A far above average toaster

Author's Rating:

Pros: Easy to use controls, cool to the touch exterior, good and even toasting

Cons: Could use a better crumb tray, Some controls available only after inserting toast

The Bottom Line: 
Once you get used to it, this toaster is fantastic.

Author's Review
This is a really nice, and nice looking if you get black, toaster. It also comes in white but I typically don't like white appliances.

Has extra-wide slots with the self centering grids that close against the toast after its inserted to center the toast and help even toasting.

The cool touch is nice (especially if you've ever brushed up against a hot toaster) since it's a plastic casing covering the exterior of the toaster.

The controls are for the most part fairly simple, but they don't quite operate as simply as they could. The controls for setting how dark you want your toast are simple. You set the darkness with darker and lighter buttons and the darkness is indicated by an LED bar. The longer the bar, the darker the toast. The setting is stored as long as the toaster is plugged in.

It also has nice features such as defrost/bagel/and 2-slice only toasting. While those are nice features, they're also the only unusual controls about the toaster. In order to select one of those options, you have to first start toasting, then hit the button for that option.

The only other thing I have noticed is the crumb tray consists of two smaller trays, sized to fit directly underneath the toast slots. It would be nice if it was a single tray more nearly the width of the toaster, as sometimes when taking the toast out, some of the crumbs come off and slip between the crack where the metal toaster and the plastic casing have a gap. This ends up allowing crumbs to fall around the crumb tray through the bottom of the toaster.

All in all, this is a fantastic toaster as it toasts perfectly and evenly every time. The minor issues are just that, very minor as far as I'm concerned.