House & Home
Kitchen

All the best toasters that we tested and loved

Spoiler alert: Breville’s 4-Slice Toaster is out of this world.
By Jenna Clark  on 
All products featured here are independently selected by our editors and writers. If you buy something through links on our site, Mashable may earn an affiliate commission.

Our Top 5 Picks

Breville Bit More 4-Slice Toaster (opens in a new tab)

Our top pick

Look no further than the Breville Bit More 4-Slice Toaster equipped with various visual features you can refer to during the process.

The Good

  • LED progress display
  • Can fit extra wide slides of bread
  • “Lift & Look”™ lever
  • Fits four slices
  • High lift lever feature

The Bad

  • Takes up lots of counter space
  • Instruction manual was in the delivery box and not the product box
  • Longer toasting time

The Bottom Line

If you have the means to splurge on a toaster, the Breville Bit More 4-Slice Toaster is the best with its unique features and ability to thoroughly toast bread.
Pros & Cons

Proctor Silex 2 Slice Toaster with Extra Wide Slots (opens in a new tab)

Best budget pick

A quality, budget-friendly choice that will produce an even toast for both bread and bagels.

The Good

  • Affordable
  • Produces an even toast
  • Extra wide slots
  • Bread easily slides into the slots

The Bad

  • Strong burning odor

The Bottom Line

If you want to toast while on a budget, the Proctor Silex 2 Slice Toaster is a good choice.
Pros & Cons

Hamilton Beach Brushed Stainless Steel 2-Slice Toaster (opens in a new tab)

Best simple toaster

Simple and straightforward, this toaster is both easy to use and easy to clean up after.

The Good

  • Easy clean-up with slide-out crumb tray
  • Affordable option
  • Extra wide toast slots
  • Easy to use

The Bad

  • No bagel button
  • Instruction paper could be more user-friendly
  • Toast shade isn’t specified
  • Not as dark of a toast using the highest setting

The Bottom Line

If a simple toaster is what you seek, this is a solid option at a great price.
Pros & Cons

Cuisinart CPT-520 2-Slice Motorized Toaster (opens in a new tab)

Best for going beyond bread

This toaster is equipped to toast white and wheat bread, pastries, bagels, and English muffins.

The Good

  • MemorySet button is helpful for future toasting
  • Can specify what you’re toasting with several buttons
  • Easy-to-read instruction manual
  • Through toast
  • Removable crumb tray

The Bad

  • Made a noise while toasting

The Bottom Line

If you’re looking for a toaster that can toast more than just bread, this is one of your better choices.
Pros & Cons

Cuisinart CPT-122 Compact Plastic 2-Slice Toaster (opens in a new tab)

Fastest option

Simple, straightforward, and works faster than the other models we tested.

The Good

  • Larger control lever
  • Quick toast
  • Bagel button
  • More affordable
  • Ideal for small spaces

The Bad

  • Not the most thorough toast on the darkest shade setting

The Bottom Line

The Cuisinart CPT-122 toaster can toast bread or a bagel quickly to get you started with your day as soon as possible.
Pros & Cons

Do you like toast? Of course you do.

We spent hours testing toasters to come up with this final list of favorites. Believe it or not, toasters are more complex than you think.

Although all toasters toast, not all toasters are the same. The simplest toasters will quickly toast bread with the turn of a dial and the push of a lever, whereas the fanciest options will feature more ways to customize your toasting experience.

What should I consider when buying a toaster? 

When it comes to buying a toaster, here are a few key things you should be keeping in mind when selecting the best choice for you: 

How many pieces?

When buying a toaster, you should consider how often you’ll be making toast and how many slices you’ll be making at a time. If you’re someone who occasionally enjoys toast, a two-slice toaster will likely do the trick. However, if eat toast a lot or consistently cook for a large group of people, we recommend opting for a four-slice toaster. 

plates with toast
During testing, we evaluated total toast coverage and even browning. Credit: Jenna Clark for Mashable

Shade levels 

Different toasters have different shade levels. You should do your research before buying to ensure the toaster you choose will brown the toast the way you like. Plus, some toasters direct users to select the desired shade with a dial while others may use a lever or another kind of mechanism. 

Features

A crumb tray is an essential feature you should look for as a toaster that lacks this will leave quite a mess.  

A quick view feature is also beneficial for being able to check on your toast throughout the process. Not all toasters are the same, so this allows you to be in control of how much heat you’re applying to the bread and gives you the option to remove them at any time (after pressing the cancel button, of course). 

For an even comparison, we tested each toaster using its highest shade setting to see which produced the darkest and most thorough toast. With that being said, our top pick is the Breville Bit More 4-Slice Toaster(opens in a new tab) as it toasted the most evenly and had the most visually stimulating features. However, the Cuisinart CPT-520 2-Slice Motorized Toaster(opens in a new tab) was a close second with its large button selection and ability to cater to multiple kinds of bread.

Read on to discover more about our top five toasters, and find the one that is best suited to your toasting needs and budget.

Our top pick
Credit: Jenna Clark for Mashable
Specs
  • Slots: Two
  • Shades: Five
  • Dimensions: 15¾ x 8 x 7¾ inches
  • Buttons: A bit more, bagel, frozen, cancel

The Breville Bit More 4-Slice Toaster(opens in a new tab) retails for $149.99, and while that might seem expensive at first glance, this toaster makes some of the best toast of the bunch. Out of all of the toasters we tested, this one toasted the most effectively, almost completely browning the bread and the crust. 

The only issue we had with this toaster is that the instruction book was not in the product box, but instead inside the delivery box; this seemed counterintuitive at the time of testing. 

Although this toaster took the longest to toast to the darkest shade (this toaster has 5 levels that can be toggled to using the variable browning control slide), the nearly four minutes it took was worth it for the slice of crispy bread that was produced. We also appreciated the toaster’s “high lift” feature which helped raise the toast up to prevent burning fingers when removing it. 

Its LED progress display was a nice visual element and helpful so we could determine when the toast was going to be ready, and the “Lift & Look”™ lever was especially nice for checking on the progress of the toast without having to shart the process all over.

Best budget pick
Credit: Jenna Clark for Mashable
Specs
  • Slots: Two extra wide slots
  • Shades: Seven
  • Dimensions: 7.2 x 8.5 x 12.63 inches
  • Buttons: Bagel, One-Slice Sure-Toast, cancel

This is a great toaster for anyone who makes toast regularly but doesn’t want to pay for a premium-priced toaster. For just under $40, the Proctor Silex 2 Slice Toaster with Extra Wide Slots(opens in a new tab) is a viable option 

Like other models we tested, this toaster was easy to use and didn’t require a lot of outside knowledge. We found the instruction paper to be hard to digest though, as it was filled with a bunch of information in tiny font across multiple columns. 

What makes this toaster stand out is its One Slice Sure-Toast™ button, which provides a single slice of toast with even color on both sides.  

In just under three minutes, this toaster was able to evenly toast the two slices of bread we put in, but emitted some strong burning odors in the process. Even with the lower price tag, this machine produces some high-quality toast and is worth adding to your cart.

Best simple toaster
Credit: Jenna Clark for Mashable
Specs
  • Slots: Two extra-wide slots
  • Shades: Seven
  • Dimensions: 11.30 x 7.48 x 7.48 inches
  • Buttons: Cancel

If you’re looking for a simple toaster that will produce a thorough toast, you should consider the Hamilton Beach Brushed Stainless Steel 2-Slice Toaster(opens in a new tab). Even though this brushed stainless steel toaster may not produce the most thorough toast as some of the other toasters we tested (like the Breville Bit More 4-Slice Toaster or the Cuisinart CPT-520 2-Slice Motorized Toaster), it does a wonderful toasting job considering it retails for around $40.

During testing, we found this toaster to be easy to use. All we had to do was plug it in, place the bread in the slots, select the toast shade, press down on the bread lifter, and wait for the toast to pop up. The toasting time was what we found to be average at about three minutes. Since this toaster and the corresponding instruction sheet do not describe the toast shades at varying levels, we had to infer that 1 would produce a lighter shade and 7 would produce a darker shade. 

Another selling point is that this toaster lives up to its promotional hype. It promotes itself as having two extra-wide slots, and the larger slices of whole wheat bread we used when testing fit into the slots without an issue. Additionally, this toaster comes with a slide-out crumb tray which makes for fast and easy clean-up. 

Best for going beyond bread
Credit: Jenna Clark for Mashable

From the moment we opened the box, to the moment we cleaned it up, we were impressed with the Cuisinart CPT-520 2-Slice Motorized Toaster(opens in a new tab). Out of all of the toasters we tested, this one had the most buttons at six: bread type (white bread, pastry, bagel, English muffin, whole wheat, waffle), toast shade, memory, defrost, single-slice, QuickView, and +30 secs. 

This toaster made it easy to know what to expect from each of the settings with its detailed instruction booklet outlining every little detail. The toast we made during testing came out the best out of all of the 2-slice toasters we tested, as it produced an even toast that browned the entire middle and a majority of the crust of both slices. 

The only downside we experienced while testing this toaster was that it made a noise. Although the noise wasn’t unbearable, it’s not the most ideal if there are any light sleepers in your home. Cleaning was made easy with a removable crumb tray, although we found it a bit difficult to find at first since it wasn’t pictured in the diagram in the instruction booklet. Once we located the tray, it was easy enough to slide out and get rid of crumbs.  

Considering this toaster was one of the more advanced and expensive models tested, we deemed it to be one of the better options if you plan on using a toaster to toast more than just bread. 

Fastest option
Credit: Jenna Clark for Mashable

If you’re somebody who is always in a hurry, the Cuisinart CPT-122 Compact Plastic 2-Slice Toaster(opens in a new tab) may just be what you need to ensure you have some breakfast in hand before heading out the door. 

During testing, we found that the toast produced was not nearly as thorough as that of the other options we tested. Although the toaster did brown the bread, the shade produced at the highest setting looked as though we had opted for one of the medium shade settings. 

For $55, we liked its compact size and how quickly it was able to toast, taking about two minutes and thirty seconds (which was faster than any of the other toasters we tested). Plus, this toaster had a crumb tray so cleaning up was easy.

More in Kitchen

How we tested

We hands-on tested each of the toasters on this list by cooking two large slices of the same kind of whole wheat bread in each one at the highest setting or shade level. 

We tested models with varying price points from the budget-friendly options to the more expensive ones. 

While testing, here are some of the things we looked out for: 

Toast: We compared the toasters looking at the coverage of toasting that occurred with the use of each toaster and the amount of time it took to toast them. We also looked for whether or not the toast was even.  

Best bang for the buck: We compared toasters in several categories to see if we thought they delivered on the value for the price. 

Cool factor/settings: When testing these toasters, we considered whether or not they had any unique features or settings that made them stand out from each other or brought something new to the table. 

Ease of use and learning curve: Kitchen gadgets (yes even toasters) may feel overwhelming, especially for those newer to the kitchen. We tested these toasters to see how intuitive they are for users as well as how easy or complex their instruction manuals and user guides are to digest and navigate. 

Shade levels: We ensured the toaster models we selected had at least five shade levels. 

Clean-up process: We noted how easy each of the toasters were to clean up after, as well as whether the toasters had features that helped with the process. 

Headshot of a person with long brown and purple hair smiling gently
Jenna Clark
Contributor

Jenna Clark is a freelance writer who covers commerce, travel, beauty, and lifestyle. Her work has been featured in Insider, The Daily Beast, Well+Good, and Taste of Home. When not reviewing the latest products or traveling, you'll likely find her at a theme park or watching the latest Broadway show. 

You can follow her on Instagram @JennaElizClark(opens in a new tab) and Twitter @JennaElizClark(opens in a new tab)


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