best value, the best toaster is a Black and Decker. I am also potty about their 1 cup coffee maker. It's 25 years old and still brews a fine cup .
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 4:54 PM on December 20, 2014
The breville countertop convection toaster oven. Love, love, love. I am using it RIGHT NOW in fact! I use it every day, usually multiple times a day for everything from toast and frozen waffles to frozen chicken tenders and slice and bake cookies. Oooh! I almost forgot to say how well it does frozen pizzas too!!
I know, I know you said you didn't want a toaster oven, but this really is the best toaster around. No matter what the bread (or crumpet etc) or the size, it comes out great every single time. Plus, you can do everything else like bake cakes cook pizzas, roast a tray of vegies... It is the Rolls Royce of toasters, but it hides behind the façade of a great small bench top oven and we haven't used our real oven more than twice in three years since buying this toaster...
posted by salad at 8:13 PM on December 20, 2014 [1 favorite]
I know, I know you said you didn't want a toaster oven, but this really is the best toaster around. No matter what the bread (or crumpet etc) or the size, it comes out great every single time. Plus, you can do everything else like bake cakes cook pizzas, roast a tray of vegies... It is the Rolls Royce of toasters, but it hides behind the façade of a great small bench top oven and we haven't used our real oven more than twice in three years since buying this toaster...
posted by salad at 8:13 PM on December 20, 2014 [1 favorite]
Dualit toasters are great. I have had mine for over a decade. They look good too.
posted by bookshelves at 10:14 PM on December 20, 2014
posted by bookshelves at 10:14 PM on December 20, 2014
I have yet to have seen a 4 slice toaster in actual use where 2 of the slices weren't broken. Personal experience, YMMV, etc.
posted by sexyrobot at 1:00 PM on December 21, 2014
posted by sexyrobot at 1:00 PM on December 21, 2014
We recently bought a new toaster to replace a dead one. I couldn't bring myself to pay for the Magimix mentioned by H21 above, despite my general agreement (on almost all subjects) with testing and results from the fine folks at Cooks Illustrated. I was also tempted by Breville toasters (which run about USD100, as opposed to the USD250 Magimix), but they apparently have had some quality control issues, judging by the consistent language in bad reviews on Amazon. [NB: Breville is an Australian company, so your prices and customer support could be better than those experienced by US customers on Amazon.]
In looking into this I realized that toasters have become unnecessarily complicated (with electric motors to lower the bread and raise the toast and circuit boards to control everything). If we assume that every additional electronic component is an additional likely point of failure, it's hard to justify paying more money just to get a product that seems destined to suffer a premature short somewhere. Since that ruled out everything with motors and sensors, I was back to looking for simple toasters that, y'know, actually made good toast.
We ended up buying a $40 T-Fal with double-length slots. Its toast is not perfectly even, but I could replace it five times and break even against a Magimix. See-through sides aren't worth that much to me.
posted by fedward at 8:09 AM on December 22, 2014
In looking into this I realized that toasters have become unnecessarily complicated (with electric motors to lower the bread and raise the toast and circuit boards to control everything). If we assume that every additional electronic component is an additional likely point of failure, it's hard to justify paying more money just to get a product that seems destined to suffer a premature short somewhere. Since that ruled out everything with motors and sensors, I was back to looking for simple toasters that, y'know, actually made good toast.
We ended up buying a $40 T-Fal with double-length slots. Its toast is not perfectly even, but I could replace it five times and break even against a Magimix. See-through sides aren't worth that much to me.
posted by fedward at 8:09 AM on December 22, 2014
We have a Panasonic toaster oven of wonder. It's an amazing piece of technology and works wonders for toast and other breads. Ours has been in production for 10+ years and was for some time out unavailable in the states. When it became available again, I contemplated purchasing a second toaster oven of perfection JUST IN CASE.
I don't believe in having backstock of toasters -- except it's really that good.
Slight scope creep because this isn't just a toaster but it's so much better than a toaster!
posted by countrymod at 1:01 PM on December 22, 2014
I don't believe in having backstock of toasters -- except it's really that good.
Slight scope creep because this isn't just a toaster but it's so much better than a toaster!
posted by countrymod at 1:01 PM on December 22, 2014
Response by poster: Well, folks. Thanks for your input, but my husband went and bought a cheap Sunbeam something-or-other before I could get much further with this. So, I'll bide my time and wait for this one to explode, melt or die. Special thanks to srboisvert for the Zen of toast. Alas, perfect domestic bliss yet eludes us as hubby purchased a 2-slot toaster.
Also, I think I should probably take a loaf of bread with me when I do eventually go shopping, find a power point in the store, and run through a couple of slices - I see people testing vacuum cleaners in stores all the time so I see no reason not to test a toaster.
posted by ninazer0 at 11:56 PM on December 22, 2014
Also, I think I should probably take a loaf of bread with me when I do eventually go shopping, find a power point in the store, and run through a couple of slices - I see people testing vacuum cleaners in stores all the time so I see no reason not to test a toaster.
posted by ninazer0 at 11:56 PM on December 22, 2014
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posted by stinkfoot at 1:53 PM on December 20, 2014 [4 favorites]