The Best 2 Slice Toasters

Types

• Toasters come in two varieties: the toaster oven and two- and four-slice styles. While a toaster oven can cook a lot more, including pizza, traditional toasters take up less space and cost less than their more versatile counterparts. A four-slice model will cook more at a time, but if you are not pressed for time in the morning or you have a small family, there is no reason to get a larger four-slice model. Some manufacturers also offer hybrids of the toaster oven and slice toaster. These ovens have a spot for placing slices of toast near the back.

Features

• The best two-slice toasters will have electronic touchpads and numbered dials, Consumer Reports says. Those with nondescript dials will make getting perfect toast every time more difficult. If you eat a lot of bagels, choose a model that has larger, wider slots. A smaller oven will be only 5 inches deep, but other brands go deeper. Some models also have a bread lifter that pushes your toast farther out of the slots to make retrieving your bread easier.

Top-Performing Brands

• According to Good Housekeeping, toasters can cost anywhere from $16 to $275 as of the time of publication. The most inexpensive toasters can still do the job, and in some cases they perform better than their more expensive counterparts. The basic Kenmore toaster is about $35 and has bagel, reheating and defrost settings. For a little more money, the West Bend Quick Serve Infrared is the fastest toaster and costs around $65. While most toasters take at least two minutes to brown toast, this toaster gets the job done in just one minute. The best performing high-end model is the Breville Die-Cast 2-Slice Smart Toaster, which retails for $130. With this model, you can lift and look the piece of toast without canceling the timer.

Safety Considerations

• If you are using an older toaster or considering buying a secondhand two-slice toaster, it may not have all of the new models’ safety features. In the past, plastic models were preferable, as they did not get as hot as metal models; however, many manufacturers now have automatic shutoff of their heating elements, so a metal toaster should not be any more hot to the touch that its plastic counterpart.