New Toaster Test

[Merlin5]

I picked up a new 4 slice Morphy Richards Accents toaster yesterday. It gets rave reviews on the rainforest, 9 pages of how marvellous it is.

Last night I tried out some brown polish bread I had and wasn't very impressed with the toasting.


So I've just returned from the supermarket armed with one small loaf of brown bread and one small loaf of white to see how even they both toast and if white toasts better than brown. I generally don't buy white bread, this is just for testing purposes.

I first warmed the toaster on setting 5. The max setting is 7. This took three and three quarter minutes for the levers to pop back up. I then took the setting down to about 3.8 and popped one slice of medium brown in and one thick slice of white, supermarket own version of Warburton's Toastie. This took two and three quarter minutes. for the toast to pop up.

Here is the result of both sides of each slice.

This isn't much better than my old toaster so I'm disappointed. This isn't very even at all so how are so many people singing it's praises for even browning of their toast? Something I'm doing wrong?

 

[Merlin5]

I see what you did there.


But I wonder if Tesco would accept it back for a refund (of my £31.50 clubcard vouchers)?

 

[Merlin5]

Well the one I threw away today was a Breville which toasted unevenly as well. I wish I knew of a toaster that toasted evenly.

 

[Merlin5]

The only toasters I've found to be any good are Dualit ones - we've got a 6 slice one and it's great - lasted longer than any other we've had previously as well (going on 8 years now).

How much do I need to pay for one though that will give me perfect toast? I see Dualit 4 slice toasters from £60 up to £170.

 

[Merlin5]

OK guys, I returned the Morphy Richards. I went to John Lewis, upped my price to £80 and bought this Dualit Architect. It's very, very smart and nice to use.

The toasting is better,more acceptable. But I'm still a bit 'hmm..' about it. Still uneven and the other side is much darker. Am I being too fussy? Do elements improve after a few days and heat up more evenly?

Tomorrow, I'm going to buy a Dualit Vario for £170, the one with the manual lever and hope that gives me even toast.

 

[Merlin5]

Who would have thought that they can put a man on the moon but they can't put an even toast on 2 slices of bread.

No matter what toaster I have tried, nothing has ever beaten one sided toast under the grill.

Agreed. What I need is a toaster built by NASA.


And I used to get perfect toast under the grill when I had a separate grill and oven. The problem now is that the grill and oven is all in one in my Bosch oven and the grill element gets greasy from the oven cooking and takes ages to clean properly. So its not very nice for cooking toast.

 

[Merlin5]

Perhaps the delivery man sabotaged its even toasting capability?

Now now..

Yeah, when I was a kid we had one of those old style freestanding cookers where the grill was on top at about head height and you had a lift out tray with handles on it. That cooked toast to perfection.

Yep, that was exactly what I had! A gas free standing oven. No electric elements to get gunked up, I just cleaned the pull out tray and put bacofoil in it.

 

[Merlin5]

I found with toasters the cheaper the better usually. Fancier ones have more that can go wrong and they usually do.

Does it even matter? I mean it's never bothered me to care about it so much to post a thread.

I'm sure it hasn't. A coffee machine has never bothered me enough to care about making a thread either.


https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18688689

 

[Merlin5]

Ooh! Burn!

I want to spend my entire lifes savings on a toaster. Any recommendation?

That's your second sarcastic post in this thread. I happen to be interested in getting a good toaster and I believe this is the correct forum to post about it. If you're not interested, then **** ***.

By the way, GD is that way >>

 

[Merlin5]

Merci Madame I'm probably not going to bother trying the £170 machine anyway. Unless I know I can return it if it's no better than the cheaper ones. The Dualit I just bought makes good toast if you turn it over and cook it some more, but I didn't spend £80 to do that. I want to push the levers down once and have ready toast with no messing around.

 

[Merlin5]

That Bugatti Volo looks pretty cool. Not keen on the look of the Lincat though.

So anyway, I did buy a Dualit Classic from John Lewis to try out. £179. *facepalm*

I bought several loaves of bread today including white, wholemeal, polish brown, malted with seeds, and bagels. I tested both toasters side by side.
In all my pictures, left is the china made Dualit Architect, right is the UK handmade Dualit Newgen. So here are my results!


White bread, there wasn't much in it.

Bagel

Both toasted a bit longer

Wholemeal. One side didn't brown well in the China made toaster, so would need turning over and toasting some more.

Handsliced loaf of Tesco's own bakery malted bread. Can't remember which toaster did this but both were similar, one didn't shine over the other.

No pics for the polish brown bread but it came out nice, and better in the china made toaster.


My decision which is currently 98% certain, is to return the the £179 toaster. It's got the edge I think. It toasts a bit better and is nice that it's handmade with the person's name on the label underneath that personally built it. It feels nice and chunky and you know it'll last for years. But personally, I'm not that fussed about a lifetime toaster as I don't mind replacing them every few years. My main criteria is the toasting ability and I don't think the handmade toaster makes significantly better toast to justify keeping it. And although I really like the look and feel of it, I think I prefer the styling of the china made Dualit.

 

[Merlin5]

Merlin, are you married?

I just wanted to be ready for the agony aunt letter titled 'I'm worried about my husbands toaster fetish'.

Lol. I'm like this with everything. I get obsessed with something and over analyse it.

It annoys me that even a £180 toaster can't toast properly.

Is this one of life's certainties? The shower temperature control is out to get you, and the toaster can't be trusted?

My shower temp control did stop working recently! But I fixed it.

I say again - panini press for the win. Flat, not ridged. Flat, even metal heating surface = v good toast.

Like this one? http://direct.asda.com/Breville-VST...Q3Vt0UvRQQY2fEimxxMzD0ASCe-M_hEqGYaAkUX8P8HAQ

I wonder how long it would take to toast bread. Takes about 2 minutes in the toaster.

 

[Merlin5]

Moses, which machine do you have? 4 slices would be good.

Indeed jpaul. I've done it once or twice before, buying both to try and then deciding.

I think the toaster I kept would be perfect if it employed the same proheat element of its more expensive brother. Likewise, I think the expensive one would be perfect and have even better toasting if it used the same gripping mechanism as all other toasters that automatically grabs and holds bread upright.

 

[Merlin5]

Thanks Moses, might get one of those for making toasted sandwiches as well.

MooMoo, I cut a slice of reasonably thick bread that went in ok. The slots appear to be no wider than standard. But there's no auto bread grabber inside the slots which can slightly reduce the space so I suppose it might fare a bit better on thicker slices. I'm wary of these toasters now because of many reports of the clockwork timer getting stuck. This means the toaster doesn't switch off and a potential fire hazard if unattended.