Best Two Slot Toaster
Breville VTT748 Impressions 2-Slice Toaster. By quite a distance this is the biggest selling 2-slice toaster available on the UK Market. It is available in a variety of colours, black, black/rose gold, cream, white and red. This model has a distinctive textured design with a high gloss finish and chrome details. If you’re toasting for the whole family, a 4-slice toaster is the way to go. Our winning model is yet another KitchenAid, and rather than a typical 4-slot toaster, it has two longer slots. Using vertical slots with heat elements on either side, the best 2-slice toasters brown bread to the user’s preferred color, toast it evenly, and work quickly so you can get on with your day. Revolution Cooking R180 Touchscreen 2-Slice Toaster. Best Expensive Toaster. This smart toaster took over the internet when it went viral on TikTok. Its touchscreen will make you feel like you’re in a chic French bakery as it prepares your baked goods to perfection with the push of a button each morning, and it will reportedly do it 35 percent faster than other toasters, thanks to its. Jan 13, 2021 This comes in red or black. Best Bagel Delivery Services of 2021. The Smeg Retro Style Aesthetic 2-Slice Toaster is well-built and produces evenly browned breads and baked goods. The retro design is unique and available in nine color choices so you can match it to your kitchen decor.
If you have a small kitchen and limited countertop space, the hunt for the best toaster may not seem like the ultimate priority. Yet there are times that there are no replacements for its convenience—like when you have a kid and that kid decides that bread and frozen waffles and bagels and breakfast 'tarts' and English muffins the rest of the toastable gluten-verse are going to be the foundation of his food pyramid.
For all the toastable-gluten heads out there, we went on the hunt for the best toaster. We wanted to find one well-designed enough to fit neatly into a small space, sturdy enough to stand up to near constant use, and reliable enough to perform a grab bag of tasks ably, whether during a rushed school-day breakfast or leisurely weekend brunch. We also wanted to know if there was there ever a reason to spend $300 on a toaster—or would a $35 one suffice?
In order to find the very best toasters, we tested 18 leading models across the price spectrum—by making a lot of slices of toast, obviously. The toasters ranged in price from $18 to $300, and came either in 2-slice or 4-slice form. In the end we named six winners: the two best 2-slice budget picks, an overall favorite in both the 2-slice and 4-slice categories, another budget winner for the 4-slice category, and a design favorite (you are going to see your toaster on the counter everyday, after all).
Read on to learn more about our winners, the other toasters we tested, and the specifics of how we tested each toaster.
Table of contents:
The best toaster ovens—all of our top picks
How we tested
Other toasters we tested
The takeaway
The best overall 2-slice toaster: Breville Die-Cast
The Breville Die-Cast is an investment, but the sleek, leverless model called to us as soon as we took it out of the box—and once we set it up and started toasting and reheating, it didn't disappoint. Well-built, with a weighty frame and a stylish minimalist exterior, it was extremely stable on the counter without feeling bulky. The toasting slots were generously proportioned to handle both tall and thick slices, and the digital controls were attractive and intuitive to use. It turned out remarkably consistent results during all three tests, evenly toasting each slice of bread, easily defrosting and crisping waffles, and ably accommodating bagels. Some of the little touches that made it even more appealing: a smooth motorized lift that lowers and raises the slices from the toaster at the touch of a button, the sliding knob that sets the level of toastiness and flashes to count down the remaining cook time, and the pleasant 'ding' that sounds to remind you when the job is done—a feature we suspect could be a godsend during hectic morning multitasking. One glowing Amazon reviewer dubbed this model the Cadillac of toasters—and after putting it through its paces, we couldn't agree more.
© Provided by EpicuriousBreville Die-Cast Toaster
$129.00, Amazon
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The best budget 2-slice toaster: Professional Series Wide Slot
Does the idea of spending $100 on a toaster make you irate? Relax. If you're willing to sacrifice some of the little luxuries, it's still entirely possible to get a good toaster: a reliable, everyday option for the price of a few boxes of Pop-Tarts. At first glance, the brushed steel exterior of the Pro Series is sleek looking and feels sturdy and high-quality. It's still lightweight and petite though, should you need to tuck it away in a cabinet now and then to save on counter space. Unlike the other budget toasters tested, the Professional Series browned bread all the way to the edges of the slice perfectly. The extra-wide slots could easily accommodate pre-sliced sandwich bread and thick, hand-cut slices of sourdough alike.
The removable crumb tray is easy to clean, and it took under two minutes to get a light golden brown slice at the medium setting. The toaster has one function we suggest ignoring: A gluten free button. Because gluten-free bread is made from such a range of flours, we can't see how one button would catch the varied toast times needed. Still, beyond that trendy quirk, we loved this humble little toaster.
© Provided by EpicuriousProfessional Series 2-Slice Stainless Steel Wide Slot Toaster
$24.00, Bed Bath & Beyond
BUY NOWAnother great budget 2-slice toaster: Oster Jelly Bean
Though, predictably, the build-quality of all the lower priced models was a little flimsy, the Oster toaster was better than almost all of the competition. Among the contenders surveyed, stainless steel (or faux-stainless) was the default finish, but the Jelly Bean goes a different route: The model we tried came with a curvy, matte charcoal exterior which, though not necessarily high-design, cleaned easily and seemed conveniently fingerprint- and smudge-proof. (And, if you’re looking for a pop of color in your kitchen: Amazon lists a bright eggplant purple as another option.) For the most part, the Oster Jelly Bean ticked off all the toasting boxes with passably consistent sliced bread, perfectly crisped waffles, and golden, chewy toasted bagels. The evenness of its toasting is particularly impressive at higher settings—so if you like your bread on the crunchy side, take note. A few quibbles: most slices come out of the toaster with a little “bald spot” on top—the result of the bread not sitting fully submerged in the slot. And the lever squeaks a bit when depressed. Annoying? Yes. Worth sacrificing the bargain performance? Probably not.
© Provided by EpicuriousOster 2-Slice Toaster
$34.00, Amazon
BUY NOWThe best high-design toaster: Smeg '50s Retro-Style Toaster
We were suspicious that the Smeg toaster was going to be all style and no substance, but we were wrong. Using this machine is like having a little retro Italian sports car on your kitchen counter, with a well-built and expertly proportioned cherry red exterior, a sleek chrome toasting lever that sits in the hand like a gearshift, and a minimalist, intuitive control knob that spins with a satisfying click. And it doesn’t just sit there and look good: after toasting at low, medium, and high settings, slices emerged evenly browned (if a little on the dark side—this toaster does seem to run hot). Waffles and bagels came out with the perfect texture balance of chewy and crunchy. The generous slots can easily accommodate tall slices and a simple-to-slide-out crumb tray makes cleanup easy. Yes, it's a lot to spend on a toaster, but if you have the budget for it and design is a priority, you can feel good about taking the plunge on the Smeg. The Smeg toaster also comes in a variety of colors, including black, chrome, cream, yellow, baby blue, light pink, pastel aqua, and red (pictured).
© Provided by EpicuriousSmeg Toaster
$170.00, Smeg Toaster
BUY NOWThe best 4-slice toaster all-around: Breville Die-Cast
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the best 4-slice toasters are essentially doublewide versions of our 2-slice picks. From a pure design standpoint, we initially leaned toward the long-slot toasters in our lineup, which can pack more slices into a slimmer space and are great if you have a small kitchen or clutter is a problem. But ultimately, we weren't wowed by the performance of these models and realized that, while bulkier, the side-by-side 4-slot design of the Breville offered more customization for families or roommates—if one person wants a bagel and the other a waffle, or if one likes toast barely browned and the other likes toast as dark as a carbon shingle, no worries. The top-of-the-line Breville model is powered with 1800 and can be set to 'toast,' 'a bit more,' 'bagel,' or 'defrost' via an illuminated LED side panel.
© Provided by EpicuriousBreville 4-Slot Toaster
$180.00, Amazon
BUY NOWThe Best Budget 4-Slice Toaster: Oster
The Oster 4-Slice Toaster is our favorite 4-slice toaster at a significantly less expensive price point. Its extra-wide slots easily accommodate whatever you'd like to toast. You can tailor your toast level from light to dark (with seven levels in between to ensure the exact amount of crispness you desire), and the toaster offers options for bagels, frozen items, and reheating. The toaster's retractable cord also makes its a breeze to store.
© Provided by EpicuriousOster 4-Slice Toaster
$79.00, Amazon
BUY NOWWhen it comes to toasting, sliced white sandwich bread is the ultimate blank slate—so, for the first round, we grabbed a few bags of Wonder Bread to gauge how each machine could handle the basics. We tried each toaster at a low, medium, and high setting, got out a stopwatch to measure how long each toast took, and compared each setting for consistency. We also tested the toasters with thicker slices of artisan breads to see how they'd stand up to heftier carbs. To determine the toasters' defrosting and reheating capabilities, we chose frozen waffles as the next marker. Lastly, to evaluate how each toaster dealt with larger objects and sturdier slices (we're looking at you, farmers market miche), we chose a stack of sliced bagels for the final challenge.
Two-thirds of the toasters we tested were 2-slice models: this, we reasoned, was standard, and big enough for most uses. But we were also determined to find a 4-slice model—ideal for roommate situations or larger families—that performed well enough to merit giving up some extra space. We used the same tests to evaluate both size models.
For each of the toasters, we also evaluated the following factors:
Does the toaster feel well-built?
Almost all toasters are made from a combination of metal (these days, often stainless steel) and plastic—but depending on price point and manufacturer, the build-quality and aesthetic differences between models can vary enormously. Before toasting, we held each machine in our hands and watched how sturdily it sat on the countertop: ones that wobbled or squeaked lost some points.
Does it accommodate large items and toast evenly and consistently?
We looked for toasters with slots that could accommodate slices of all shapes and size. We also checked to make sure that, once lowered, each item sat deeply in the slots with no portion uncovered and untoasted. We evaluated whether the machines toasted both sides of the bread evenly and yielded predictable differences when using both the light toast and dark toast settings. If the toaster had a dedicated bagel setting, we used it, though we did not automatically disqualify models that lacked those specifications. Even though we timed how long each machine took to perform the different tasks, in the end the machine’s performance and consistency was more important than an extra 20 to 40 seconds.
Can it defrost frozen items without over-toasting them?
Best Two Slot Toaster
Nowadays, lots of toasters come with a defrost setting—which would seem ideal for items like frozen bread, waffles, and breakfast pastries, but sadly, the results are often either a waffle that's toasted on the outside but icy in the middle or defrosted but depressingly soggy. The goal: finding a machine that offered the best of both worlds.
Are the settings intuitive to use?
Though we appreciate options, we hate redundant design clutter. In approaching each toaster, we judged whether the machines' controls were practical and comprehensive. We also considered whether the interface seemed self-explanatory (good) or would require a close reading of the manual (bad).
Is the toaster bulky?
Best 2 Slot Toaster
Even if you don't live in a tiny apartment, chances are your kitchen counter is still valuable real estate. With that in mind, we favored toasters that seemed thoughtfully designed and conservatively proportioned.
Other toasters we tested
Unless you're a brand loyalist determined to have every appliance in your kitchen match, there's no reason to drop $300 on a toaster when a model a third of the price performs better—and a model one-tenth of the price performs just as well.
Toaster Long Slot 2 Slice
We looked at three toasters at the super high-priced end of the spectrum:
- KitchenAid Pro Line Series, which we disqualified before even plugging in because it was the size of a SmartCar and so heavy we could barely move it on the counter.
- The Wolf Gourmet 2-4-slice toasters, which we did test. Both Wolf Gourmet toasters yielded inconsistent and disappointing results, especially given their astronomical prices ($300 and $400, respectively).
- The shiny surface of the All-Clad 2-slice toaster quickly became streaked with fingerprints and ran cool, failing to brown bagels at even a medium-high setting.
- The Cuisinart 2-slot toaster wobbled on the counter and felt flimsy to touch. It had a squeaky lever and loose control knobs, and its toasting power was one of the weakest we tested.
- The Crux 2-slice toaster looked nice, but its performance—inconsistent browning and no defrost button—couldn't compete with others in its price range.
- The Cuisinart Artisan left an untoasted white ring around the edge of bread slices.
- The KitchenAid 4-slice long slot never produced toast darker than pale, even at the highest setting.
- The Hamilton Beach 4-slice long slot was so flimsy it felt like we could dent it with our fingernails when we picked it up.
- We also tested the Hamilton Beach Cool Wall 2-Slice, hoping it would prove a little sturdier than the 4-slice in the original test. Sadly, it didn't. Cheap, lightweight plastic actually pulled away from the metal sides when we handled it, and the dinky knob felt like it could come off in my hand.
- We also tested a fun limited edition toaster from KitchenAid's Queen of Hearts collection. While we liked the glossy red exterior and the uniquely long shape, it seemed impractically sized for most kitchens and it took a full minute longer than the Professional Series to achieve a golden brown slice when both were turned to the medium setting—and the Professional Series is less than half the price.
- The Cuisinart CPT-620 2-slice didn't get toast dark enough on its highest setting.
- Black+Decker 2-slice toaster was rickety and also failed to toast anything beyond a light shade of pale.
- Krups 2 and 4-slice were alright with toast, but left waffles cold in the middle on the defrost setting.
- Toast made in the Zwilling Enfinigy 2 and 4-slice did not get as dark as some of the lower price point options, and the interface was a little hard to figure out.
- Cuisinart CPT-142 4-slice had good range in browning levels, but fell short on the defrost setting.
Best Two Slot Toaster 2020
If price isn't your main concern and you're looking for a well-built toaster that delivers consistent results and has high-tech (but not intimidating) touches, get the Breville Die-Cast. Both the 2-slice and 4-slice models of the Breville outperformed similar toasters in the same price category, so choose the size that fits your household needs. If you're looking for a more affordable option that performs nearly as well as the Breville, go for the Professional Series or the Oster. Finally, if you want a machine that has a retro luxury feel and produces evenly browned, if a little crispy, slices of bread, get the Smeg 2-slice toaster.