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Your Toast!

Any way you slice it, toast makes the most of any loaf. But which of these worthy appliances will make toast of the competition?

toasters expert tartine prueitt elisabeth rboertson chad portrait

San Francisco’s Tartine Bakery is as renowned for its gateaux and gamine waitstaff as for the queue that invariably snakes outside the bakery and down the sidewalk. On weekends, patrons swarm, anxiously awaiting a seat in the jam-packed eatery, praying to benevolent brioche gods that the last almond croissant has not been sold. Sadly, if you arrive past noon, it likely has been.

For those lowly souls who aren’t early risers (or Bay Area residents, for that matter), owners Elisabeth Prueitt and Chad Robertson have lent their expertise in all things leavened to help assess Dwell’s top picks for the most humble of kitchen appliances: the toaster. A servant to sliced bread since its patent in 1905, the electric toaster has seen little change over the past century, and for good reason:
A simple box, flanked on either side by heated coils and outfitted with a spring-loaded compartment (patented in 1926), the toaster makes palatable even the most wondrously bland bread. Prueitt and Robertson’s bakery is named for what is, essentially, the French term for toast (a piece of bread—–be it freshly baked, toasted, or grilled—–on which something is spread), and Dwell couldn’t think of
a better duo to judge the merits of these five toasters or, as we prefer to call them, tartinerators.

  • Viking_Professional toaster_Rep_Jun08

    Professional Series Toaster

    Expert Opinion: I thought of it as the Hummer of toasters: There is no improvement to the function, given its size-to-function ratio; it’s just really big and heavy. Also, to fit a slice of free-form or artisan bread, you’d have to cut it in half. It has this little sheet that you pull out to facilitate cleaning, but it’s also huge and bulky; with the other toasters, you could just turn them upside down to clean them out.

    What We Think: The Viking toaster is substantial both in looks and in price: It’s as if they want to make everything look like an oven range—–even their small appliances are designed to look “professional grade.” If you have a lot of counter space and prefer to have many color options, this might be the toaster for you.

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  • Rowenta_Morrison Toaster_Rep_Jun08

    Morrison Toaster

    Expert Opinion: This made really good toast; it was the favorite. It’s really spare, and very similar to the Alessi, so it depends on which finish you prefer. The sensor feature didn’t seem to be all that useful. It made me think of when microwaves first came out, and they had the chicken and fish settings; it doesn’t know how big the fish is, so sure, it’s a selling point, but as far as functionality is concerned it doesn’t make much of a difference.

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  • Alessi_SG68 W_Rep_Jun08

    SG68 W

    Expert Opinion: We should preface this appraisal by saying we look for something that will accommodate a thicker hand-cut slice of artisan bread, which is what I think a lot of people are toasting now. You’ll need a toaster that accommodates that, like this one. Both the Alessi and the Rowenta have a wide slot that can fit two sandwich slices or one big piece. They’re both simple and easy to use.

    What We Think: The SG68 is a slick toaster, designed, perhaps, to blend seamlessly with a very Italian-looking stainless steel kitchen, but the finish also reflects a lot of butter-smeared fingerprints. We’re not sure how often we would use the bun-warming feature and are a bit dubious of its functionality, but overall this is a very nice-looking toaster.

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  • Breville_Ikon Toaster_Rep_Jun08

    Ikon Toaster

    Expert Opinion: The Breville is in between the Viking and the others. It’s a little bit smaller, and sort of cute. A lot of the toasters have timers and all these special settings, but we tend to like the simpler ones. Depending on what you’re toasting, you’re going to have to makeadjustments yourself; you can’t expect the toaster to tell you.

    What We Think: This toaster may look like the bargain brand, but it shares many of the same features as the more expensive options. It’s nice to have a less expensive toaster that accommodates artisan bread but is also fairly compact.

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  • Krups_TT6190_Rep_Jun 08

    TT6190

    Expert Opinion: The Krups is attractive, but the slots are so tiny they could barely fit a normal slice of sandwich bread; if you put a Wonder Bread slice in there, it’d stick out the top. Maybe they got the measurements wrong or something!

    What We Think: This toaster’s slight increase in girth toward the bottom lends it a sturdy elegance, and its many features are displayed with an attractive simplicity. It manages to pack a lot of options into a relatively straightforward design, but if you can’t fit your bread inside, it’s obviously not going to serve you well.

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