Decent toaster?

[Pete Verdon]

Why vertical? Sounds harder to engineer for no obvious benefit.

Apart from that, what you describe sounds exactly like the Army cookhouse toasters I mentioned elsewhere in the thread, and which we also have in our canteen at work. A flexible steel conveyor belt[1] carries bread between two horizontal elements. You put the bread on at the front, it falls off as toast at the back and slides down a chute under the machine back to the front again. Both the element heat and the belt speed are adjustable (though you'd think only one needed to be). The only sensible way to prepare lots of toast quickly, but daft for domestic use as the heat wasted during warming up and cooling down would be out of proportion to the amount used to toast a paltry couple of slices.

Pete

[1] The belt flexes, the individual steel wires don't

[tinnews]

Many, many years ago (before we lived abroad for several years and came back so we don't have anything left from that era) we bought a toaster that had a photocell to detect how brown the toast was. From what I remember it seemed to work quite well too, it wasn't an expensive toaster either - it couldn't have been, we were not very well off them.

Too many variables, even the same bread varies considerably from when it's fresh to when it's old[ish].

I guess a Dualit must cool down fast then.

I just look down into the toaster, hardly difficult.

[Clint Sharp]

Smaller footprint. If you've ever been in a McD kitchen then you'd know how important that is. (No, I don't have a part time job at the drive through) It's almost a vertical version of the one you describe but it only toasts one side and it actually places the bun in contact with the heated surface so it's a contact toaster.

>

[Dymphna]

I need a toaster that works too. Only I have something else to contend with. Last year, in looking for things my children could afford to get me for Christmas, so when they said, "Mom what do you want for Christmas?" I said a new toaster. Well my son got me one. It is worse than the old one I had. The slots are so small I can't fit a whole piece of bread in it and so I have to turn it over to get the second half toasted. The spring on it is so bad I have to hold the handle up while pulling the bread out if it is something smaller. But I can't just get rid of it because it was a gift. LOL

[T i m]

Is that the one with 4 forward facing slots at 45 degrees?

Do you never need to toast weird shaped slices (as Rod mentions)? Nothing finer than what looks like a slice of rugby ball, nicely toasted and covered in butter. ;-)

We bought a cheap 4 slice (twin longslot) toaster from Argos but didn't use it for long, leaving it out in it's box for the dustman after a week. ;-(

We are currently using a Sainburys branded model that is actually ok but still not good.

Oh well, the hunt continues ...

T i m

[chris French]

Thinking about it, I remember toasters being advertised with microchips (yup them days) that I assume were supposed to judge the brown-ness, i don't know. but they don't seem to have taken off.

I don't find a problem on the whole with getting my toast right, however, I think you tend to use a Dualit a bit differently. Because I can check the progress by lifting it up the precise settign doesn't seem so crucial.

Actually, I don't generally find it that easy to judge the brown-ness of toast peering inside (though depends on the toaster).

But you can't normally remove 2 slices out of the average 4 slice toaster and leave the other 2 to finish off to perfection.

[<me9]

I've had two (a 4 slice and a two slice one) for 20mumble years. Still working.

The electronics just seem to be a timer, perhaps with temperature compensation. They certainly don't judge the brownness[*].

[*] I often do mine twice, cos SWMBO likes what I describe as 'warm bread' If I am not about to abort the second run at the appropriate brownness the smoke detectors are activated in adjacent rooms.

[ripyacorsetsoff]

I think i'll stick with the gas grill.

[The Medway Handyman]

Yup.

Nah, good old sliced white.

The Tefal does have pretty deep & wide slots. We went to Comet & poked about to find one large enough.

[John]

anyone else do toast in the toaster and then put cheese on and zap it for 3 seconds in the microwave? Fast and efficient.

[Tim S]

John coughed up some electrons that declared:

Yes - discovered that at work where there was a toaster, microwave but no grill.

Quite acceptable :)

[dennis]

Toast/cheese/toast/cheese/toast in layers.. less fat and easy to hold. ;-)

[Pete Verdon]

Perhaps I just buy unusually tall bread, but I can do that by picking it out of the slot without touching the toaster at all.

Pete

[John Weston]

My old single long slot "Swan" allows this. You can raise and lower the eject handle by hand without changing the timing on the ejector "spring" release. If I want to abort the timer, I press the centre of the timer setting knob. Unfortunately, I would now prefer a dual long slot type that will take two split-tin loaf slices sideways...

But the top is then warmed, raw bread, not toast. I prefer an even level of toasting over the whole slice, done quickly so there is still some moistness in the bread, under the surface browning i.e. not French toast done slowly in the oven

[John Weston]

No, but try putting the broken cheese pieces and whatever additions you prefer for a good rarebit (Worcester sauce, Tabasco, etc.) in a cup and give it a minute in the microwave whilst the toast is cooking. Give the "melt" a good stir and pour over the toast, after buttering if required :-)

[meow2222]

FWIW I'd echo the recommendations of a dualit. But I also understand that theres no good reason why one cant get a decent machine for a fraction of dualit price.

AIUI good toasting comes down to the right combination of element heat and time, and both those are adjustable (using a LV transformer to tweak element voltage if needed). It should be possible in principle to make a basic toaster work like a dualit with a bit of modification.

Before getting too excited about the old Dualits, bread jams in them like any other machine, and the bare elements are vulnerable to knife damage like any other, when removing jams. The good news is they will do toasted sandwiches no problem, the slots are wide enough.

BTW, no need to buy replacement elements for a dualit, just rejoin the broken element ends using a nut and bolt. Position it somewhere suitable. No harm in losing a few inches of element.

NT

[John]

And - toast - cheese - ham - toast - butter - Marmite

[Appin]

The message from Frank Erskine contains these words:

Very few have sheathed elements like the latest Dualit elements. Go round any store to check.

Dualits are overpriced and I think all the elements in ours have been replaced at least once -- but then we have a VERY large household and have had the Dualit for many years. I normally keep one end element and one centre element in reserve. Overpriced or not, what they offer is an almost idiot-proof and very frustration-free toaster. The £5 cheapos and the £50 nasties that we've had in our holiday cottage never seem to last any length of time before someone breaks them.,

[Appin]

The message

from [e-mail] contains these words:

That's the old-style elements. New elements are covered in mica sheets and that can't happen.

Well, you could do that with the old ones :-). Hardly worth drilling out the rivets holding the mica covering sheets on the new ones. I know I'm stingy, but even I would do that only in desperation :-)