People are really picky about their toast! If you eat toast on a morning then you will know what I’m talking about. You like it a certain way, with a certain type of bread and a particular topping. Any old toaster won’t do, we need one that can toast our bread to perfection and give us the satisfying crunch we desire for breakfast! Ok so maybe I am getting a bit carried away, but don’t be fooled, toast is serious business.
Here are some of the best toasters on the market right now, most of them are less than $100 at the time of writing too!
Contents
1. Cuisinart CPT-180 Metal Classic 4-Slice Toaster
What’s not to love about this classic design from Cuisinart? We think it’s great and it’s one of our personal favourites. Obviously it has 4 nice slots on the top but you might not notice at first glance just how wide they are. 1 and half inches wide to be exact. This means that you can toast what ever you like in this thing, bagel anyone?
It even has a bagel setting that only toasts one side of the bagel when activated. As well as this there is a reheat setting so you can re warm already toasted bread without burning it and a defrost setting.
Dual controls on the front let you have 2 different settings going at once so if your partner has different toasting preferences to you then you are good to go. Of course it has standard shade settings and it has the pop up level which comes up quite high so you can easily lift your bread out of the toaster without any trouble.
On the downside the controls feel a little bit light weight and cheap in your hand but the toaster works well and the rest of it seems solidly built.
2. KRUPS KH734D Breakfast Set 4-Slot Toaster
Yes a toaster from KRUPS now. Who knew they made anything but coffee machines? Anyway this is very similar in functionality to the Cuisinart CPT-180 but it just feels a little bit nicer to use. The controls feel more solid in your hand and less like they are going to break if you get a bit to excited at breakfast.
This too has the bagel function and extra wide slots to fit them in. Helpfully though this one points out which side is going to heat up on the bagel setting so you know which way round to put them in.
It also has the defrost and reheat settings as well as the shade selectors that go from 1 to 6. There are 2 individual crumb trays that slide out from the front but like all crumb trays known to man they don’t do a very good job at holding the crumbs once they are removed from the toaster. It also has the high lifting lever for easy toast retrieval.
All in all very similar to the Cuisinart but at a slightly lower price point.
3. KitchenAid KMT4115ER Toaster
Have we mentioned that we love Kitchen Aid products here at Cook Logic? Well we do, the build quality and designs are always so good we just can’t help it. There is no exception here either, this is a really well made toaster that looks great. Only problem is that it is a bit on the large side, so much so they have had to put a diagram on the Amazon listing to show it in comparison to a human body. That is hilarious. The dimensions aren’t actually that different from any other 4 slicer really (12.5 x 11.5 x 8.3 in), it’s actually smaller than the KRUPS.
Like most Kitchen Aid products it comes in a choice of colors. There aren’t loads to choose from here but there is the classic Empire Red, Onyx Black and Stainless Steel. We prefer the red.
This too has the extra wide 1 and a half inch slots. It also has the bagel setting like the others and the indicators to show which side is toasting. There is no defrost or reheat setting here though.
4. Kenmore Elite 76774 4-Slice Auto-Lift Long Slot Toaster
How about a toaster for the 21st century? Everything on this one is digital, there is no stone age lever for raising your bread. This has a simple button you press to make your bread rise. It also self lowers.
It comes with an LED display that counts down the time until your toast is ready. No more anxiously waiting for the toaster to pop, with this you know where you stand. Can only worry that this will eventually break and render the toaster useless.
The bagel, defrost and reheat (warm) settings are all present and correct here. There is also 9 pre set toast settings to choose from. The digital controls allow for super precise toasting.
The most bizarre feature on this is the retractable cord. The cord literally disappears inside the toaster, this is amazing for storage but it seems completely unnecessary and there must be a lot of space reserved for the cord that could otherwise have made the toaster smaller overall. Still though if you like to store your toaster out of the way then it is a great idea.
5. Russell Hobbs 4-Slice Retro Style Toaster, Red & Stainless Steel, TR9250RDR
Here is a retro style toaster from Russell Hobbs. The daft bit on the top is a warming rack that thankfully can be removed as it looks ridiculous and obviously it gets in the way of you doing any actual toasting.
The dial on the front is actually a timer and not the shade selector I thought it was at first glance. The shade selector is actually on the side and works as a sliding lever as opposed to a dial. We also have a ‘frozen’ button which is defrost, turning frozen bread into supposedly fresh bread ready for toasting and of course no good 4 slice toaster is complete without a bagel setting, but there are no side indicators. No warming.
Again it lifts the bread nice and high when it’s done. Also with this you can raise the bread to take a look at it without cancelling the heat, so you can go straight back onto the heat if your toast isn’t quite done. Pretty useful feature.
It comes in black and red. This is one of the more expensive models in the market and it doesn’t really boast any features cheaper models don’t apart from the utterly useless warming rack. Also the slots aren’t as wide as they should be for a toaster this size. That aside it’s a great looking machine that toasts bread very quickly and consistently.
Conclusion
Feature wise there isn’t a lot to choose between all of them. The only one that has any stand out features is the Kenmore Elite but we aren’t sure they are features we particularly need, though it was fun to use.
The best value is definitely the KRUPS KH734D, which is really well made and offers all the features you will ever need. The easiest on the eye is probably the Kitchen Aid or the Russell Hobs but they stand out because they came in different colors as opposed to stainless steel. I really liked the Kitchen Aid overall but it is missing some standard features that the others came with.
Let us know which is your favourite and which toaster you have in the comments below.
