2 Slice Toaster With Easy to Read Dial

The research

  • Why yous should trust us
  • Who should get this
  • How we picked
  • How we tested
  • The best toasters: Cuisinart CPT-122 ii-Piece and CPT-142 4-Slice Meaty Plastic Toasters
  • Flaws but not dealbreakers
  • Upgrade pick: Breville BTA720XL Scrap More Toaster
  • Why we think toasters are prone to failure
  • The competition
  • Sources

We interviewed experts like Peter Reinhart, acclaimed baker and cookbook author, to narrow the selection of toasters to exam. Additionally, nosotros read editorial reviews from sites including Adept Housekeeping. We besides looked at user reviews from online stores like Amazon, Walmart, and Bed Bath & Beyond. Finally, we conducted a reader survey to help usa effigy out what most people look for in a toaster.

Senior staff writer Michael Sullivan tested six four-slot toasters for our 2016 update and five two-slot toasters for our 2021 update. In the process he ate more toast, bagels, and frozen waffles than he'd care to admit. For our 2018 update, then junior staff writer Sabrina Imbler tested 14 two-slot and four-slot toasters and suffered a similar fate. Freelancer Brendan Nystedt spent 30 hours researching and testing toasters for our original guide.

Y'all're probably looking for a new toaster considering your former one bit the dust. Or maybe information technology toasts unevenly, burns bread as well hands, or can't accommodate bagels. Just before you buy a new toaster, yous should know they're decumbent to having quality-command problems, inexpensive mechanisms, brittle heating elements, or delicate electric connections that are susceptible to breaking—even if they first out great. Our communication is to spend but what you remember is reasonable for something that may terminal for merely about v years. Paying more doesn't necessarily correlate to better quality. Hugh Rushing, former executive vice president of the Cookware Manufacturers Association, told us, "I know y'all can purchase a toaster at your local Dollar General store for 8 bucks retail, or you tin spend $200 on a Breville or another brand like that, and I retrieve all of them are pretty uniformly crappy after a year or two in my experience."

Toaster ovens, which can even handle some tasks intended for total-size ovens (such equally roasting a whole craven or cooking pizza), are a more than-versatile and capable appliance than two- or 4-slot toasters (and they don't seem as decumbent to failure). If that versatility appeals to you, and you desire to exercise more than just toast carbs, we recommend getting a toaster oven in lieu of a slot toaster. But if you don't have room for a large toaster oven, you lot may exist deciding betwixt getting a two- or iv-slot toaster. 4-slot toasters offer double the capacity, and so y'all tin produce more toast apace, which is nice for feeding a large family. A two-slot toaster takes up less space and is best for smaller kitchens or households with fewer mouths to feed.

Three toasters, one black, one white, and one chrome, that we tested in our quest to find the best toaster.

From left to right: the Cuisinart CPT-3000 ViewPro (now discontinued), the Cuisinart CPT-122, and the Breville BTA720XL Flake More than. Photo: Michael Hession

Aside from a change in the materials used to make their heating elements, toasters haven't changed much in the past century or so. Even though they tin now pop upwards your breadstuff and offer bagel or frozen-staff of life settings, the way they toast your carbs is basically the same. And when it comes downwards to it, the ideal toaster should just toast breadstuff evenly and consistently without a whole lot of fuss. Every slot should provide a like performance. And you should be able to toast breads of different types and shapes; this means having a toaster with a big plenty slot to handle thick bagels, plus a manner to retrieve pocket-size English muffins without having to jam a utensil (or your fingers) into the slots.

Afterward speaking with experts and researching the history of toasters, we scanned dozens of best-selling models on Amazon and kitchenware sites to make up one's mind which models to test. For the 2020 update we tested 5 new toasters against our previous picks. Though the engineering science is elementary, many small factors go into making a toaster that's pleasant to utilize and churns out evenly browned bread every single fourth dimension. In our research and testing, here'south what nosotros looked for:

  • Even toasting is the most crucial task of a toaster. It should produce consistently crisped breadstuff with no white spots or burnt edges.
  • A toaster should have authentic toasting settings, then that setting the dial to medium volition give you neither ghost-white staff of life nor a singed black square, but rather gold-brown perfection—or something like information technology.
  • It should toast consistently from batch to batch, regulating its temperature so that subsequent rounds of toast don't come out entirely charred. Just even the best toasters oestrus up a bit later i round of toasting, so nosotros recommend turning the dial down slightly when making a second batch.
  • Broad, deep slots tin accommodate everything from a uncomplicated slice of Wonder breadstuff to a fluffy New York bagel. At the same fourth dimension, small English muffins shouldn't go swallowed in slots that are too deep. We looked into long-slot toasters, which can agree larger slices of bread, such as sourdough, or 2 pieces of toast side by side. But in testing, these models produced staff of life with raw corners and burnt centers, so we focused on traditional two- and four-piece models. We think cutting longer pieces in half before toasting is an like shooting fish in a barrel solution.
  • A manual lever can help lift toast out of the slot also equally lower it. You shouldn't take to fish your toast out of the slots with utensils or your fingers. (This is not only unsafe, but you could hands harm the heating elements with sharp objects. We recommend using mini tongs or a pair of chopsticks to safely recollect smaller pieces of toast.)
  • The outside should remain cool to the touch even after toasting, so that you lot don't burn your fingers by accidentally touching the toaster.
  • Removable nibble trays will make cleaning the toaster much, much easier.
  • Useful buttons or settings tin can make toasting easier. For example, a cancel button volition permit you to cease toasting if yous start to scent smoke. And a bagel setting tin preserve chewiness by dialing back the estrus on the outer part of the bagel while warming the cut side with more-intense heat. That said, we recommend seeking out toasters with settings that are most useful to you, since more circuitry tin increase the toll while also introducing more possible points of failure.
  • A toaster should toast quickly. Though no model we tested took eons to brown bread, the best ones produced gold toast more twice as fast as the worst performers.
  • It should be meaty. Because a toaster is a unmarried-use kitchen appliance that will most probable stay on the counter, yous don't desire information technology to take upward too much infinite.
  • Price should non be exorbitant, because toasters, unlike toaster ovens, can be used for only one purpose and seem to have significantly shorter lifespans. In our research, we found that many of the high-end toasters that cost upwards of $100 don't necessarily last longer than those costing less than half the price. Nosotros recommend spending only what y'all recollect is reasonable for getting almost v years' worth of utilize out of it.
  • It should take well-constructed exterior parts that can handle normal wear and tear. If the levers feel flimsy or wobbly and the buttons stick or take printed text that easily wears off, these are probably good indications the toaster is cheaply made.

There are also some attributes that nosotros found helpful, simply not e'er necessary:

  • Glass walls allow yous to sentry your toast brown (and, if necessary, squirt toast before it becomes also done). But these toasters tend to be more expensive and aren't necessarily better at actually toasting. They do allow you to run into what's happening inside the toaster without having to peer into it from above, which may be specially useful for, say, people who utilise wheelchairs.
  • Motorized levers can lift and lower your toast at the press of a push, which is spiffy. But the process takes longer than just manually pressing down a lever.
  • A defrost way is meant to help with frozen breads; it extends the toasting cycle, giving the bread some time to thaw before toasting. In our tests, we institute little deviation between heating up an Eggo waffle on the frozen and normal toast settings. Just every unmarried toaster we tested had a defrost setting, so it never came upwardly as a dealbreaker.
  • Nosotros liked extra features, such as Breville's "Elevator & Look" button/lever (which allows yous to peek at the doneness of your toast and pop it back in if it's non quite ready) and its "A Fleck More than" button (which gently darkens your toast a footling more than without burning it to a crisp). Simply you'll have to decide whether these extra features are worth the added cost, knowing that these pricier toasters won't necessarily concluding longer.

There's one affair you can't expect any toaster to do, and that's put out perfect toast without supervision. Even the skilful toasters need help. Information technology appears that toaster makers hold: All of our finalists had a cancel button, which seems like their way of telling us the toaster can't truly be trusted.

Nosotros tested toasters using Murray's bagels, which are the puffiest in New York City. Photo: Michael Hession

To meet how each toaster handled breads of dissimilar shapes and sizes, we toasted dozens of loaves of basic white bread, bagels, frozen waffles, and English muffins. For our white-bread test, we toasted iii back-to-dorsum rounds of Wonder breadstuff slices to see how consequent the toast was from model to model and batch to batch. These multiple batches showed us how well each toaster could regulate its temperature after heating upward.

In each circular, we timed each toaster to see which could brown bread the fastest. We judged the toast itself on its top-to-bottom and side-to-side evenness, and we evaluated the accurateness of the shade settings—would virtually breakfast eaters consider these results to be medium, or besides light, or too burned? We besides fleck into the toast to evaluate its texture and taste, looking for slices that had a lightly charred and crispy outside and a warm interior that didn't feel too dried out or stiff.

For our 2020 update, we revised our testing approach slightly—we toasted bread on the medium-shade setting in dorsum-to-back timed sequences, post-obit the same procedure used past the Clan of Home Appliance Manufacturers. Nosotros toasted half-dozen batches of bread, allowing the toasters to balance for a dissimilar amount of time between each batch. In order, the toasters rested xv seconds, 60 seconds, fifteen seconds, 6 minutes, and, finally, 11 minutes. This revealed how well the toasters regulated their temperature from batch to batch. Additionally, we toasted bread on each model's low-, medium-, and high-shade settings. Nosotros also added sourdough bread to the mix of carbs we toasted to run into if the tall slices fit into the slots.

A large wire rack filled with golden toast slices, each row marked with a blue post-it note the a toaster model.

Here nosotros show toast from five models that consistently produced golden-dark-brown toast in three back-to-back batches (but we think the Breville Smart Touch is a flake too pricey given toasters' lifespans, and the Cuisinart Art View is discontinued). Photograph: Michael Hession

We tried each toaster's bagel mode using Murray's everything bagels, which nosotros chose because they're fluffier and thicker than traditional New York–style bagels and would show us where the toasters' slot widths hit their limit. (We used Thomas'south bagels for our 2020 and 2021 updates considering it was too difficult to get Murray'southward bagels while testing remotely during the pandemic.) We wanted the results to resemble what you'd get from a deli conveyor belt—lightly toasted on the rounded side and nicely browned on the cut side. We tested the toasters' frozen modes using Eggo waffles. The waffles, we hoped, would come out crispy and brownish but not scorched or soggy. We toasted English language muffins to run across which toasters fabricated it easiest to retrieve them without having to stick our fingers in the heated slots. We also emptied each model's crumb tray and noted how easy each was to clean. And we took a expect at the size of each model relative to others in its class.

The Cuisinart CPT-122 2-Slice Compact Plastic Toaster, our pick for best toaster, loaded with toast slices and flanked by a plate of stacked toast.

Photo: Michael Hession

Our selection

Cuisinart CPT-122 2-Slice Compact Plastic Toaster

Cuisinart CPT-142 4-Slice Compact Plastic Toaster

The 2-slot Cuisinart CPT-122 2-Slice Compact Plastic Toaster and its four-slot counterpart, the CPT-142 4-Slice Compact Plastic Toaster, produce the best toast for your coin, hands down. These cheap toasters browned breadstuff, bagels, and waffles better than all of the competition in their price range. Different some other cheap toasters, the Cuisinarts have slots that are wide enough to fit thick, hand-cutting bagels without requiring you to push button them down yourself. The plastic controls offer a broad range of toasting settings and feel sturdier than the plastic dials and knobs on some other toasters we tested. According to the research done by Ohio State, the Cuisinart toasters' heating elements were slightly more than corrosion-resistant than the Breville's, which is surprising since the two-slot Cuisinart is commonly about $forty cheaper (though electrical malfunctions are probably more likely to crusade failure than the heating elements). The ii-slot Cuisinart is too one of the tiniest toasters nosotros tested, making it ideal for kitchens with limited counter space.

We've tested multiple models of both Cuisinarts over the years, and they consistently toasted evenly from top to bottom and slot to slot, even after we made back-to-back batches. They beautifully browned the unabridged slice of Wonder bread, whereas other toasters, like the Osters or Hamilton Beaches we tested, left unappetizing raw halos on peak. When we filled every slot, the four-slot model made slightly lighter toast than the ii-slot, but you tin easily fix this by turning up the toasting punch. Past comparison, all other similarly priced toasters—and even some pricier machines—left staff of life even whiter and patchier.

In several successive batches, both Cuisinarts produced toast in pretty like shades of dark-brown, which is a rare feat for a toaster $50 and under. The medium setting on both Cuisinarts also popped out a fully washed piece of toast after one minute 20 seconds—near half the time it took our previous top pick, the Oster Jelly Bean (at two minutes 20 seconds).

Two toast slices side by side on a wire rack, the one on the right showing pale, untoasted sections, with blue labels showing the toaster brand use .

The 2-slice Cuisinart toasted the entire slice of Wonder bread; our previous pick, the Oster Jelly Edible bean, left raw stripes and tops. Photo: Michael Hession

Even though the Cuisinart toasters' bagel setting just adds extra fourth dimension to the toasting cycle without lowering the heat on the exterior of the bagel, information technology evenly browned a thick bagel without burning the sesame seeds on the exterior. Some models, such equally the Blackness + Decker T2707S 2-Slice Toaster and the Hamilton Embankment Keep Warm, left bagels stake white on either side. And the defrost setting on both Cuisinarts produced Eggo waffles that were crispy on the exterior but soft and moist on the inside.

The slots on the Cuisinarts were wider and deeper than those on most other toasters we tested. They easily accommodated the puffiest Murray's bagels, and we didn't accept to force each half down into the machine, equally nosotros did with many other toasters. Also, the "high lift" feature on the lever allows you lot to elevator smaller items similar English language muffins out of the slots without called-for your fingertips.

The Cuisinart toasters' buttons sit down adjacent to printed labels, which means y'all're unlikely to rub the labels off with your fingers. Photo: Michael Hession

The controls on both Cuisinarts are simple. There's a knob that adjusts the darkness of the toast (from 1 to 7) and buttons that let you select the mode or cancel the toast cycle. The knob'southward settings are accurate, which means setting the dial to three volition produce toast that'southward golden brown. They also have buttons to reheat and defrost your toast, also as a bagel setting. All the parts you touch and twist stay cool, and they also feel sturdier than the moving parts of other toasters. We didn't like that you lot could really wiggle the punch of the Hamilton Beach Classic Chrome 2-Slice Toaster or the Black + Decker T2707S 2-Piece Toaster. And neither Cuisinart felt hot to the bear on, fifty-fifty afterward multiple rounds of toasting, which wasn't truthful of some of the metal toasters we tested.

Though the Cuisinarts toasted better than other models in the same price range, they aren't perfect, and results may vary depending on what yous're toasting. We used Wonder staff of life—which is practically engineered to toast evenly—for our dorsum-to-back tests, following the same procedure used past the Association of Home Apparatus Manufacturers. However, some of our long term testers were frustrated by uneven results. Upon retesting, we constitute the Cuisinart yet performed besides as it did during our earlier tests, but it was important to suit settings for different items (this is true of any toaster). For instance, English muffins had the most decent color on settings 5.five to vii, while bagels reached a nice gold brown between settings 2.5 and iii.5. Finding the optimal settings for each carb will vary depending on your preferences, so it will have some trial and error to find out what you like best.

Two parallel rows of golden toast, with yellow flags marking the length of time each batch was toasted plus a label with the Cuisinart model number.

The Cuisinart toasted very evenly from batch to batch, which is unusual for such a cheap model. Photo: Michael Sullivan

According to the assay done by Ohio State, the Cuisinart toasters' mechanisms for timing and popping up toast were like to those of the Breville BTA720XL Scrap More Toaster, our upgrade pick (which costs virtually $40 more). Thermal data showed that the Cuisinarts heated upward faster and reached higher temperatures, whereas the Breville took longer to toast but had better temperature stability overall. And though the Cuisinarts have slightly more brittle heating elements than the Breville, they're slightly more than resistant to corrosion because they contain more than chromium and aluminum. (Based on our research, nosotros believe the heating elements in both appliances are probably made well enough to final at to the lowest degree five years. Corrosion will cause heating elements to become more brittle over time, so it'southward best to avoid shaking or tapping a toaster, or sticking a utensil into any model. Also go along in mind that circuitry may exist more decumbent to failure than the elements, which is why, when you're deciding what to spend, we'd banking concern on getting only five years out of your toaster.)

The Cuisinarts have a simple, boxy design, and so the two-slot version takes up less space than some of the flashier toasters we tested, like our previous runner-upwardly, the space-inefficient Cuisinart CPT-3000 ViewPro Glass ii-Piece Toaster (which is now discontinued). If you have a small kitchen and your counter infinite is at a premium, the Cuisinart ii-piece is the way to go. The four-slice Cuisinart is but four inches wider than the two-slice model.

Cleaning and maintaining both Cuisinarts is every bit simple as sliding out the removable crumb tray and wiping information technology clean (like to other models we tested). The Cuisinarts come with a limited three-year warranty; merely the expensive Magimix matches it for having the longest warranty of any toaster we tested. Our two-slot upgrade option from Breville comes with a one-year warranty.

We've used the Cuisinart CPT-122 in our Wirecutter examination kitchen since March 2018 (though it hasn't been touched since March 2020, when our office closed due to the pandemic). It's probably gotten less use than it would go at home, but the toaster has held up well so far. All of the printing is still intact, and none of the labels testify any signs of wearing off.

The two Cuisinart toasters accept near no flaws in toasting, bated from occasionally leaving slim pale lines around the edges. But even though you can see these pale edges, they're then small-scale that you won't notice any deviation in crunch when y'all're eating your toast.

The Cuisinart toasters' plastic levers may be less durable than metal over time, but virtually stainless steel–bodied toasters we tested as well had plastic levers. The labels printed side by side to the buttons may wear away, simply, again, nearly toasters we looked at had a like issue. And these labels should concluding longer than the ones printed straight on the buttons of other toasters (like the Oster Jelly Edible bean or the Hamilton Beach Go along Warm), where buttery fingers may constantly be pressing.

Unlike the 1 on the Breville, the bagel setting on the Cuisinarts only adds time to the toasting bike, without lowering the heat on the outside of the bagel. Although this browns a bagel better than a regular toasting cycle, the Breville's thoughtfully designed, side-specific bagel setting produces a improve bagel, with a crisp cutting edge and a chewy eye.

And while the Cuisinart models' toasting intensity remained impressively consistent beyond multiple batches of breadstuff, nosotros still recommend adjusting the settings to compensate for the inevitable buildup of heat when making back-to-dorsum toast. When the second batch starts, plough the rut downwardly half a level from your normal setting. The only toasters that came close to fully compensating for that heat buildup were the Breville BTA720XL (our upgrade pick) and the Breville BTA840XL Die-Cast 4-Slice Smart Toaster, both of which produced well-nigh identical pieces of toast from the outset to third batch.

A number of reviewers on Amazon complain that their Cuisinart didn't toast evenly or failed later on a short menstruum. And although about 90% of the 12,000-plus reviews on Amazon give the two-slice Cuisinart four or v stars, we can't hope that you lot won't come across one of these issues. Unfortunately, that seems to be the example for just about any toaster. But Cuisinart'southward iii-year warranty at to the lowest degree gives yous an added level of insurance that most other models don't offer.

The stainless steel Breville BTA720XL with two pieces of toast in it.

Photo: Michael Hession

Upgrade pick

Breville BTA720XL Bit More Toaster

The 2-piece Breville BTA720XL Fleck More Toaster is a handsome, sturdy machine that toasts better than any other model we tested—with the exception of the fifty-fifty pricier Breville BTA840XL Die-Bandage iv-Slice Smart Toaster. Though information technology'southward well-nigh twice the price of our two-slice top choice, we constitute that the Breville Bit More toasts bread and bagels more evenly, with no traces of pale edges. The Bit More also offers more than flexible toasting options than our acme-pick Cuisinarts. It allows you to check the degree of doneness mid-toast and offers the option to add 30 seconds more to the toasting cycle. Also, the Breville's steel casing has a classic expect that would fit the aesthetic of almost any kitchen. That said, testing done by Ohio State revealed that fifty-fifty though the toaster itself is well constructed, the Breville's heating elements weren't as corrosion-resistant as those of the Cuisinarts (however, in either appliance, the electrical components are probably more than susceptible to failure than the heating elements). And although the Breville has more-complex circuitry than the Cuisinarts, the quality isn't necessarily better, then it may not terminal longer.

Magenta, orange, and white image showing the hottest parts of the Breville BTA720XL Bit More Toaster's heating element.

The Breville Bit More'south thoughtful toasting buttons make it easy to brown a perfect bagel or popular a nearly washed piece dorsum in for 30 more than seconds. Photo: The Ohio State University

The Breville toasts more than evenly than our top-choice Cuisinarts, with uniform browning from top to bottom. Although the Cuisinart toasters would occasionally plough out toast with pale borders, the Breville'southward toast emerged an fifty-fifty, gold brown from chaff to eye. This may be because the Breville heats up slower and has better temperature stability for more of the toasting bike than the Cuisinarts (something Ohio State determined in its testing). But this doesn't mean the Breville's heating elements are better than those of the Cuisinarts. Even though the Breville's heating elements are slightly less brittle than the Cuisinart toasters', they're slightly more than susceptible to corrosion (peculiarly if you live in a boiling climate or toast a lot of frozen bread or waffles) considering they comprise less chromium and aluminum. As with any toaster, to keep the heating elements intact, you should avert shaking or banging the machine (say, to remove crumbs). Simply over again, electrical failures are probably more than likely to occur earlier the heating elements neglect in either model.

Compared with the bagel setting on the Cuisinarts, the Breville's more-avant-garde bagel setting produces a meliorate toasted bagel, past increasing the rut to the inner heating elements; this ensures the bagel volition accept a nicely darkened cut side and a round side that'due south warmed but not overdone. The Breville also has a helpful printed icon on the elevation of the toaster to show you which management to insert a sliced bagel. (On the Cuisinarts, it doesn't matter which way you point the slices, since the bagel setting just extends the toasting time.) The Breville also stays cool to the touch fifty-fifty after multiple rounds of toasting, unlike the steel toasters from Oster or Hamilton Embankment.

toasters breville bta720xl controls a bit more button

The Breville Bit More's thoughtful toasting buttons arrive easy to dark-brown a perfect bagel or popular a nearly done piece back in for 30 more seconds. Photo: Michael Hession

Spending the extra money for the Breville also gets you two features the other toasters in our tests didn't have: Breville markets them as the "Elevator & Look" lever and the "A Scrap More" push button. They're accurately named. "Lift & Look" lets y'all heighten the lever to pull the bread all the mode up, so y'all can peek at your slice without interrupting the toasting bike. If it's non washed to your satisfaction, the heat stays on and you lot can lower the lever to finish toasting. The toaster'south namesake "A Bit More than" button lets you add a xxx-second follow-up round to finish any underdone toast. The Breville too beeps to alarm you when your toast is prepare. (You tin can adjust the volume or mute this feature by post-obit the directions in the user manual.)

Although the Cuisinart CPT-122 made near perfect toast with the occasional white spot or edge, the Breville Bit More toasted more than evenly from border to border. Photo: Michael Hession

According to Ohio State, the Breville has a more-robust structure with more fasteners than the Cuisinart. It besides has all-encompassing circuitry for its boosted features and more wiring for the LED brandish and "pop-up"  features, all of which adds to its cost. More wiring could mean there's greater potential for premature failure, though it's hard to say definitively since many factors tin contribute to malfunction. We'd but recommend getting the Breville if these additional features, or the Breville'south overall expect or functioning, really thing to you. The Breville is covered by a one-year limited warranty; this is standard for most toasters, only it's not as long as the 3-year warranty roofing the Cuisinarts.

Signe Brewster and Michael Sullivan take used the Breville toaster in their homes since about October 2018 and March 2018, respectively, and both study that it's still working well. Signe said, "Information technology'due south easy to clean, looks bully, and has well-designed buttons. I also really love that the plug has a hole in it for easy grabbing—a overnice touch when you plug/unplug it in one case a day." (That plug is a patented invention of Breville's; you'll find it on all of the visitor'due south appliances.) Both Signe and Michael said they wish the toaster offered a bit more lift. But equally a solution, Michael recommends using mini tongs to rescue stuck pieces of toast (just exist careful non to hitting the heating elements, since this could damage them).

To help us understand why modernistic toasters seem to fail and so rapidly or start to toast unevenly over time, we wanted to compare them to vintage toasters, which historically have had much longer lifespans—in fact, many of them are notwithstanding working today. We sent several vintage toasters from most 1918 through the 1930s, along with our pick, the Cuisinart CPT-122 ii-Piece Compact Plastic Toaster, and our upgrade option, the Breville BTA720XL Fleck More Toaster (ii-Slice), to the students in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at The Ohio State University. They broke apart each toaster to compare their structural design, wiring, thermal output, and heating chemical element alloys.

The new and vintage toasters used for analysis at Ohio Land University. Photo: Ohio State University

You can read more near their in-depth piece of work (and encounter more than photos of the insides of toasters) in our web log postal service, but there were a few master takeaways. For one, they confirmed that the vintage toasters' heating elements were stronger and less breakable than the modern toasters' elements. They also establish, surprisingly, that the Breville's heating elements weren't as corrosion resistant as the Cuisinart's, even though the 2-slot Cuisinart toaster costs almost $twoscore less. That said, the researchers also told united states of america it would exist unlikely for the heating elements to exist the main (or but) crusade of malfunction. Modern toasters also have much more circuitous electric connections than toasters of former, and those connections can break with a little rough treatment (say, if you milkshake the toaster to get crumbs out). With that in listen, nosotros'd expect modern toasters to last about 5 years (it could be longer or shorter, merely the lifespan depends on how well the various components concur upwards).

Although we're unable to run this level of assay on every new toaster we test, based on a combination of Ohio Country'southward testing, reader feedback, and client reviews online, nosotros suspect the materials and quality of construction in the Cuisinart and Breville are fairly standard for most modern toasters. While it's difficult to pinpoint what causes any given toaster to fail, one thing seems certain—a $100 toaster is unlikely to final you much longer than a less expensive one.

Two-slot toasters

Two parallel rows of toast, with yellow flags marking the length of time each batch was toasted plus a label with the Cuisinart CPT-T20 model number.

The Cuisinart CPT-T20 2-Slice Touchscreen Toaster didn't toast every bit consistently as our picks. Photo: Michael Sullivan

The heating elements on the Breville BTA735BSS the Toast Select Luxe weren't consistently flush with the interior, and sections of them didn't fully illuminate. The lift lever didn't raise toast as high as our picks did, and the toast shade wasn't as even from edge to edge. The top and sides of this model go very hot when it's operating, so we wouldn't recommend it if yous have young kids at domicile.

We liked the digital-countdown feature on the All-Clad TJ822D51 Digital 2-Slice Toaster, merely the heating elements weren't consistently illuminated, and the bottom edges of our bread didn't go fully toasted. This model isn't weighted as much every bit some of the others we tested, and then if you apply too much pressure when pressing downwards the lever, the entire toaster tips forward.

We liked the look of the Zwilling Enfinigy ii-Slot Toaster, but the controls are labeled with symbols rather than words, making this model less intuitive to use out of the box. It also toasted inconsistently from batch to batch.

Two parallel rows of toast, with yellow flags marking the length of time each batch was toasted plus a label marking the Zwilling brand.

The Zwilling Enfinigy 2-Slot Toaster didn't toast consistently on the aforementioned setting from batch to batch. Photo: Michael Sullivan

Initially, we liked the design of the Dash DVTS501 Clear View ii-Slice Toaster, which allows you to toast a long slice of sourdough bread. Unfortunately, nosotros institute its long, slender shape awkward to apply and not conducive to every infinite. Similar the Zwilling, this model toasted inconsistently from batch to batch and completely failed to toast during one round of our back-to-dorsum tests. Occasionally, it popped toast out of the slots and so aggressively that they ended upward on the flooring.

Two parallel rows of toast, with yellow flags marking the length of time each batch was toasted plus a label marking the Dash brand.

The Nuance DVTS501 Clear View ii-Slice Toaster was wildly inconsistent in our tests. Photo: Michael Sullivan

Although our previous two-slot pick, the Oster Jelly Edible bean (an older version of the Oster ii-Slice Toaster), even so browned staff of life amend than virtually other budget toasters, information technology paled in comparison with the Cuisinart. Despite having slots that are deeper than those of the Black + Decker and Hamilton Beach toasters we tested, the Jelly Bean still left pure white crowns on otherwise nicely toasted breadstuff. These white tops get even bigger if you lot forget to push the breadstuff down as far as information technology volition go in the slot—something we institute irritating and hard to recollect.

The shiny chrome Dualit NewGen toaster, a model we tested to find the best toaster, next to a plate of toast showing burnt and raw stripes.

The bulky Dualit 2-Slice NewGen'due south limited toasting punch produced toast that was either too night or likewise calorie-free. Photo: Michael Hession

Although in past years we avoided models that cost more than $200, for our 2018 update we tested two pop luxury toasters to see what all the hype was virtually. The Dualit 2-Slice NewGen Toaster looked similar a steely fortress that could toast well beyond the average human lifespan, just its limited, analog settings fabricated it hard and unwieldy to use. The Dualit's toasting dial has simply four levels, and in our tests we couldn't notice ane setting that produced aureate-chocolate-brown toast. You take to manually retrieve toast from the Dualit—it will non pop up on its own, and there'southward no timer racket. This model also took upwardly well-nigh twice as much counter space equally some of the smaller toasters.

Two glass front toaster models that we tested to find the best toaster, with their respective plates of toast in front of each.

The glass-paneled Magimix toasted less evenly than the now-discontinued Cuisinart ViewPro, leaving big white patches and burnt edges. Photo: Michael Hession

We as well tested the $250 Magimix, which has glass sides that allow y'all to watch your bread plow into toast. Like the Dualit, the Magimix is inconveniently large for a two-slice toaster. The Magimix did produce more often than not even toast, but each piece had a few white streaks effectually the elevation and bottom. When filled with two slices, the Magimix's long-slot design produced toast with white edges and patchy, overly toasted centers.

The Oster TSSTTRWF2S Brushed Stainless Steel two-Slice Toaster browned bread evenly between batches, simply all pieces came out with a raw, white peak. When nosotros peeked into the slots, we saw the toaster had crooked heating elements that stopped partway upward the walls of the toaster (which could be reason). The toaster also became too hot to touch after multiple rounds of toasting.

Though it was a company best-seller when we tested it in 2018, the Hamilton Beach Proceed Warm two-Slice Toaster (22816) gave united states of america pale bagels and streaky toast with white tops. The toaster also beeps loudly three times before your toast pops up, which gets annoying fast.

The Black + Decker T2707S 2-Slice Toaster left slices of toast soft and pallid. Even at darker heating levels, the toaster didn't reach the top of the breadstuff, resulting in doughy white crowns.

The Krups KH732D 2-Slice Toaster did poorly in only about all of our tests. Its chrome exterior is wrapped around a inexpensive, lightweight interior frame that doesn't sit securely on a countertop. If you push the lever to bring the toast up to the tiptop, the motorcar tips over.

Four-slot toasters

The Breville BTA840XL Die-Cast 4-Piece Smart Toaster was hands downward the all-time toaster we tested, but we're not confident information technology volition last long enough to justify its exorbitant cost. The model we've been long-term testing since 2018 is nevertheless working well. Still, we've read customer reviews that say information technology fails prematurely, so we're hesitant to recommend it, peculiarly since it costs $180 (at the time of writing). It has the same functionality as our two-slot Breville choice, the Bit More, as well as a button that automatically lifts and lowers your toast (this might be nicer in theory than it is in exercise, since pressing a lever would exist faster than waiting for your toast to lower). Nosotros preferred this toaster over the 4-slice version of the Breville Chip More (the BTA730XL), which has two long slots that did not toast equally evenly. The Smart Toaster is more expensive and volition take up a considerable chunk of your countertop. But its exterior is built like a tank, and it offers more than features than any other two- or four-slot model we considered.

The iv-slice, long-slot Breville Bit More than BTA730XL was 1 of the few models nosotros tried that was able to swallow an entire oval slice of rustic sourdough without any of the bread sticking out of the slot. Unfortunately, information technology overcooked white bread on its heart setting.

The Oster TSSTTRWF4S-SHP 4-Slice Toaster, our one-time iv-slice pick, toasted bread even more irregularly than its two-slice cousin. When nosotros toasted ii rounds of breadstuff on the same setting, the second batch inexplicably turned out lighter than the start.

Special cheers to the Heart for Electron Microscopy and Analysis (CEMAS) at The Ohio State University for allowing students to use the electron microscopy and 10-ray spectroscopy to determine the limerick of the toaster heating elements.

  1. Phil McKnight, global business manager for drinkable products at Breville , interview , May one, 2015

  2. Eric Murrell, publications chair and former newsletter editor at the Toaster Collectors Association , phone interviews, May 1, 2015, and Oct 22, 2020

  3. Peter Reinhart, baker and author, interview , May 1, 2015

  4. Michael Sheafe, toaster repair person, phone interviews, November 22, 2017, and November 4, 2020

  5. Hugh Rushing, former executive vice president of the Cookware Manufacturers Association, phone interview , October xx, 2020

  6. Glenn Daehn, Mars G. Fontana professor of metallurgical engineering science, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, The Ohio Country University, telephone interview , October 20, 2020

  7. Department of Materials Science and Engineering at The Ohio State University, associate professor of practice Elvin Beach and students Luke Ciccone, Sara Cohen, Bryan Crossman, John Roehrs, Nicole Sturgeon, Joel Swartzentruber, and Xianhao Zhang, October thirty, 2020, through Feb iii, 2021

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Source: https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/best-toaster/

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