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.

[glatt]

Originally Posted by jinx

I've had my DeLonghi convection toaster oven for more than 5 years I guess... I don't like regular toasters, too limiting.

Well, maybe I should transition over to a toaster oven. But I like regular toasters. This review of toasters gave the standard DeLonghi toaster it's highest praise. But $130 seems a little more than you should have to spend for a toaster.

Originally Posted by Sundae Girl

My ex husband got our Dualit toaster. I have no idea if it still works, but let's face it, it outlasted our marriage.

Was your marriage long? Nevermind, it doesn't matter. I see that the Dualit is $320 through Amazon. I'm willing to pay a bit more for quality, but not that much more.

Originally Posted by wolf

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.

That one got good reviews in that link I posted above. And $60 is reasonable for such a simple device. My last toaster, before this Philips that just died, was a Krups quartz element, and it was awesome. They put a cheap plastic knob on it though that seemed to actually be designed to break after a specified amount of time. Built in obsolescence. It was made from a different type of plastic than the rest of the toaster, and I was unable to repair it. Even after drilling out the tamper resistant screws to get inside the thing.