Some toasters gave us very patchy brown-and-white blotches across each side of a slice of bread, while others made toast that looked evenly golden on one side but completely different on t.This toaster is one of the best toasters for bagels in the market. Only two toasters gave us one-and-done, reliable browning that corresponded to the controls, without endless fiddling and retoasting.Įven if they generally hit the right color, evenness was often a problem. Aside from these extremes, the problem was that for most toasters, getting medium–golden brown toast was a cumbersome, lengthy process. A few toasters burned the bread solid black, filling the kitchen with smoke. On the darkest setting, we want deeply browned toast, not charcoal.

We think the lightest setting should brown a little, not just warm the bread none of our models managed this. When you set your toaster for light, medium, or dark browning, what do you get? Most toasters let us down. The goal was efficient, consistent, uniform toasting of a variety of breads at the browning level we'd selected, with intuitive controls, easy toast retrieval, simple cleanup, and durability. Finally, we made 365 consecutive pieces of toast in each of our top three contenders to simulate a year's worth of use. We checked whether the models' exteriors got too hot. We filled the toasters to capacity and made full batches of toast in rapid succession. We tried light, medium, and dark settings and recorded the average speed of the toasting cycles. We toasted artisan loaves, big bagels, and (of course) white sandwich bread. We bought eight models, including our old winner, priced from about $35 to about $250 all had one or two long, wide slots. The downside? At about $250, it's a staggering investment, even for someone who's fussy about perfect toast.īut there's hope: Recently, a handful of “long-slot” toasters have appeared on the market at a range of prices. It also boasted glass walls that let you watch your toast and a “stop” button to halt toasting at your exact browning preference.

It toasted evenly, using responsive quartz heating elements.

The last time we tested toasters, our winner, the Magimix Vision Toaster, was unique because it had one extra-long, extra-wide bread slot that fit any kind of bread. Bigger, heartier loaves made up 68 percent of bread sold: 37.9 percent were “crusty/hot hearth” breads, and 30.2 percent were “artisan.” Home cooks love to bake bread, too. Is your toaster stuck in the 1950s, when all bread was white, skinny, and square? As recently as 2017, sandwich bread made up only 17.8 percent of bread sold in America, according to market research firm Statista.

Wide slot toaster review