April 7, 2019 - 7:20am
2 slice toaster search
been a while since this was covered. Looking to replace our Haier 2 slice. Good for perhaps the first year then it began to fail to brown ..... even on 11.
Used an older Oster recently that seemed to do the job, but recent reviews seem to be less than favorable.
Much as I might like a $250 Dualit, that just seems insane for a toaster. $40 or so.
So ....... anyone have a recently purchased (last couple years) 2 slice with some miles on it they care to recommend?
Don't care if the outside gets hot, I just want browned slices on both sides without retoasting.
My bread is heavy, dense, multigrain, not Wonderblech.
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My highly biased opinion is that the only potential improvement made to household toasters in the last 50 - 80 years is slots thick enough to hold half of a bagel. Many other things have been done, of course; I'm just not convinced that they've turned out to be actual improvements (and the bagel thing only counts if you're toasting bagels, obviously). Some of those 50-to-80-year-old toasters still aren't broken. So that's my little suggestion.
whole-heartedly agree with you. Haven't seen much in the way of old school toasters in the thrift.
I have lamented for about 10 yrs that toasters are no longer functional. And if they seem to function, it seems they only do so for a short period of time before they become 1 sided or need to be turned to "megadark" before they lightly toast your white bread on 3 or 4 attempts. I have even taken to making toast on my smooth-top burner on high. Works pretty well.
Did you ever see the 1st "Crocodile Dundee" movie where he sticks a piece of bread to the wall with his big knife and blasts it with a propane torch? Don't they make kitchen torches for browning creme brulee? Just a thought! :)
My mother-in-law use to make a toast directly on the gas burner. She also made her roasted peppers that way.
I've bought and returned several, haven't keep any! I was on this quest last year, failed miserably, given up completely. This is the only gadget that has been unable to bring me joy :(
I tried a few toaster ovens first, because, well, they can do more than just toast. But they all made strange noises, smelled funny, took too long, way too big, or just didn't work well at all.
Then I tried toasters - similar results: strange noises, smelled funny, mechanically problematic, uneven toasting, burnt sections, or too small. I did get caught up in the internet's constant waxing of antique models, so after months of trolling antique shops and goodwill stores, eventually hiked up my shorts and bought a couple off the auction sites. While the idea of having a 60+ year old toaster is quite romantic, they aren't very good (not the most even, a piece of bread sticks out the stop; they are designed for small slices, etc).
The above are opinions of a jaded, cynical man. YMMV, plenty of people out there happy. The reality I've learned to accept: toast and I will just never be. *forlorn gaze of wistfulness* It's me, not the gadget.
Using an old Dualit that only toasts one side and has always been so slow the toast is hard, There's a Cuisinart on Amazon reduced from $185 to $55 with decent reviews. I can't find the reason for the spectacular reduction -Cuisinart CPT - 2400 m086279117786. Does anyone have anything good to say about this model?
Patsy
Right now I have a toaster very similar to the Cuisinart CPT-160, just without the stainless steel. I bought it at a thrift store. It's making toast that's good enough by my standards, but that's probably not saying much. I think it may sometimes toast the two sides of the slice unevenly. However, it hasn't broken down yet.
And somewhere around here, I do have a 1950s GE toaster (same source), but I haven't even checked to see if it makes toast, let alone if it's good toast.
I don't know. I suspect maybe we are all getting the toasters we've asked for - that maybe the constant pressure for lower prices is now matched by a willingness of manufacturers to meet the customer-demanded price points by simply cutting quality out of the equation. Meaning that if anyone does decide to make a high-quality toaster, they know they'll only sell a tiny number of them worldwide, and price accordingly.
Plus... It's not (yet!) common practice to sue over bad toast. ?
I think the standard for testing toasters is a wonderful type bread. The standard bland presliced and packaged fluff bread seems to toast the best. Then pop in a slice of home made and the bread is heavier, heartier moister and takes longer to dry & toast. Because of the extra time needed, one side is obviously more toasted than the other side, most likely in the middle of the toaster where heat and heating elements are concentrated.
DYI Solution? Method. Find one that works for you.
Toast lightly and twice. Pick up the two pieces and without turning them drop them in opposite slots. Then toast them again often a notch lighter as the heat has built up inside the toaster.
Another possible solution might be to let a few slices surface dry a little lying flat on a board or plate. May come naturally to those of us that freeze slices and thaw them first before toasting. Drop the slices into the toaster so that the moister surface side faces toward the middle of the toaster. Hopefully that should even out the sides for a single toasting attempt.
Many of the older toasters are still around because they are very easy to repair.
I gravitate toward the two slice toasters that will toast a bagel. I may not toast bagels per say, but I sometimes slice thicker. And I like to slice and toast rolls. I like to see thru the toaster slots making sure crumbs fall out to the bottom. These toasters with removal crumb trays are a joke. I think the trays are creating the temp problems. Put a big metal tray under the toaster to catch crumbs. They fall out best when they are dry and toasted. With humidity, crumbs left inside tend to stick inside the toaster and be a nuisance and fire hazard.
Also - anything with lots of sugar in it will caramelize pretty quickly. Most of the bread being baked by those who read this site is lower in sugar than the kind in the polka-dot bag.
I wanted one so bad...but my hubby said NO to the $38.00 price the recently arrived Walmart was selling...(supposed to be almost everything American made back then when they came to town). I tried to argue it was worth it for it to be American made and less energy wasting as using a broiler. While there were cheaper ones from other stores...he said NO to them...then NO to the price of the American made one. No toaster for a new mom. Hey...I thought it was a good excuse at the time...LOL!
I finally got one around 1991 but couldn't find any that was American made by that time. LOL! SOOOOOOOOO I made toast using the broiler...all my childhood and until I could finally do what I wanted. Funny thing...in 1991 toasters were cheaper...pricewise and probably materials too.
I was not so happy with my new toaster (s) after having each awhile...and have gone thru several models since. But they did allow my sons to toast their own bread without me worrying about them leaving the oven on as they headed to school.
Now...I am without a toaster...and I use a flat skillet for the occasional toast for 1 person. Not sure if it is wasting energy...but at least it is one less thing on the counter.
Strawberry Pop-Tart Blow-Torches
http://www.pmichaud.com/toast/
Yeah...you guessed it. My son and I liked to have fun...and this sounded like a good way to use the toaster we hated. HAHA!
in the endless path to lower the sell price, manufacturers have made their way to poorly made foreign junk. But it seems that making well made stamped parts shouldn't be that difficult.
I'm sure that the difference between toasting wonderblech vs home made has something to do with it. But when you peer into the heating toaster and only one sides' elements are red hot and the other side is 1/4 lit, that isn't gonna cut it for a one pass toast.
As others have done, I toast twice toast (biscotti) . Oh well. Guess I'll keep buying new when each fails.
But I'll stick to whatever is $19.99 at BBB, or Amzn or the general store.
That's what I've been doing with the Dualit, switching slots and turning the slices round half way through because each of the four elements has different power. We used to have a toasting fork and hold the slices over the coal fire - it made better toast than the Dualit.
Patsy
I have been looking for a fast toaster for over five years now. I purchased a Cuisinart CPT-180 two years ago and thought I had solved all my problems. It toasted quickly and evenly. After 6 months we noticed it was taking a bit longer to toast. Now it is like watching paint dry. The elements are all still working so I am not quite sure what the problem is. My feeling is that it is because all the toasters are now multipurpose used for bagels and the like. The slots are too wide for bread to toast. 220v toasters from Europe are not CSA approved and from what I have read, commercial toasters take time to warm up so they aren't the solution.
If anyone finds a quick toaster that lasts please let me know!