Small appliances like toasters seem like such simple little gadgets, especially compared to all those multi-use toaster ovens. But here’s my problem with toaster ovens: They take up a lot of space. Many are so big they can roast an entire chicken, which is great and all—until you need to try to find room for said toaster oven on your countertop. As someone who lives in a small New York City apartment and already has too many appliances for her own kitchen’s good (which is what happens when you test kitchen gear for a living), I’m well familiar with this conundrum.
That’s okay, though. While good toaster ovens can do a lot of different things, not everyone needs a countertop device that also broils, air-fries, and reheats a whole pizza while doing your son’s math homework. Sometimes you just need toast, and for that, a simple slice toaster is the best tool for the job.
Best toaster for your money: Amazon Basics 2-Slice Toaster
Best toaster for a pop of color: Beautiful by Drew Barrymore 2-Slice Toaster
The one that makes the best toast: Breville ‘A Bit More’
Best 4-slice toaster for families who actually need one: Breville Die-Cast
Over the years, I’ve tested 31 toasters—cheap plastic toasters, techy toasters, aesthetics-first toasters. And my favorites keep things simple, the way a good toaster should, while also offering extra features here and there that enhance the toasting experience (yes, you can enhance the toasting experience). They’re relatively compact, sturdy, and easy to use. Most important, they deliver all the crispy, evenly browned carbs you want in the morning: pieces of toast, English muffins, frozen waffles, and bagels.
New in this update: We crowned the Amazon Basics 2-Slice Toaster our top pick for its superior performance at a low low price. We also tested the new Breville Eye Q 850 toaster to see if it’s worth the $300 price tag.
The truth is, you don’t have to spend
The truth is, you don’t have to spend a lot of money to achieve perfect toast. In fact, the best toaster I’ve tried in all my years of testing rings in at about $20 and churns out evenly browned carbs done to your liking every time.
What we love: The price-to-performance ratio of this model can’t be beat. Amazon’s Basics line has had a few sleeper hits in our product testing over the years (their kitchen scale and stainless-steel pans, for instance) both here and at Epicurious , and this toaster continues to seriously impress me year after year. It drew even with our previous top pick, the Breville “A Bit More,” on practically every level, but at less than a fifth of the price, which is why I’ve decided to recommend it as the best toaster for most people. It’s got a lot of plastic on it, but given that fact it feels relatively well-constructed and has all the settings the average toast maker could need. Importantly, it also toasted bread evenly across all of the tests, demonstrating nice variation in browning across its six heat settings.
What we’d leave: Unless you need your toaster to feel fancy in addition to putting out great toast, there’s not much to complain about here. There was some slight unevenness in browning between the two sides of the slices of bread, but this was a commonality among most toasters I tested.
What I love: Whoever’s designing the appliances over at Drew Barrymore’s Beautiful line seems to know what they’re doing. I was pleasantly surprised by this $40 toaster for its even browning, great variation in browning levels between each of its seven settings, and touchscreen interface that feels luxe for the price.
The Beautiful’s primarily stainless-steel construction feels sturdy and well-made, and it comes in 11 colors at the time of writing, making it a great choice for anyone looking to add a pop of pastel to their kitchen. The touchscreen interface (which is typically the kind of thing I’d only expect to see in a high-end toaster) lights up when you need it and turns off when you don’t. And, because the buttons are digital, the whole thing is easy to wipe down—no chance of pesky crumbs sneaking into crevices here.
In testing, the Beautiful toaster did an impressive job of toasting white bread to a distinctly different shade at each of its seven browning levels. It also handled bagels, sourdough, and frozen waffles with ease.
What I’d leave: While this toaster comes in more neutral colors like white and black, the look of the gold lever might not be for everyone. It also beeps quite audibly when you turn it on or press the buttons and when your toast is done. This is helpful for knowing that your bread is toasted when you’re across the kitchen scrambling some eggs, but it could be disruptive if you live with others in tight quarters.
What I love: The ‘A Bit More’ is a sleek appliance with luxe touches that’ll get you excited to make your morning toast every day. It has easy-to-use digital controls, including a slider with five browning levels. It also has Toast, Bagel, and Cancel buttons along with the eponymous feature, which allows you to extend your toasting time just slightly if your bread looks a little underdone when it pops out.
Another nice feature: The lights that indicate the doneness black out one by one, serving as a countdown to let you know your toast is almost ready. After using this model on white bread, sourdough, frozen waffles, and bagels, I can attest that it performed consistently well across all of them. It did take longer (over four minutes on the highest toast setting) than other toasters in the test, but my patience was rewarded with evenly browned toast and a healthy range of browning on each heat setting.
What I’d leave: This two-slice model is oriented horizontally, meaning the buttons and sliders are on the long side of the toaster. So if you have a small kitchen with counters that are already crowded with coffee makers and knife blocks, it might be a tight fit. I also found that the side of the toast facing outward tended to be slightly paler, but this was a common fault among most of the toasters I tested.
What I love: While the Breville ‘A Bit
What I love: While the Breville ‘A Bit More’ above does come in a four-slice version, I liked the brand’s other 4-slice toaster, the Die-Cast, more. Both toasters have a four-slice capacity, but the Die-Cast has four individual slots, while the Bit More just has two super-long slots that can fit four slices of bread at a time or two extra-long slices of bread. That means the Die-Cast model is more flexible for different toasting preferences, allowing one person to toast their bagel the way they want it and another person to defrost a waffle to their specification at the same time. Instead of a regular manual lever, the Die-Cast also has a luxurious motorized Lift and Look function that slowly raises your toast like baby Simba from The Lion King. This might seem ostentatious, even wholly unnecessary, but it’s a thoughtful addition that helps prevent you from digging your finished toast out of the slot with a fork (don’t ever stick a fork in the toaster, people).
What I’d leave: I did notice the middle slots of the Die-Cast would brown bread more intensely than the ones on the outside, most likely just from the position of the heating elements. This is also a pretty expensive toaster, but I still think the smartly designed interface makes it a top pick.
White bread test: I toasted slices at every browning setting to gauge the range of browning each toaster could deliver, looking for a clear gradient with distinct differences between each level and the ability to achieve deeply browned toast at the highest setting. I also noted any unevenness between the two sides.
Bagel test: I was looking for toasters with wide enough slots to accommodate a halved NYC bagel that did a good job toasting the cut side without burning the outside or drying the whole thing out. If the toaster had a bagel setting, I used it.
Sourdough test: I toasted thick slices of sourdough to see how each toaster handled crustier breads and how wide, deep, and long the slots were, noting how long it took to achieve a desirable level of browning.
Frozen waffle test: I assessed the defrosting feature on each toaster by toasting frozen waffles, looking for results that were golden brown and crisp on the outside while remaining fluffy on the inside. If a toaster had no frozen setting, I still tested it to see if it could adequately handle frozen carbs.
Build quality: A toaster should feel sturdy, with no wobbling, flimsy levers, or loose buttons. Beyond the body itself, I paid attention to the lift lever and any knobs or dials. Thoughtful construction shows up in the details.
Large item capacity: A good toaster should handle more than standard sandwich bread. The best ones can accommodate a variety of sizes and shapes, lowering each piece fully and toasting it evenly all the way through.
Browning range: There should be a clear, consistent gradient from barely toasted to deeply browned, with a noticeable difference between each setting. If the lightest and darkest settings look the same, that’s a problem.
Defrost without over-toasting: A defrost function is only useful if it works. Too many toasters spit out frozen waffles that are burnt on the outside, cold in the middle, or just soggy. The best ones thaw and toast in a single cycle, producing results that are warm, crisp, and cooked through.
Intuitive settings: Toasters don’t need to be complicated. The best models keep controls straightforward with clear knobs, simple buttons, and no unnecessary features getting in the way of good toast.
Breville’s newest model makes the biggest promise
Breville’s newest model makes the biggest promise of any toaster we’ve ever tried: The company says the Eye Q will be able to tell what shade of brown your bread is. Instead of a timer, which is what every other toaster setting we’re aware of is based on, the Breville uses optic sensors to measure the rate of change in color on the bread. Big if true! We used this toaster a lot over more than a month, and it doesn’t entirely deliver on its promise. We didn’t get a very wide range of shades on the toast; most of toast came out golden brown, even if we set it to the lightest or the darkest setting. However, that also meant this is the only toaster we’ve ever used that made it actually impossible to burn a piece of toast, which is pretty impressive. It’s also the only toaster that comes with a dedicated sourdough setting. After speaking with one of the people who led the development of the Eye Q, senior editor Noah Kaufman learned that that setting takes into account the fact that sourdough tends to come with darker, harder crust than some sandwich breads and is easier to char and can interact with the optical sensors differently. The model comes with Breville’s dramatic automatic toast lift and has an all-around premium feel. All that technology comes at high price, though, at $300 for a two-slice model.
This toaster from Martha Stewart’s brand-new line of countertop appliances performed well in my most recent round of testing. The sleek touchscreen interface includes a whopping 10 different browning settings, which is impressive (if perhaps a tad excessive) and means this toaster is a good option for anyone who wants ultra-precise control over exactly how golden their carbs are. I ultimately felt that the Beautiful toaster accomplished a similar look, feel, and performance quality at a lower price point, but I’d still recommend the Martha toaster if it appeals to you.
Not only does the Smeg look nice, it’s also a dream to use—glossy cherry red exterior (though it comes in a dozen other shades), chrome lever, and intuitive control knob that satisfyingly clicks into place as you select your toasting preferences. While it toasts evenly on all temperature settings, we did notice it runs a little hot and slices could come out darker than expected or even burnt. But we did like the generously sized slots, which could fit hunks of sourdough, and the slide-out crumb tray that makes cleanup a breeze. Overall it’s a great toaster, but an expensive one. We found other models to be better values. Still, we’d recommend this in a heartbeat to anyone who prioritizes style in their kitchen appliances.
The two-slice version of our favorite four-slice toaster, the Breville Die-Cast, looks sleek, works well, and has a hefty price tag. Unlike some models, the Die-Cast has no lever, only buttons. You adjust your setting, press a button, and watch your slice get magically lowered away and pushed back up for your enjoyment when it’s done. The design is also friendly for small spaces—all the controls are on the short side of the toaster instead of the wide side. This makes it easier to nestle in a small spot in your kitchen. Still, the Die-Cast’s a good $60 more than the ‘A Bit More,’ which might push it out of your price range.
Don’t let the silhouette and your assumptions about the flimsiness of the plastic body fool you—the Oster Jelly Bean is actually a quality toaster. While the curvy, charcoal silhouette of the Oster sets it apart from some of its sleek stainless-steel contemporaries, the matte look actually makes it resistant to fingerprints or smudges. It also performed pretty well. It evenly toasted everything I put it up against, even on the higher settings—though the curved design does mean the bread doesn’t get fully submerged for toasting, leaving the tops of your bread bare.
I was charmed by the retro design of this toaster from Haden. Its simple interface is intuitive to use but has everything you need to get the job done: a dial for switching between the six browning levels, and Defrost, Bagel, and Cancel buttons. I didn’t feel it was able to achieve quite as evenly browned results as our top pick, and I thought the different shade settings lacked a bit of variety from each other (especially the middle ones). This toaster also struggled with thicker bread options—its slots were barely wide enough to fit a halved bagel, and the bagel got stuck instead of popping out after toasting. That said, if you’re drawn to this Haden aesthetically, it’s not a bad option.
For one reason or another, these toasters didn’t earn our seal of approval.
The best microwaves, for all that vital defrost action
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A smoothie blender for all those quick pre-commute breakfasts
Additional reporting by Megan Wahn
Source: www.bonappetit.com
