What is the deal with toasters?

[wolf]

My last toaster, one of those German quartz element ones ... a Krups or a Braun, I forget, was phenomenal. Lasted 10 years before it decided that the level 7 setting was for lukewarm mildly yellow toast. Up until then, it was Der Toastmeister. After that one, I went for the "emergency until I can get a real one" toaster. $6.99 at K-Mart. Lasted for another five years or so. Only problem was that it was made to toast perfectly even squares of Wonderbread, and the larger slices of today's pretending to be good for you breads required a flip halfway through the process to toast the end that hangs out of the toaster. Very workable.

When the K-Mart toaster became an obvious fire hazard I replaced it with a $30 shiny stainless steel altar of toasting.

Lemme tell you something. The mid price toasters are all about the same ... and the only difference between it and the $6.99 toaster is that the $30 toaster has extra buttons you never use.

If I had it to do over, I would have gotten this baby.

I really want another quartz element toaster, but I wasn't able to find one. I have a sneaking suspicion that they were burning down houses in their spare time or something. They make awesome toast, though.