Any reasonable toaster recommendations?


 

Timothy F. Lewis

TVWBB 1-Star Olympian
I have been forcing myself to continue using my, probably 20year old Bosch toaster with a broken lever for a couple years longer than I will admit but, I don’t see any toasters out there that look like they are worth spit! Does anyone have any recommendations? I think I’d like a four slicer, there are times...
 
Thanks guys,
I hate the fact that they are indeed “throwaways“ anymore! But it’s true.
The Bosch slide knob has been broken for over ten years and I’ve just accepted it. Wife has a hard time with it. And we all know, “When wife ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy!”
 
I bought an older model of this unit. The levers break constantly. Nobody in my house is rough on them. It's simply a design flaw. I'd stay away from Kitchenaid.
 
Beyond the throwaway aspect, I find the biggest issue is most of them simply don't do a good job on the single function for which they were designed. I want toast that's even top to bottom, left to right, and on both sides. As long as it doesn't take ten minutes for a single piece of whole wheat toast, I don't even care that much about the time involved. Yet it's virtually impossible to find a toaster that will do this for under $150.

A couple years ago I bought a Dash toaster that uses two ceramic heating bars on each side of the toast. It has one rather significant design flaw that I was able to overcome by bypassing a safety feature (not a big deal). The bigger issue is that after it was out of warranty I discovered it was actually defective. The elements near the top of the toaster are supposed to operate at less intensity than those near the bottom. Too late I discovered the top front one was going full blast and this results in toast that's burned on one side at the top, particularly if you like it darker as I do. So now I have to let it toast for a while, manually pop up the toast, turn the slices over and swap sides, then push the lever down again to finish the job. PITA. If not for the manufacturing defect I suspect it would do a decent job. It's only a two-slice model though.
 
I agree, if the thing actually works, and holds up, I’ll pay the money. Most are just dung and a waste of money. That’s why I’m happy to get a little input from more people. Thanks everyone, no decisions yet, something will come along.
 
I agree, if the thing actually works, and holds up, I’ll pay the money. Most are just dung and a waste of money. That’s why I’m happy to get a little input from more people. Thanks everyone, no decisions yet, something will come along.

you don't like the Panasonic? It's the perfect toaster imo. Do I need to post a pic of some toast?

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I got in the mood & made a couple slices - it fits 4 easily, & should do 4 of the more gourmet slices.....I think.

This is after ~2 minutes, it's the medium setting:

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side a
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side b (not sure if top or bottom)
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butter :)
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raspberry jam
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seriously a wonderful toaster, but I prefer my gas convection oven for any oven-type-baking food.
 
I'm perhaps setting my standards too high, but side B doesn't look even to me. Clearly much darker in the center than toward the edges of the bread. Perhaps that's a fault of the bread, maybe it was bowed in the center. The B side is also noticeably darker than the A side.
 
I'm perhaps setting my standards too high, but side B doesn't look even to me. Clearly much darker in the center than toward the edges of the bread. Perhaps that's a fault of the bread, maybe it was bowed in the center. The B side is also noticeably darker than the A side.

blame my camera (phone/flash) it was perfect. It's my go-to store-bought loaf: grandma sycamore's sunflower & honey

b was also the bottom, the lines are the grate marks.
 
If you don't mind paying the cash, check out restaurant quality toasters. Had an old Hobart at one time which worked flawlessly.

Tim
 
We just got this Breville yesterday and saved 20% with the EBay code shared on here. I know you said you don't have the room for a toaster oven but this model is smaller than most, and they also sell one that is smaller than this. I really like the optional cutting board made specifically for this model so you can keep stuff on top of it even while it's hot.

 
We just got this Breville yesterday and saved 20% with the EBay code shared on here. I know you said you don't have the room for a toaster oven but this model is smaller than most, and they also sell one that is smaller than this. I really like the optional cutting board made specifically for this model so you can keep stuff on top of it even while it's hot.


someone set a hot glue stick that was on my counter on top of my old toaster oven - I caught it about midway... WTH is that??/ohhhh

I looked at the Brevilles one a few times - I hope you like it.
 
I looked at the Brevilles one a few times - I hope you like it.

So far so good. I like the timer on it. The wife wanted a high end brand which translates to more $'s. This one would have been $150 from Amazon. I found it on EBay NIB and used the 20% coupon, got it for $85. The Breville cutting board was another $30, so all in for $115, happy about the savings.
 
So far so good. I like the timer on it. The wife wanted a high end brand which translates to more $'s. This one would have been $150 from Amazon. I found it on EBay NIB and used the 20% coupon, got it for $85. The Breville cutting board was another $30, so all in for $115, happy about the savings.

I missed the ebay coupon - LMK if it's still good!

Have you happened to time how long it takes to make toast? I know those quartz elements are supposed to be much faster. My other toaster oven takes ~7 minutes for "med" so I'd go medium, medium (6 slices, ~14 min), & then make my sandwiches,,,,,which was kind of a PITA because sometimes I'd miss the timer & have to go at it... Nice having it ready in 2 minutes.

There's an updated model of the Panasonic (iirc) but that one cost more than I wanted to spend
 
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I missed the ebay coupon - LMK if it's still good!

Have you happened to time how long it takes to make toast? I know those quartz elements are supposed to be much faster. My other toaster oven takes ~7 minutes for "med" so I'd go medium, medium (6 slices, ~14 min), & then make my sandwiches,,,,,which was kind of a PITA because sometimes I'd miss the timer & have to go at it... Nice having it ready in 2 minutes.

There's an updated model of the Panasonic (iirc) but that one cost more than I wanted to spend

The coupon was one day only. I haven't timed the toast yet, I'll let you know tomorrow. I've made English muffins, an acorn squash and a frozen pizza for my daughter. It worked great on everything so far. I hope it doesn't take too long for toast, we made the decision to remove the pop-up toaster from the kitchen to de-clutter some.
 
Clint, 3 to 3.5 minutes for toast depending on how dark you like it. I know this because once you start it the countdown timer is displayed.
 

 

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