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Small kitchen appliances reduce human effort, save time, and prevent clutter in the cooking area. For example, you use a mixer grinder because it can produce purees and crushed spices within a couple of seconds, and there won’t be any mess. Similarly, when you have to toast bread, warm the bagels, or defrost the frozen homemade bread, you will always trust a toaster over everything else. Equipped with a wide array of features, this particular appliance will come in handy for both busy and leisure-filled mornings. It will help you make toast with the crispiness of personal choice owing to different browning levels. Moreover, you can quickly reheat the cold toasts without getting late. Bearing all these benefits in mind, we have gathered some of the highest-rated toasters of 2023 that will surely live up to your expectations in the kitchen.
Buying Guide: Toasters
The toaster is an integral part of almost every household kitchen. It produces crispy bread that tastes amazing with butter or milk and reduces your effort by ten folds. From preparing a quick breakfast to defrosting frozen muffins, you can use this appliance in many different ways. Therefore, it’s crucial to have only the best toaster on the market. But before you do so, you have to consider so many different features to reach an apt conclusion. So, to help you out of such a tough situation, we have created a complete buying guide for toasters.
What Are the Different Functions Available In the Toasters?
Browning
Browning is the most important function of a toaster that indicates how crispy the bread’s surface will become once it comes out after being toasted. Most products come with multiple browning levels that will help you prepare toasts to everyone’s liking. For instance, if your kids love to have semi-crispy bread, you can put the browning setting to level 2 or 3. On the other hand, if you like the crispiest toasts, browning level 6 or 7 will be ideal.
Bagel
The Bagel function will allow you to toast the bagels easily. All you need to do is cut a bagel in half, following its cross-sectional area. Once done, put both halves in the slots while ensuring that the cut surfaces are facing each other. In the beginning, the toaster will warm up both sides of the bagels, followed by applying maximum heat on the cut surfaces for making them crispy.
Defrost
Eating frosty bread is not a healthy option. Not only can it affect your sensitive teeth, but it also may affect your stomach. That’s why you can easily remove the frostiness by using a toaster’s defrost function. It will easily warm up the bread without making it soggy and extremely moist.
Reheat
Another great function you can find in the toasters is the reheat option. Let’s assume that you are the last person to have breakfast. So, by the time you start taking your meal, the bread will become cold and soft due to air absorption. That’s why you can put the toast again in the appliance, press the reheat button and allow it to warm up the bread slices without burning them.
Cancel
The cancel option will let you stop the toasting function at any time within the duration interval needed for making the bread crisper. For example, let’s say your chosen settings will take about 5 minutes to toast two bread slices completely. However, when you are in a rush or need to wind up everything in the kitchen quickly, you can use the cancel button after two to three minutes only.
How to Choose the Best Toaster for Your Kitchen?
Choosing the best toaster is not easy. There are a lot of factors that you have to consider for ensuring that your buying decision won’t put you in jeopardy later on. In this below section, we have briefly explained these factors for making your investment-worthy.
Material and looks
Toasters having a full stainless steel chassis are the most durable, and they can withstand a lot of wear and tear. Moreover, they can last for a long time without being damaged due to scratches, corrosion, and so on. In some products, the external chassis is made from stainless steel and thick plastic polymer. Another category of toasters is made from thick polymer, and hence, they are light and usually compact. These products are durable as well as appealing in terms of looks.
Slots number and thickness
Usually, toasters come with two and four bread slots, and therefore, their choice will depend on your usage. For example, a two-slot toaster will be enough if you want to get the product for yourself only. But when you have three or four members in your family and toast is the main breakfast dish, we recommend the four-slot toaster. Apart from this, it would help if you also considered the slot thickness. It should be enough to allow you to put thick bread slices so that your breakfast can be complete.
Crumb tray
When you use a normal toaster, you will often find that the bread crumbs accumulate below the appliance. This can make your kitchen countertop dirty, increasing your efforts as you need to clean it every time you use the appliance. Therefore, choosing a product with a removable crumb tray will be best since it will hold all the bread crumbs. And you can easily clean it off without spending too much of your energy.
How Much Will a Toaster Cost?
Price is one of the most important factors you need to be careful about. Having a toaster is necessary, but that doesn’t mean you should empty your pocket to get one. Usually, the price of toasters varies between $22.99 and $59.99. Two slot toasters are less priced in comparison to the four slot products. Also, if you have dual controls where each set is dedicated to two slots, the price of such toasters will be more than $40. Similarly, stainless steel appliances are costlier than the ones made from plastic polymers.
What Are Some Special Features You Should Look for In a Toaster?
A few toasters come with special features that make them amazing kitchen companions. For example:
If the buttons in the toaster have an LED backlight, they will glow once you press them. Hence, you can easily understand what mode the toaster is set at.
Toasters having long power cords usually come with a cord wrap using which you can conveniently tuck away the cable and store the appliance easily.
A few toasters are reinforced with centering guides that will automatically grab the bread and align them properly for even toasting the bread.
High lift levers in the toaster pop up the toasts once they are done, and you can pull them out easily.
Comparing the Premium Toaster
Amazon Basics Toaster
– Best Overall
This small and compact bread toaster is best for small kitchens due to its slim structure. You can store it in the cabinet or on the countertop without any space shortage. It has two spacious slots measuring about 5.25 inches long and 1.25 inches wide so that you can have a nice, thick toast for your breakfast. You can even put two halves of a bagel at a time in it by selecting the “bagel“ mode that will toast only the cut side. It features six different settings for the brown shade for catering to individual needs. Besides, it has a frozen option for defrosting your bread and a cancel function to stop the toasting at any time. Once the bread is toasted to your liking, use the extra-lift function to take them out. There is also a removable crumb tray for keeping the countertop clean.
Pros
- Offers easy storage due to the cord wrap feature
- Can toast thick bread slices, bagels, English muffins, and more
Cons
- Cooks only two slices at a time
Elite Gourmet Toaster
– Best Design
This modern and classic toaster has a glossy stainless steel body with black trims that make it look quite appealing. As it comes with wide slots, you can toast thick bread slices, up to four pieces at a time. Besides, you can also toast bagels and specialty bread like English muffins, mini baguettes, and more. Adjusting the crispiness of the toast is very easy owing to its six different browning levels. If you are late for your breakfast and your toast has gone cold, just pull out the warming tray, put the bread inside, and use the reheat function. It will warm up the toast without scorching or burning it. With its cancel button, you can pop up the bread slices any time before the toast cycle gets over. Besides, it is reinforced with centering guides that will grab and place the bread slices properly for even toasting on both sides.
Pros
- Easy removable of bread crumbs accumulating in the sliding crumb tray
- Can help in defrosting frozen bread slices with the “defrost“ feature
Cons
- Scratches can form easily on the stainless steel housing
Cuisinart Toaster
– Best For Large Kitchen
This is an all-rounder toaster with four slots arranged adjacently along the vertical axis so that you can use them from both the front and side easily. Besides, this toaster features two different control arrangements, one for each slot set. There are four modes, namely “bagel“ for toasting only the cut side of bagel bread or English muffins, “defrost“ for removing the frostiness and softening the bread, “reheat“ for warming the toasts again without burning them, and “cancel“ for stopping the entire toast cycle at any time. This toaster also has seven browning levels for controlling the bread’s crispiness. On top of everything, it comes with two removable crumb trays so that all the bread crumbs and tiny pieces can accumulate in them and not on your kitchen countertop.
Pros
- Can control the settings of each slot set independently
- No need to use tongs for taking the bread out due to the extra-lift function
Cons
- Has a bulky structure that won’t be ideal for limited countertop space
Hamilton Beach Toaster
– Best Value For Money
If you are looking for an affordable toaster with multiple functions, this is the ideal product. You can prepare toasts having varied crispiness and softness with its seven-levels browning selector. To help you combat a shortage of time, this toaster is equipped with an auto shut-off function to stop the heat immediately once the bread is toasted to perfection. You won’t have to worry about having an entangled power cord as it has a dedicated storage place for the same. On top of everything, you can lift the toasted bread, muffins, and bagels high once they are ready. This will help you take them out of the toaster effortlessly.
Pros
- Comes with an additional crumb tray for keeping the countertop clean
- It will allow you to cancel the toasting cycle at any time
Cons
- The toasting of the bread can be uneven due to the absence of centering guides
BUYDEEM Toaster
– Also Consider
In this bread toaster, there are four wide slots so that you can toast bread slices having different thicknesses, English muffins, bagels, and more. Each set of slots has independent buttons, knobs, and booster levers, thereby helping you prepare meals flexibly. It has four main functions- bagel for toasting the cut sides of the bread, defrost and reheat for warming, and cancel for stopping the toasting process. All the buttons have LED lights so that they can glow when switched on. Its entire body is made from stainless steel and coated with a vintage matte green color. Like other appliances, it is equipped with removable crumb trays for easy cleaning.
Pros
- Can be connected to any electrical outlet due to the 40 inches long power cord
- Can heat bread in normal condition within 3 minutes only
Cons
- Comes with a high price tag
People Also Asked
Q: What is the difference between a toaster and a toaster oven?
A: A toaster is mainly used to toast bread slices, English muffins, and bagels. However, the toaster ovens can help you bake, broil, dehydrate, and even air fry food items.
Q: Do I need to grease the interior of the toaster slots to prevent the bread from sticking?
A: No, you don’t have to apply grease to the interior of the toaster slots because they are meant to hold the bread slices. Therefore, the food ingredient won’t get stuck to the wireframes inside the slots.
Q: Is it important to clean the crumb tray in a toaster every day?
A: No, it is not necessary to clean the crumb tray every day. You can do it every two to three days so that the toaster can be kept clean properly.
