Hmm…a toaster. How can I sell you on a toaster that does nothing fancy but works like a charm? I’ll do my best. Here goes…

I have owned the Toastmaster Cool Touch Wide Slot model B1021 for a couple of years. It is white &, as the name implies, stays cool on the outside while your bread is toasting. I wouldn’t buy a toaster that didn’t have that feature. It measures about 9 ˝” long, 5 ˝” wide, & 6 ˝ “ high.

The toaster has 2 slots that measure 1 ˝” wide & 5 ˝” long. I have had no trouble with breads jamming after toasting or not fitting into the slots. These are decent sized slots.

The Toastmaster has a lever, not a dial, for selecting the desired browning of your bread. It’s located on the lower right side of the toaster. The settings are “light”, 2, 3, 4, 5, & “dark” but it can be set anywhere between each of those settings too (3 ˝ e.g.). The lever easily slides horizontally.

On the bottom of the toaster is a large door for cleaning out crumbs. It slides slightly to the side & then opens outward so crumbs easily fall out. I just hold the toaster over the sink & let everything fall out.

So how does the toast turn out? Well, I’d have to say wonderfully! For the most part the toaster browns evenly. It’s not perfect but as perfect as I expect. Both sides are done to the same brownness & the top is about as brown as the bottom. The browning lever is pretty accurate & gets the bread toasted to right where you’d want it.

The only thing I can stretch to think of that is a negative about this toaster is that the exterior gets dirty easily. With a lot of elbow grease you can get the filminess off but, otherwise, you’ll have a white toaster with a bit of a gray film on it especially at the top. This is only minor, however, & not too noticeable unless you get close to the unit.

As for its reliability we haven't had any problems with this Toastmaster &, like I said, we've used it frequently for a couple of years.

All in all this is just an average toaster feature-wise but I’ve found it toasts better than some others do. I just wrote a review on a 4-slice toaster that has several really neat features but doesn’t brown so well (dated April 16, 2001 if you’re interested in reading). If I could I’d probably keep both – this one for regular toasting & the other for defrosting! If all you want is nice toast bread then I’d recommend the Toastmaster Cool Touch Wide Slot.




Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): gift