The Best Toaster - 2022
We looked at the top 17 Toasters and dug through the reviews from 65 of the most popular review sites including and more. The result is a ranking of the best Toasters.
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Our Picks For The Top Toasters
- The Best Toaster
- 1. AmazonBasics 2-Slice Extra-Wide Slot Toaster
- 2. Hamilton Beach 2-Slice Extra-Wide Toaster
- 3. Elite Gourmet Long 4-Slice Toaster
- 4. Cuisinart CPT-435 Countdown 4-Slice Stainless Steel Toaster
- 5. CUSINAID 2 Slice Wide Slot Toaster
- 6. AmazonBasics 2-Slot Toaster
- 7. Smeg TSF01PBUS 50’s Retro Style Toaster
- 8. Cuisinart Compact 2-Slice Toaster
- 9. Breville 4-Slice Smart Toaster
- 10. Cuisinart Compact 4-Slice Toaster
- 11. KitchenAid 2-Slice Toaster
- 12. Bella Pro Series 2-Slice Toaster 11.8″
- 13. Breville The Bit 2-Slice Toaster
- 14. T-fal Avante Icon 2-Slice Toaster
- 15. Oster Jellybean 2-Slice Toaster
- 16. KRUPS 4-Slice Toaster
- 17. Vremi 2-Slice Toaster
Extra-Lift LeverWith this toaster oven's inclusion of the extra-lift lever, you'll be able to remove smaller breads with ease.
Wide WidthA high-lift boaster is one of the best features in this toaster, as it raises your bread high enough to grab without touching the machine's surface.
Variable LevelsThis toaster has extra-wide slots with room for up to four slices of toast.
Large CapacityYou'll be able to prepare four slices of toast at once with this family-friendly toaster oven.
Why we recommend these toasters?
Products Considered
Products Analyzed
Expert Reviews Included
User Opinions Analyzed
Our experts reviewed the top 17 Toasters and also dug through the reviews from 65 of the most popular review sites including and more. The result is a ranking of the best of the best Toasters.
DWYM is your trusted roduct review source. Our team reviews thousands of product reviews from the trusted top experts and combines them into one easy-to-understand score. Learn more.
The Best Overall
AmazonBasics 2-Slice Extra-Wide Slot Toaster
Our Take
If you're searching for a basic toaster oven for quickly cooking a set of toast or two bagel halves in the morning, this model is your best bet. It comes with extra-wide slits and an extra-lift lever to accommodate breads of various sizes. You'll also get six browning settings, a defrost button and a cancel button.
What other experts liked
What other experts didn't like
The Best Bang For Your Buck
Hamilton Beach 2-Slice Extra-Wide Toaster
Our Take
Thanks to the extra-wide slots on this toaster, you'll be able to toast everything from bread to thick bagels. There are seven different shade selectors, so you can get your toast as brown as you like it. Additional features include an automatic shut-off and a cancel button.
Overall Product Rankings
4. Cuisinart CPT-435 Countdown 4-Slice Stainless Steel Toaster
Our Toaster Findings
AmazonBasics 2-Slice Extra-Wide Slot Toaster
What We Liked: If you’re searching for a basic toaster oven for quickly cooking a set of toast or two bagel halves in the morning, this model is your best bet. It comes with extra-wide slits and an extra-lift lever to accommodate breads of various sizes. You’ll also get six browning settings, a defrost button and a cancel button.
Smeg TSF01PBUS 50’s Retro Style Toaster
What We Liked: If you’re looking to add some character to your kitchen, go with this retro-style toaster oven. It comes in bold colors, like yellow, red, rose gold, green and blue. There are rubber feet to protect the toaster from scratching your counters, as well as six browning levels, three pre-set programs and a removable stainless steel crumb tray.
Breville 4-Slice Smart Toaster
What We Liked: Breville’s modern toaster has LED lights to indicate how far along it is in the toasting process. The “Lift and Look” button lets you check on your bread without cooling it off. You can hit “A Bit More” if you want things just a little more toasted. It’s a little bigger and pricier than our other picks, but the smart features make it well worth the investment.
KitchenAid 2-Slice Toaster
What We Liked: KitchenAid’s toaster is loaded with features. It automatically lowers and lifts your bread, and it can tell when your bread reaches your perfect level of toasted. It’s easy to use for large batch toasting or when you’re browning a single slice. In our testing, we liked the three-prong cord and the smooth lever. Plus, the design is sleek.
Hamilton Beach 2-Slice Extra-Wide Toaster
What We Liked: Thanks to the extra-wide slots on this toaster, you’ll be able to toast everything from bread to thick bagels. There are seven different shade selectors, so you can get your toast as brown as you like it. Additional features include an automatic shut-off and a cancel button.
CUSINAID 2 Slice Wide Slot Toaster
What We Liked: You’ll get six toasting modes with this toaster oven, so you won’t have any trouble enjoying your toast as light or dark as you please. There are also buttons for defrosting or reheating your bread. This toaster is especially a great choice for anyone who prefers to cook bagels or thick breads, as it has extra-wide slots.
Cuisinart CPT-435 Countdown 4-Slice Stainless Steel Toaster
What We Liked: This toaster oven has all the bells and whistles. It’s made using a durable and attractive stainless steel that won’t rust or stain. Users will love the blue LED function buttons, as well as slots for up to four pieces of bread.
Elite Gourmet Long 4-Slice Toaster
What We Liked: With six adjustable toasting levels, this toaster allows you to get your bread as light or as dark as you wish. The unit features reheat and defrost buttons, as well as an eject button for removing your toast ahead of the timer. The toaster is also easy to clean, thanks to the inclusion of the drop-down crumb tray.
Our Toaster Buying Guide
Toasters are a kitchen counter standby that make every meal a little tastier. Browned English muffins add crunch to your breakfast, a toasted bagel warms your lunchtime tuna melt and browned buns add a “wow” factor to your burgers.
The small-but-mighty toaster is responsible for all of these creations. You might not give much thought to this little appliance, but there’s a lot going on after you hit the “toast” button.
Toasters brown your bread by turning electricity into heat. Electricity flows from your wall’s outlet through your toaster’s power cord to the inside of the unit.
The electric current moves through a series of slender conducting filaments. If you’ve ever looked inside your toaster while it’s working and noticed glowing, red hot wires around your slice of bread, those are the filaments doing their job. The filaments beam heat toward your bread using infrared radiation. The steady supply of heat from the filaments rapidly cooks your bread.
When your bread has reached the desired toast level you selected, the toaster either turns off automatically with a timer or pops your bread up with a spring-loaded tray. Many models have removable crumb trays built into the toaster, so you can grab your piping hot bagel without getting crumbs all over your kitchen.
Toasters all use similar internal heating mechanisms, but different models have different features and options. A standard model has two slots to toast two slices of bread at once. Higher-end models have four slots, including an “Extra Long” slot for larger slices of bread.
You’ve got choices when it comes to controlling your toaster’s time and intensity levels, too. Some models have a timer that goes up to seven minutes, plus a lever so you can manually lift your toast out. Others also have bagel, defrost and reheat buttons. You’ll even come across toasters that have seven toast shade settings, and use advanced toasting technology for a consistent result every time.
Different kinds of bread may require different toasters. A toaster that has extra-wide slots is best for accommodating heartier bread, while the Cuisinart CPT-435 4-Slice Stainless Steel Toaster has a special setting for bagels and frozen bread.
Toasters aren’t purely utilitarian — they can also add a fun edge to your kitchen’s decor. AmazonBasics 2-Slot Toaster has a modern, rounded design with an elegant black finish. Cuisinart CPT-435 4-Slice Stainless Steel Toaster goes the classic route with a stainless steel body, while other toasters come in a fresh pop of color.
Whether you go high-tech with a modern toaster or low-key with a classic design, you’ll want to think about a few things before you choose your new appliance.
DWYM Fun Fact
Toasters might seem like a simple appliance, but nailing down the technology that makes it safe to heat up bread was trickier than you’d think.
Up until the early 1900s, people were still toasting bread by placing it in a metal frame and holding it over an open flame. Inventors struggled to find a safe heating element for countertop toasters. It needed to be sturdy enough to withstand repeated heated and cooling, but most materials got brittle and broke apart after a few tries. A few inventors tried making a toaster with iron wires, but they melted at high temperatures, creating a serious fire hazard.
An engineer named Albert Marsh finally solved the toaster’s troubles in 1905. He patented an alloy of nickel and chromium called Nichrome, which could heat up toaster filaments without breaking or catching on fire. The days of warming morning toast over an open fire were finally over — and today, we have more toaster options than ever before.
The Toaster Tips and Advice
- How often will you use your toaster? If you’re a big fan of toasted sandwiches and bagels, you might want to drop some extra cash for a feature-rich mode, like the Cuisinart CPT-435 4-Slice Stainless Steel Toaster. On a budget? The AmazonBasics 2-Slot Toaster works just as well without the bells and whistles.
- How much free countertop room do you have? Look for a model that takes up only as much space as a standard piece of computer paper, and one that has under base cord storage to keep things tidy when it’s not in use. Other models are several inches larger and weigh twice as much, but they are loaded with extra features.
- What kinds of bread will you be toasting? Some models have an extra-long slot for artisanal bread, while others have a one-touch option for warming up bagels.
- How particular are you about your toast’s done-ness? Some toasters have six shade settings from a little crunchy to extra crispy. The Cuisinart CPT-435 4-Slice Stainless Steel Toaster has seven browning settings, as well as bagel, defrost and reheat buttons. It also has a “Lift and Look” button to make sure your toast looks perfect.
About The Author
Abby Stassen has a bachelor's degree in English language & literature from the University of Michigan. She's been writing professionally for over a decade. Food is medicine, and if you've got the right tools you can have fun creating delicious medicine every day. Abby loves cooking, and she only uses kitchen products that meet her exacting standards. Whether it's air fryers, electric steamers or the perfect set of cutlery, Abby knows which kitchen products deserve an online mention.
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