Toasters are quite simple; so how do YOU decide which to buy?
- Thread starter MrRockliffe
- Start date
Soldato
Most important for me is whether it has ability to lift the rack without stopping the heating element. Gives you a quick view of how done the toast is. Good if you live with people who seem to change the damn setting all the time!
Soldato
Soldato
I saw that one but needed a 4 slicer, i'm greedy
I searched a couple of years ago when they did a 4 slice version, now it seems only the 2 slice is available.
To me a 2 slicer is pointless even if you live alone, because surely you don't want to be that guy after a good night (
) who has to make her wait for her toast whilst you have yours 
Commissario
I wish Jon Tickle's time-delay toaster idea had come to fruition.
Commissario
Oooh, is it one that's still available?Spent a while researching one that would fit Warburtons toastie and managed to find one, Asda own brand, proper result
We need a new one and we're a little annoyed the only ones that are sold as being big enough for Warburtons seem to last ~2 years and cost £40-50.
Caporegime
If you can find a toaster that stays down without power, you can just use a smart switch.
Soldato
One where I can accurately request the shade of brown/black I want my cooked bread to resemble.
Caporegime
Man of Honour
Oddly, I only eat toast at work. I couldn't tell you why. But if I did buy a toaster for home, I'd choose one on price and convenience of purchase. So I'd probably just pick up an own brand toaster from whatever shop was nearest at the time I wanted a toaster. They all toast bread. It's not a complicated job. As long as the toaster takes 2 thick slices and has some form of timing to let me choose how much toasting the bread gets, that's enough.
Wilko own brand toaster. £7.50. Got everything I want in a toaster and it's available in a shop close enough to where I live to be convenient. Job done.
Where's the eco relevance to a toaster? Do different toasters use significantly different amounts of electricity to toast the same amount of bread to the same extent? Are different toasters made in ways that have significantly different environmental impact? Is it durability, i.e. a toaster that lasts longer before breaking has less environmental impact over time? Is it shipping the toaster from manufacturing location to usage location? All of the above?
Wilko own brand toaster. £7.50. Got everything I want in a toaster and it's available in a shop close enough to where I live to be convenient. Job done.
Where's the eco relevance to a toaster? Do different toasters use significantly different amounts of electricity to toast the same amount of bread to the same extent? Are different toasters made in ways that have significantly different environmental impact? Is it durability, i.e. a toaster that lasts longer before breaking has less environmental impact over time? Is it shipping the toaster from manufacturing location to usage location? All of the above?
Soldato
I did wonder about this too. I just have a grill / top oven jobby, and when I make a bacon sandwich, I put 2 slices of bread on one side of the grill tray and bacon on the other side. Is that ok eco-wise, or is using a separate toaster for the bread more eco-friendly?
So this project is about the entire life cycle of the toaster, from the processing of the raw materials to manufacturing, transportation, selling, use and then the disposal. I'm analysing it all in 4 main categories: disassembling, metallic components, non-metallic components and then the energy conservation.
It'll be roughly 15,000 words by the time it's done and will include any design improvements I recommend based on the data I collect analyse and discuss.
A brief example is how some toasters are able to toast 4 pieces of bread, but have 2 slots, so every time you wish to toast just 2 pieces of toast, you need to use the entire ~1.5kW vs the ~900W of a dual slot, dual slice toaster, unless of course you have added components that allow the consumer to disable one side of the toaster when only toasting 2 slices.
In this report, I work out the energy usage in each scenario and pair this with the most common uses of a toaster (i.e. how frequently people toast 2 pieces of bread vs 4) and then provide a recommendation on which design is better.
looks like there's been some innovation in 2019 since previous threads a new japanese flat bed design, they do make exceedingly good rice cookers too.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...r-costs-270-it-only-makes-one-slice-at-a-time
one piece at a time, but if it seals in the moisture like on an open fire ?
probably satisfies the eco brief too since hot air not beeing lost
edit:
[turns out Tidal has that 70's streetband hit 'Toast' now on my playlist ]
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...r-costs-270-it-only-makes-one-slice-at-a-time
one piece at a time, but if it seals in the moisture like on an open fire ?
probably satisfies the eco brief too since hot air not beeing lost
edit:
only a 1" doorstop, but not bad - https://youtu.be/8WGwYu-qG3w?t=809
[turns out Tidal has that 70's streetband hit 'Toast' now on my playlist ]
Soldato
What I want for Christmas.
That looks amazing, the description of being moist on the inside while crispy on the outside is why I like to toast doorstops under the grill.
Agreed, that’s very important, plus ideally has four toasting slots.
Soldato
4 big fat slots which are wide enough to do farmhouse style thick cuts and deep enough not to leave an inch of bread sticking out the top, all without being ridiculously expensive.
Don't care about anything else.
Don't care about anything else.
This isn't a Magnolia thread right here?
Interesting.
Interesting.
Will cost you a fortune in replacement plates by the looks of things.What I want for Christmas.
