There’s nothing worse than a slice of toast that’s black in the middle and soft and breadlike around the edges, which is why it’s worth putting a bit of time and research into buying your next toaster. There are a number of factors you need to consider when choosing a toaster. These include the cooking features, design, controls and size of the device. The latter is especially important if you have a large family to feed or are looking for a toaster to use in more professional settings, as in these scenarios two slots might not cut it. Other factors to consider include whether the toaster has a manual pop-up lever and whether it offers more advanced temperature controls for toasting other baked goods such as crumpets, muffins and bagels. We’ve thoroughly tested every single toaster on this list to help you find only the best for your bread. Whether you’ve just moved out of your family home and are investing in your first toaster or your old one is ready to retire, here are all the best replacements available right now.
Best toasters at a glance
Best overall toaster: Dualit 4 Slot Lite Toaster – check priceLow-cost, high-quality toast: Swan Fearne 2-Slice Toaster – check priceAn attractive mid-range toaster with a solid build: Morphy Richards Evoke 4-Slice Toaster – check priceA sturdy and effective two-slot toaster: Dualit Studio 2-Slice Toaster – check priceA toaster with four huge slots: Dualit Domus Four-Slice Toaster – check priceA retro-looking two-slot toaster for up to four slices of bread: Smeg TSF02 4-Slice 2-Slot Toaster
The toaster combines Dualit’s classic design with a number of modern controls. It’s available in six high gloss finishes – canvas white, black gloss, gloss cream, metallic red, gloss red and metallic red – and the classic curvy design makes this toaster look good in both contemporary and retro-styled kitchens. The toaster includes four extra-wide 36mm slots, a dial to control browsing and dedicated defrost and bagel buttons. There’s also the Peek & Pop function, which lets you check your toast’s progress without cancelling the cycle. The cable length is okay at 90cm but there’s cable management underneath the toaster to store any excess. When it comes to actually using the toaster, we found the results to be exceedingly even, with few stripes whether the bread was toasted horizontally or vertically. Both sides popped up after 2 minutes and 15 seconds. This toaster uses Dualit’s Perfect Toast Technology to base the toasting time on the ambient temperature and the temperature of the toaster to keep every slice consistent. This meant that the second round only took 1 minute and 50 seconds. Overall, this toaster performs brilliantly. It’s a bit pricey but browsing is even, the slots are extra-wide and the built-in intelligence creates consistent results. If you’re looking for something cheaper, we’d also recommend looking at the Morphy Richards Rose Gold Toaster. Reviewer: Caramel Quin Full review: Dualit 4 Slot Lite Toaster The toaster has a solid, understated design with retro accents and is available in four pastel shades – Lily, Pale Honey, Peacock and Truffle. You can see Truffle, which is an off-white, almost grey shade in the photo above. The browning controls range from 1 to 6 with halfway points marked on the dial. This means you can fine-tune your toast level, though we didn’t find the slight increments always made a big difference. There are also buttons for cancel, reheat and defrost and the cable is 80cm long and can be wound around hooks under the toaster. Swan recommends you not toast anything thicker than 2cm with this model, but we found we were comfortably able to toast crumpets that were 2.5cm thick. When it came time to toast bread, we found that the best results were between settings 3 and 4 with the bread placed sideways as this prevents the bread from sticking out of the top. Fresh white bread took less than three minutes to come out nicely browned, while crumpets took three minutes and 20 seconds at setting 5. The pastel design and cursive fonts aren’t for everyone, but if you like them, the Swan Fearne 2-Slice Toaster is a great budget-friendly option. Reviewer: Helen Harjak Full review: Swan Fearne 2-Slice Toaster Like the Dualit 4 Slot Lite Toaster, the Evoke 4-Slice Toaster has a design that bridges the gap between modern and retro and comes in a wide range of colours, including Rose Gold Collection and special edition finishes. The four feet are what set this toaster apart from the Accents range, as the Evoke is less likely to tip forward when you push the two levers at the same time. Otherwise, the Evoke is large, shiny (watch out for fingerprints) and features a short 75cm cable with hooks underneath the toaster to wrap any excess. We found this toaster produced even and crunchy results, with setting 3.5 being the sweet spot when starting from a cold toaster. With this toaster, a vertical placement works best as very little bread is left sticking out and laying the bread horizontally is quite snug. The toasting time for white bread in a cooled-down toaster at setting 3.5 was just under three minutes, while crumpets took 3 minutes and 45 seconds on setting 5. All-in-all, the Morphy Richards Evoke 4-Slice is a very capable mid-range toaster with a solid design that comes in a wide variety of finishes to suit different kitchens. If you prefer the addition of a bagel setting and take-a-peek option, we’d also recommend checking out the Dualit 4 Slot Lite Toaster, or for a keep-warm function and motorised lift, make sure to see our review on the KitchenAid Artisan 5KMT2204. Reviewer: Helen Harjak Full review: Morphy Richards Evoke 4-Slice Toaster The toaster is slightly cheaper than the 2-slice version of Dualit’s 4-Slot Lite Toaster, but it has seen some of the more interesting functions pared down to standard ones. That said, it’s still a fast and consistent toaster. The Studio 2-Slice Toaster has a striking design that looks great in most kitchens without being overly distracting. It’s sturdy but lightweight and comes in sleek black, white and grey colours with a generous 90cm cable and hooks underneath to wrap it. There are defrost and reheat buttons on either side of the browning dial, which lights up in red to become a cancel button once the lever is pushed down. The slots are 3.5cm wide, but Dualit cautions that the thickest slice the toaster will fit is 2.8cm. However, the toasting slot isn’t the tallest, so we recommend toasting taller bread horizontally. We found setting 4 to be perfect for medium-white slices and the toaster is fast, browning bread in just 2 minutes and 10 seconds. Reheating takes 30 seconds and bread can go from frozen to crispy in under 2 minutes and 25 seconds. If you’re looking for a solid, straightforward 2-slice toaster with a stylish design, the Dualit Studio won’t disappoint. However, bigger families will want to look at 4-slice options on this list. Reviewer: Helen Harjak Full review: Dualit Studio 2-Slice Toaster The Domus Four-Slice Toaster has a large, bulbous design that doesn’t quite have the same retro appeal as say the Dualit 4 Slot Lite Toaster or the Smeg TSF02 4-Slice 2-Slot Toaster. It’s even big and heavy compared to many other four-slot machines. However, this toaster is sturdy and feels fantastic to use. There are 9 browning levels and you have the option to lift the lever and peek at the toast without cancelling the toasting process. Like the Dualit 4 Slot Lite, the Domus Four-Slice Toaster adjusts the toasting time based on the background temperature to avoid over-cooking bread and give consistent results every time. The toaster also has the same frozen and bagel settings, though there’s no reheat button. This means there’s no way to warm up your toast again without risking browning it further and there’s no single-slot button to avoid heating up an empty slot when you want to toast an odd number of slices. The slots are 140cm long and are deep enough that you shouldn’t need to lay standard supermarket bread on its side to get an even browning. The toaster also produces some of the best toast we’ve ever eaten, with the large slots ensuring bread is toasted all the way to the edge. If you’re looking for a toaster that can handle chunky homemade bread and larger loaves, then the Dualit Domus is a great option. Reviewer: Simon Handby Full review: Dualit Domus Four-Slice Toaster The Smeg TSF02 has a glossy retro design that matches Smeg’s other appliances. It comes in a wide range of super shiny colours, including cream, white, black, red, pastel blue, chrome, pink and pastel green. The design is also sturdy, meaning the toaster is unlikely to tip over when you push the lever down, and there’s a long 88cm cable that can hook under the toaster for easy storage. Of course, the standout feature here is the two large slots. These are spacious, allowing you to toast very long bread, including slices of sourdough and halved baguettes. Beneath the lever, there’s a 6-level browning dial split into two increments, allowing you to toast your bread at 2.5 or 3.5 if you wish. There’s also a reheat button on the dial, meaning you don’t need to guess which level the dial should be at before hitting reheat. Like the Dualit 4 Slot Lite Toaster and the Dualit Domus Four-Slice Toaster, this toaster also has a specific bagel programme which can be used for bagels, flatbreads, muffins and baguettes. However, both slots do share the same set of controls. We found the slots to be not quite long enough to place two slices of supermarket bread horizontally without them overlapping, while horizontal slices were left pale at the top where they stuck out of the toaster. For this reason, we’d recommend either opting for smaller loaves when toasting four slices or sticking to just two slices at a time for the most even browning. The Smeg TSF02 is a gorgeous toaster with slots long enough for sourdough slices and half baguettes and a handy bagel function. However, there is only one set of controls so, for those looking to make two types of toast at once, opt for the Morphy Richards Evoke 4-Slice Toaster instead. Reviewer: Helen Harjak Full review: Smeg TSF02 4-Slice 2-Slot Toaster
