The Bottom Line: I would recommend the toaster. It is very inexpensive and does a decent job. I probably would recommend it higher if it was not made in China.

Our old Proctor Silex toaster from 1969 finally toasted its last piece of bread. I really have no complaints with this American made toaster. We bought a new toaster from Wal-Mart. I wanted one not made in China but could not find anything. We settled on the Hamilton Beach 22608. The Hamilton Beach toaster is made for the Proctor Silex company, and is now made in China. I do not like that but there is nothing I can do about all these products made in China.

The toaster has five main parts:

1. Food Slots

2. Bread lifter

3. Shade Selector

4. Swing open crumb tray

5. Cool Wall Sides

This is a 2 slot toaster that has wide food slots. The slots are about 1 and 5/16 inches wide and 5 and 3/4 inches long. I like the wide slots because I can toast not only my husbands homemade bread which I like on the thick side or I can toast bagels. The homemade bread comes out just fantastic. The toaster has an automatic toast boost, which lifts the slices higher. This is nice because my old toaster never pushed the toast up high enough.

This toaster has chrome exterior, with a black plastic front and back. The toaster has an automatic shutoff. There is a shade selector to make the toast light, medium dark, or dark. The toaster has a very nice feature that if I accidentally touch the sides of the toaster I will not burn my hands as this toaster has Cool-Wall Sides. I like this feature. On the bottom of the toaster is a standard crumb tray that is very convenient for emptying out the crumbs. The tray is located on the bottom of the toaster and measures 4 and 3/4 inches wide by 6 inches long. There is a tiny rod that I can use to open the tray, and it latches very easy.

The toaster is very light and is approximately about 1 and 1/4 pounds. In comparison our old toaster was much heavier. The black cord to the toaster is about 35 inches long. The length of the cord was selected to prevent the hazard of becoming tangled. This is a very adequate length for reaching all the receptacle's in the kitchen. The toaster is equipped with a polarized plug. This plug has one blade wider than the other. This is a safety feature to help reduce the risk of electrical shock. The toaster comes with a warning. The toaster should be unplug-ed before cleaning. The toaster comes with a booklet that contains complete instructions on how to operate this toaster. The booklet has a toll free number if you have any questions about this product. The number is 1-800-267-2826. The Hamilton Beach 22608 2-slice Toaster comes with a limited warranty for 180 days from the time of purchase.

Experience I use the toaster to make toast and jelly. I first plug the toaster into the outlet. I then place the bread in the slots. I keep the shade selector set at light. When the cycle is over the bread pops up automatically. I really like the way the toast comes out just like I like it not too dark its perfect. I also like to make English Muffins they are so good with a cup of coffee. I would recommend this toaster and it does not cost a lot of money. Thank you for reading this review.