Pros: Stylish, fast, well built and easy to operate!
Cons: High Price
The Bottom Line: A very classy looking toaster that works fast and well. The digital browning control is like non other on the market to easily and precisely control the degree of toasting.
tennis_player's Full Review: Breville CT70XL 2-Slice Toaster
BACKGROUND:
Our previous 2-slot conventional toaster quit working after about 5 years of faithful service. We have a toaster oven unit but it is slow at toasting bread. So, I was looking for something faster.
PRODUCT DESCRIPTION:
This is your basic, two-slice toaster. It is automatic. The toasting cycle starts with the insertion of the bread or other product into the slots and depressing the spring-loaded start handle – a very conventional method. This lowers the bread down into the toaster for toasting action and energizes the heating elements. Upon finishing of the toasting cycle, the bread/product pops back up to the top, exposed, starting position so it can be grasped and removed.
There is a clever light/dark toasting control with an easily seen digital readout in a numeric value of 1 through 9 with 9 being the darkest and 1 being the lightest toast. Incorporated into this digital readout is a circular LCD readout like a clock without numbers that also shows the relative setting of this control. This blue LCD display is large enough to be easily seen and understood from across the room. A setting of “5” would see just ½ of the circle illuminated and “2” would have less than 1/4th of the circle illuminated. Once the cycle starts, this “circle graph” declines to show progress and illustrates the relative time remaining. I know this sounds a bit complicated but, believe me, it is simple and intuitive.
The unit also has a unique Lift & Look feature. This allows the user to easily “lift” toast/product up above the top of the unit to check the amount of browning up to that point of the toasting cycle.
In addition, there are 3 programs to choose from – Defrost –Reheat – Bagel. The Defrost cycle is a short-time cycle designed to thaw frozen items like bread, waffles, toaster pops, etc. Reheat is another subdued cycle that is used to reheat an already toasted product from a previous “flush.” Bagel toasts just the cut side of the bagel when inserting them with the uncut side facing the outside of the toaster in each well.
And, there is a manual override button to instantly stop the toasting action. This is a blue, illuminated button near the “flush” (start) handle.
There is a “pull-out” crumb tray in the bottom hidden out of side for easy cleaning.
APPEARANCE:
The unit is very attractive finished in brushed stainless steel. It has a very modern look to it with squared-off corners and black accents. The blue LCD, digital toasting control adds to the high-tech look and feel of the unit. PERFORMANCE:
The unit works very well. It is rated at 970 Watts but it toasts more quickly than any of our previous conventional slot toasters and considerably faster than any toaster oven units. ADVANTAGES:
Toast cycle is very fast. The digital toasting control clearly demonstrates the time remaining for the cycle to finish. This also allows easy adjustment to add or delete time to the selected toasting time. The “Lift & Look” feature is great for checking the degree of browning of the toast/product. DISADVANTAGES:
The toast was even on both sides of the bread when it was new. Now, after about 4 years of use, one side is a bit lighter than the other.
The typical retail price is kinda steep for a 2-slot toaster - $60.
SUMMARY/RECOMMENDATION:
If you don’t mind the steep price and are looking for a contemporary styled unit, I would recommend this toaster!
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