I know you've all just been holding your collective breaths, waiting for me to update you on the latest toaster news. It ain't pretty, folks.
For those of you who are just joining us, for years I had a series of perfectly fine toasters—some better, some worse, but all satisfactory. I ask two things of a toaster:
- It must toast bread evenly, be it one slice or two, be it the first slice of the day or the fourth slice in a row. And by evenly I mean an even shade of brown on both sides and from end to end on each slide. No stripes, no one side burnt/one side soft.
- It must toast a bagel on the cut side only, yet warm the outside (since, chances are, I took the bagel out of the freezer).
If it also has a defrost feature, swell. If it has a reheat-but-don't-retoast feature, groovy. If it also looks nice, operates without an annoying "ding" at the end of the cycle, and has an easily removable crumb tray, well, now we're talking.
The Cuisinart, as you all know, was a total bust. For one thing, it has a faux bagel button that just extends the toasting cycle to account for the thickness of the bagel, but it toasts both sides! Contrarily, if you toast only slice of bread, it toasts only one side. Even though I long ago tossed the box and packing materials and used the toaster daily for a couple of months, Nancy still swears she will proudly march it back to Linens 'n Things for me and return it. She's on! Even I wouldn't attempt that maneuver.
The next toaster, not the Oster I originally thought I wanted, which also has a faux bagel button (Who do they think they're fooling here?), was another DeLonghi. It felt very flimsy to operate and toasted very unevenly. Not horrible, but not acceptable. Back inna box y'go.
That brings us to the current model, the bizarre-looking T-Fal, which gives me agita every time I look at it. So far I'm not happy with the angle of the slots at all, nor their size. A normal slice of Pepperidge Farm Jewish Rye Bread (as opposed to . . . what? Baptist Rye Bread? Shiite Rye Bread?) doesn't even fit comfortably in it! The toasting so far has been temperamental at best. Today it did a fine job; yesterday, not so much. I will continue to give it a fair chance, but I'm not feeling good about this. (Update: Forgot to mention that as I unpacked the T-Fal, Stephanie was heard to mutter, "I bet she'll be returning it by Saturday morning....")
Please, someone, put me out of my misery. Find me THE toaster. Don't suggest Dualit, because nowaynohow am I spending $200 on a toaster. And don't send me here, because they didn't address the bagel issue.
I know your pain. I was on a toaster quest a couple of years ago and wrote about it here: http://www.flummel.com/ee/index.php/weblog/toaster_universe/
I don't yet own the Dualit, but I still lust for it. Good luck.
Posted by: Karan | May 24, 2006 at 07:21 PM
The other (admittedly, much less important) reason I won't buy the Dualit is that I fear I'd be disappointed -- then where would I be? At least this way I can imagine that toasting perfection exists in our world.
Posted by: Karen | May 24, 2006 at 07:31 PM
Why not a toaster oven which does both bread and bagels? Plus for those that don't mind a toasted cheese sandwich as opposed to the grilled cheese in the frying pan,(I prefer mine not so squished) this works for that---AND heats up frozen leftover pizza the best way, my kids say. We've been very happy with our Black and Decker.
Posted by: Lisa | May 24, 2006 at 08:25 PM
I was at Costco yesterday, and they had a pretty fabulous looking Krups toaster for only $24.95, if memory serves, and I was pondering whether the shipping would still make it a deal. Costco usually has the same stuff in most of its stores - at least regionally if not nationally. Do you belong? $25 is not bad - even if it ends up disappointing. I use a toaster oven, too. Works for us.
Posted by: Shu | May 24, 2006 at 08:48 PM
I am counting the days until I can give the awful toaster oven the boot. I still need it for chicken nuggets and cheese "dreams." Personally I would go for the Dualit. Think of it this way: it's 2 years of Netflix (or so) and at the end of that time, you still own it and it probably still works. FYI - I had NO idea that the "bagel" button is supposed to toast the cut side only. I love it when I learn something new.
Posted by: Liz | May 24, 2006 at 08:53 PM
I hate my Cuisinart, and I am one my second one. My friends with the Dualit don't rave about it. I am considering a move back to the toaster over, but am too cheap to buy one until the current toaster is dead.
Posted by: dana | May 25, 2006 at 09:52 AM
Du-aaaaa-liiiiiit. Du-aaaaaa-liiiiit.
It's calling you!
We've had ours for over ten years now - 10 problem-free years. It *is* worth it.
Stop spending your money (and wasting your time) on sub-standard toasters. You know you want one...
Posted by: Kirsty | May 25, 2006 at 05:53 PM
Personally, I'm ready to get a toaster oven. My kids really want to do more cooking and it would help in that arena. However, I found this review for the Hamilton Beach that you might want to check out. The price is certainly right. http://www.target.com/gp/detail.html/ref=br_1_10/602-8679007-0163000?%5Fencoding=UTF8&frombrowse=1&asin=B00065XWEU
Posted by: Leah | May 25, 2006 at 06:10 PM