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The best toasters should be able to do one thing well: brown bread evenly and the same way in each slot. The best toasters can also fit sliced bagels, thaw frozen waffles quickly, and pop up English muffins with enough force that you don’t have to use a knife to get them out. Toast is a staple food all over the country.
It can be eaten at almost any time of day and with almost any meal. Some cooks buy expensive toaster ovens, but most of us just use a simple toaster. We all know how important it is to have a toaster that can toast bread quickly and well without taking up too much space on our countertops. but which one is the best? To find out, we put toasters and bread to the test.
Best Toasters
Cuisinart CPT-720 2-Slice Digital Toaster
Features
Here’s a toaster that can toast white, grain, bagel, sweet, waffle, English muffin, and gluten-free bread. It also has a memory button that lets you remember how you like your toast to be done. We liked that the LCD display has a countdown so you know exactly how long you have to wait until the toaster pops.
The defrost cycle is longer, so it not only thaws your bread but also toasts it to the level of doneness you want. The one-slice function makes sure that the temperature gauge adjusts so that one slice of bread toasts just long enough to get a nice golden colour.
Pros
- Defrost and Single Slice options
- High-lift lever for easy bread removal
- Unique sleek aesthetic with full stainless steel housing
Cons
- Different bread options not available
KitchenAid 4-Slice Toaster
Features
We’ve had this KitchenAid toaster for almost a year, and it’s the one we use the most. We use it at least three times a week and sometimes twice a day when we don’t feel like cooking. The first time we pulled down the lever, it made perfectly golden toast.
It has five browning settings, and each one is different. Setting 1 gives you just a hint of blonde, while setting 5 makes your hair look like it’s been burned. We like a 2, which makes the perfect sundown shade we talked about above, whether I put in a slice of brown multigrain bread from the bag or a hand-cut piece of ciabatta.
Pros
- Sleek and stylish
- Versatile functions
- Sophisticated technology
Cons
- Large footprint
- Expensive
Black+Decker 2-Slice Extra-Wide Slot Toaster
Features
Alexandra Shytsman, who makes recipes and started the blog The New Baguette, told us about this Black+Decker toaster. Even though this toaster doesn’t have as many bells and whistles as others, Shytsman has kept it on his counter for more than two years because it works well. It’s small but powerful.
Its extra-wide slots work as advertised, and Shytsman puts everything from thicker-cut bagels to Ezekiel bread inside. The self-centering slots make sure that the toasting is even, and like our pick for best overall toaster, the Black+Decker has a lever that lets Shytsman take out smaller items like English muffins without having to use a tong.
Pros
- Accommodates oversized slice of bread
- Toast and English muffins pop up high enough to grab easily
- Bagel and frozen settings
- Crumb tray is removable
Cons
- Slow at toasting
- Top of the toaster between the slices gets excessively hot
Hamilton Beach Brushed Stainless Steel Toaster
Features
This Hamilton Beach model is very simple and cheap, and you can choose from seven shades of toast. Papantoniou loves that the exterior is stainless steel, which makes it look a bit more elegant than most basic toasters, which are usually made of plastic.
This model doesn’t have different settings for different kinds of bread like the Cuisinart model above, but it does have extra-wide slots for thick-cut Texas toast or bagels. This model also has cool-touch sides that keep people from getting burned.
Pros
- Seven toast shade options
- Extra-wide toast slots
Cons
- Different bread options not available
KRUPS KH3110 Savoy Toaster
Features
This black and stainless steel model toasts white bread to a light golden colour and rye bread to a darker brown colour every time. It’s also great for parties because it can toast up to four pieces of bread at once, and if there are a lot of people at the table, it will toast each piece to the same level of doneness without burning by the second or third batch.
This model has two separate control panels, so you can toast a frozen bagel on one side and a fresh piece of whole grain bread on the other, and both will be done at the right time. There are also six settings for browning, as well as defrost, reheat, and bagel. Smaller pieces of toast are easier to get to with a high lift lever.
Pros
- High toast capacity
- Consistently toasts bread evenly
- Has defrost feature for frozen bread
Cons
- Toasted slower than other models we tested
Breville Die-Cast Two-Slice Smart Toaster
Features
The Breville Die-Cast Two-Slice Toaster won our test, but it’s not our best overall pick because you probably don’t need to spend this much on a toaster. Still, if you like toast that stays the same, it’s a great toaster. We made five batches of toast one after the other, and each batch turned out the same.
If you push a button, the grates will lower your toast without you having to move a lever. It also has slots that are wider than usual so that bagels and thicker slices of bread can fit. We liked the “Lift and Look” setting because it lets you see how your toast is coming along. If it’s not browned enough, you can use the “A Bit More” setting to add more time.
Pros
- Consistently produces evenly toasted bread
- Extra-wide slots for bagels
Cons
- Pricier than some other toasters
FAQs
Are expensive toasters better?
We took the prices of all the toasters we reviewed in June 2022 and plotted them against their CHOICE Expert Rating. We found that the price of a toaster has nothing to do with how well it scored. This means that you can’t tell if a toaster is good just by looking at its price.
Does anybody make a good toaster?
The Cuisinart CPT-122 2-Slice Compact Plastic Toaster and its four-slot version, the Cuisinart CPT-142 4-Slice Compact Plastic Toaster, made some of the best, most evenly browned bread of all the toasters we tested. This was true in multiple rounds of testing over several years, with more than one of the.
Is Philips toaster good?
Philips toasters are very well made and have a lot of features. The Dutch company Philips makes consumer electronics, lighting, cosmetics, and medical equipment.
Which is better a 2 slice or 4 slice toaster?
If you have a big family or toast a lot, you should get a four-slice toaster. They are usually more stable than two-slice toasters because they are bigger and heavier. Usually, you can toast two slices at a time if you don’t need all four slots.