The toaster is one of the most iconic countertop kitchen appliances, and it is rightly so. This can be seen in the popularity of breakfast toasts worldwide. Apart from breakfast, toasts can also be served with a wide variety of toppings for different occasions. There is hardly any individual that does not like toast, and this makes any toaster, a welcome appliance in most homes.
Whether you like your toasts plain, or you like to be a little creative is up to you, but when it comes to purchasing the toaster itself, there are a few functions to watch out for, so that you can get the best out of the machine. The major functions and features are listed below.
Defrost: This function is used to first defrost frozen bread, then secondly, toast it.
Reheat: This makes it possible to re-heat a toast without further darkening it.
Bagel: Bagels are traditionally crispy on one side, and soft on the other. This function makes your toast or bagel crispy on only one side.
Cancel: This cancels all toasting operations.
Lift: Some toasters offer a motorized lift function, while others offer an extra lift, so you can toast smaller pieces of bread.
Wide Slots: These enable you to toast other thicker kinds of breads and bagels.
Toast Level: This is the setting for how brown or crunchy that you want your toast.
Power Consumption: If you are green, you may want to choose a 900Watt toaster over a 2,000 Watt one.
Contents
- 1 10. Hamilton Beach Toast-station with Mini Oven
- 2 9. Disney Red Toaster with Mickey Mouse Imprint
- 3 8. West Bend Breakfast Toaster with Steaming and Poaching Function
- 4 7. BLACK+DECKER 2 Slice Toaster
- 5 6. BELLA LINEA Polished 2 Slice Toaster
- 6 5. BLACK+DECKER Extra-Wide 4 Slot Toaster
- 7 4. Star Wars Darth Vader Toaster
- 8 3. Oster 4 Slice Stainless Steel Toaster
- 9 2. BLACK+DECKER 4 Slice Toaster Oven
- 10 1. Cuisinart White Plastic Toaster
10. Hamilton Beach Toast-station with Mini Oven
The 22708 Toast-station from Hamilton Beach is a 2-in-1 toaster and oven, perfect for people who need to save counter-top space in their kitchens. It features a 2 slice toaster on top, with a 1.5 inch (3.8cm) slot, wide enough for bagels too. Below the toaster is the mini oven, with enough space for 2 16 inch (40cm) pizzas. Both the oven and the toaster functions are controlled electronically, and combined, they enable you to cook or re-heat a wider variety of foods, including chicken nuggets, sandwiches, garlic bread e.t.c.
9. Disney Red Toaster with Mickey Mouse Imprint
Mickey mouse has come a long way. Although not as popular today as in the early days of Walt Disney, Mickey Mouse remains a popular international icon. This toaster with its bright red color with liven up your kitchen. It has rubber feet to prevent skidding, a high rising toast-lift, and adjustable toast control. Additionally, it makes mickey marks on your toast, so that you and you loved ones can always have something exciting to bite into.
8. West Bend Breakfast Toaster with Steaming and Poaching Function
This Breakfast machine comes with everything you need to make your breakfast preparation a breeze. It’s even more useful for bigger families, with its four slots, and with a side warmer for either warming meats or for poaching or boiling eggs. It also comes with the necessary trays for either steaming, poaching and warming. You can boil up to 8 eggs at a time, or scramble them in 4 minutes. The toasting slots are extra-wide and can fit a variety of breads including English muffins and bagel. It also has a browning control for setting toasting time, comes with a 1 year manufacturer’s warranty, and all for a reasonable price.
7. BLACK+DECKER 2 Slice Toaster
In position 7 is the beautiful and sturdy toaster from BLACK+DECKER. It comes with all the features and functions that you can desire in a toaster. These include a 6 level browning selector, a drop down crumb tray, bagel, defrost and cancel buttons, as well as extra-wide slots and an extra-lift function. The machine additionally uses an economical 850 Watts of electricity.
6. BELLA LINEA Polished 2 Slice Toaster
If you love style and beauty, then this one is worth your consideration. Yes, it’s a toaster, but it’s much more than that. It’s also a decorative item for your kitchen, a piece of art to grace your counter-top and get your guests talking. It features six browning levels for perfect toasting, extra-wide slots, a high lift lever and it consumes just 900 Watts of power. This stylish retro toaster is available totally in polished chrome, or in chrome and red.
5. BLACK+DECKER Extra-Wide 4 Slot Toaster
If you have a large family, then you need something to make more toasts in the shortest period of time. Which better way to go, than with this 4 slot toaster from BLACK+DECKER. It comes with truly extra-wide slots, but which have self-adjusting guides that keep both thick and thin slices in place. It has bagel and de-freezing functions, plus a 7 level browning selector. It also fits aesthetically into most modern kitchen counter-tops, as a reliable family toaster.
4. Star Wars Darth Vader Toaster
Okay, so not everyone is a Darth Vader or Star Wars fan, but for those who are, this is the bomb. Who wouldn’t want his toast signed with the legendary ‘Star Wars’ logo? and from the Darth Vader himself? This toaster also comes with re-heating, defrost, and stop functions. It also includes a browning adjustment dial and will toast its iconic logo on a wide variety of items like muffins, pancakes and hamburger buns.
3. Oster 4 Slice Stainless Steel Toaster
In position 3 is another 4 slot toaster, this time, from Oster. It comes with most standard features like other toasters, including extra-lift, extra-wide slots, 7 level browning dial, plus frozen, bagel, re-heat and cancel buttons. Its extra-wide slots have auto adjusting bread guides that gives you perfect toasts every single time. Additionally, this toaster comes in a brushed stainless steel housing, and with a retractable power cord, making it also perfect as a gift item.
2. BLACK+DECKER 4 Slice Toaster Oven
In position 2 is another BLACK+DECKER toaster. This time though, the toaster is not traditionally styled, but is rather a toaster oven with enough space for 4 slices of bread. You can also use the oven for other items, including pizza. It’s big enough for a 9 inch (22cm) pizza as well, and will bake your items to perfection. It features toast, bake, broil, and keep warm functions and comes with a manufacturer’s 2 year warranty.
1. Cuisinart White Plastic Toaster
Yes, it’s made from plastic, while some toasters in this review are made from even stainless steel. Still it doesn’t look cheap, because Cuisinart manages to steal the show sometimes with true style, functionality and pure beauty. This toaster is one such product. It has a beautifully designed knob for selecting any of its 7 levels of toasting. Its toast, bagel, re-heat and defrost buttons are all stylishly aligned alongside the lift lever. It comes with a three year manufacturer’s warranty, and is also correctly priced. All these features, benefits and its simple but elegant white design, make this toaster our number #1 pick.
Of course you may choose the Darth Vader toaster if you are a science fiction fan. In that case, then ‘may the force be with you.’ You could also want something more inclusive, and choose the Breakfast Station, but if you just want a toaster, and a very good and beautiful one at that, then the Cuisinart toaster, our number #1 pick, should be perfect for you.
