KitchenAid Retro Automatic Pop-Up Toaster, 2-Slice

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.

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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 other toasters may have 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. Some models have a modern, rounded design with an elegant black finish. Others go the classic route with a stainless steel body.

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.

• 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. On a budget? Go with a toaster that 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.

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• How particular are you about your toast’s done-ness? Some toasters have six shade settings from a little crunchy to extra crispy. Others have seven browning settings, as well as bagel, defrost and reheat buttons.