Toasters Help Create a Successful Breakfast

Toasters have seen their rustic days, that’s for sure. Those who were ever in the Girl Scouts or Boy Scouts will recall being camped out and cooking some of food on the campfire. We had a campfire toaster, kind of a pyramid shaped metal thing. It looked like four cheese graters glued together. It was supposed to toast bread. Most of the time the bread caught on fire and when it didn’t it dried out and tasted like campfire smoke. Yuk! Not my preferred style of food preparation; there’s other cooking equipment I like more these days.
Now you know what kind of toaster to avoid.

Fortunately, life in the kitchen is easier these days, thanks to electric toasters.

Electric toasters started out pretty simple. If you want to know their history, see toasters.org . They consisted of a metal box for two slices of bread and four panels of wires, one for each side of each slice, which heated red hot. There was a crude thermocouple or timer. You pushed a lever and in a flash, you had toast. Occasionally you’d get the flash but not the toast.

Has much changed since then? Well, yes and no. Some higher end toasters have truly entered the 21′st century, and look like it, while the most basic models are similar to their great grandparent toasters.

What to buy? What should you consider?

If you want an inexpensive, basic toaster there’s a lot to choose from, at very reasonable prices. The’ll reliably toast your bread to exactly that perfect shade of golden brown you select, every time, once you’ve got the darkness setting just right.

But wait, there’s more! There are three basic types of toasters, each built with or without options. Prices can vary by a factor of about 30X’s.

There are two slice, four slice and the toaster oven.  Right now we’ll stick with the 2 slice toaster and 4 slice varieties.

The simplest and oldest is the two slice toaster. Some models have been improved with longer and deeper bread slots up to 1.4 inches wide, to handle wider and hand cut specialty breads, as well as bagels and English muffins. Expect to find these in the twenty to eighty dollar price range.

The four slice toaster, of course, will provide twice the output in the same amount of time. Manufactures also tend to make more options available on the four slice variety. Look for a model with dual heat or darkness settings. Some even have individual controls for each slice. Toasters for home use will have heating elements up to 1800 watts.

Other available options can include a defrost setting, a setting specifically for bagels, and automatic doneness sensor, even a stay warm function after the toast is cooked. Models are available with a digital countdown timer and even a motor to raise the toast when it’s done. A couple of features that are nice to have and are available across the price range are a removable crumb tray and out of the way cord storage.

Your toaster will probably be setting on the counter top most of the time so its appearance will be important to you. Finishes are widely available in white and black, brushed and polished chrome. If you like stainless steel appliances, stainless steel toasters may be of interest. Some are a combination of a couple of these, as well as a number of bright fun colors. Want a matching red toaster and kettle set? These days such things are available. Some manufactures have put nonslip handles or a cool touch exterior surface on their machines. Warranties are usually one year.

Take a look at the options. You may find a few of them are really nice to have.