WIDE DEEP, LONG, SLOT TOASTER

These are the words I have been searching for, on the boxes of every toaster in the aisle, in every store. I finally found them on THIS toaster, the TOASTMASTER T2050WC toaster. Actually I bought the black version without the cool walls feature, and I returned it the next day because the sides and top get hot enough to cause serious burns - it was too dangerous for us with 2 small children. So THEN I bought this one.

My hatred of toasters and those who make them runs pretty deep. Deep, because I want slots that are DEEP enough to hold a regular piece of bread from the bakery. I think toaster designers sit in a room full of Wonderbread and as long as an almost square piece of bread fits, they figure its good. But if they ever bother to stop at a grocery store, maybe they'd realize that not all bread is as high as it is wide. In fact most isn't - and we need a toaster that doesn't require the user to stand on guard, flipping the toast halfway through to make sure it all gets cooked.

So, Toastmaster gets an A for effort, for even realizing that a deep and long slot toaster would be a vast improvement on what's out there now. But unfortunately, the follow-through gets a D. Its a BIT deeper, and thankfully the slots are also long - so I can lay slices of bread on their sides and they fit. But its still not DEEP ENOUGH for me.

I bought the cool wall model and the sides DO stay cool, but the top gets very hot as you can imagine since there is no protective heat-resistant layer over the chrome. The sides are safe enough - so far we haven't melted a breadbag against it or any burned fingers - so that's cool enough for me.

Overall its a pretty flimsy piece of machinery and I don't expect it to last forever - just push the toast down once and you'll realize it has a very cheap 'feel' to it. Its clunky and not smooth or quiet like a more expensive toaster. I didn't pay a whole lot for it so if it gives me even 5 years I'll be satisfied. Better than fighting with a 'good' toaster that only cooks half my toast for 20 years! Remember, my chief concern is that I can put a slice of toast in it and have the WHOLE THING cooked in one toasting. And that's what this toaster does for me, so I would recommend it to anyone who likes using bakery-style bread and hates standing beside the toaster flipping bread.

Speaking of different types of bread, this thing will toast about 3/4 of the pieces of a loaf of rye bread - the remaining 1/4 still won't fit. This is bit of an improvement over my previous toaster, which would only fit the 3-4 pieces on the end of the loaf. It also toasts thicker breads and bagels, english muffins, etc. though they sometimes get jammed if you aren't careful(see negatives, below)

It toasts evenly - we don't have problems with dark spots or light spots. You have to be VERY particular about where you set the heat, and we put a black mark at that setting so we can always keep it at the same place.

The other qualities I like about this toaster is the dual heat controls - so we can adjust either side for different types of bread. I like that it has four slots, since we only had two before. I like that there is no 'one slice' hole - every hole will cook one slice if you want it to. And that's about all I can say that's good about this toaster.


Things I don't like about this toaster:

- the pop-tart setting. Just because I never make pop-tarts.

- the inside mechanism that squeezes the bread to keep it in place sometimes catches the toast so it gets stuck - this could certainly be improved.

- the heat controls have to be turned almost all the way to 'dark' to get a decently toasted piece of toast. I suppose in a way its good, since its practically impossible to burn toast. But if its set anywhere below half-way, you will get a slightly warm piece of bread. I don't know anyone who eats slightly warm bread, as far as I know most people who use toasters are trying to 'toast' their bread. I find this pretty annoying because the controls move easily if they are bumped, so I have ended up with 'raw toast' on several occasions.