Toast of the Town

Background:
Like many of the home and garden items I write about, the Cuisinart Cast Metal 2-slice toaster came into my life as a wedding gift. I did not register for this item, as we already have a toaster oven, but we decided to keep it because we did not have a traditional toaster and this one has a bagel setting. This toaster can be purchased at Bed Bath and Beyond for $29.99.

Cuisinart 2-Slice Toaster Details:
This Cuisinart toaster comes in a white colored cast metal to match other appliances. During our use, it sat next to our black microwave, but did not stand out. Red is also an available color for this toaster. The toaster can sit the traditional way or can be placed on its side or face front on your countertop. It can hold up to two pieces of bread at one time and has a range of toasting levels to choose the doneness of the toast. LED controls include reheat, defrost, bagel, and cancel. This toaster has a removable crumb tray. Cuisinart advertises it as smaller than other toasters, but it seems the same size as many brand name new models out currently (I have not measured to compare). The slots of the toaster are 1 1/2 inches wide to accommodate bagels that normally stick in other toasters. The lever to push down the toast can also be used in helping to remove items.

Toaster Material :
The toaster is made from a coated cast metal. The outside of the toaster does not get hot; therefore, it does not burn my countertop or my hands. I find this a great feature, because I am generally accident prone and may get my hand too near the side of the toaster while getting something from my microwave. The inside metal of the toaster of course still gets pretty hot, even once the toast pops, it takes a minute to cool down. Thank goodness, I recently discovered toaster tongs for this problem. Toaster tongs are wooden tongs to remove the toast from the toaster, because reaching for the butter knife is a dangerous idea.

Placement:
This toaster can be positioned on its side so that the toast is in front and the dials to the right or left of you depending on the side you choose. It can also be positioned on its back so that the toast is in front of you and the dials at the top. While these positions are safe to use, I prefer having mine the traditional way incase the toast decides to pop a little too much. In other words, better to have toast pop up than out and fall.

Toasting Bread:
The toaster has two available slots for toasting bread. Unfortunately, both burners are engaged, even if I am only toasting one piece of bread. The bread has 9 settings of doneness. The first time I put the dial in the middle thinking I would get a medium darkness, but the toast burned. After further inspection, I realized putting the dial straight up in the middle puts it at level 5. My ideal number is level 3 which gives my toast a medium doneness without getting it dark or burning it. Once I found my preferred toasting number, I started setting it and forgetting it. In the past, I had toasters that needed to be restarted a couple times, this toaster allows for one touch toasting. In order to use the toasting setting, one should hit cancel first to make sure the toaster is not set to reheat, defrost or bagel.

Controls:
Other controls besides cancel include reheat, defrost, and bagel.

Reheat:
I use reheat when I forgot I made a piece of toast and do not want it to go to waste. I find the toast comes out warm, but a little dryer than on the first toasting.

Defrost:
Defrost is fantastic because I am known to keep frozen bagels and English muffins. Before this toaster, I would throw one of these frozen items in my toaster oven and end up with a cold middle and burnt edges. The defrost setting takes a couple minutes to thaw the item and then I can toast it and end up with a perfectly toasted item. This toaster allows you to keep frozen toasting items and get the best possible toasting results, saving you money.

Bagel:
Finally the bagel setting is slightly longer than the toast setting to ensure the middle of the bagel dough gets warm as well as the top. I was disappointed by this setting, which I hoped would allow the top of the bagel to toast and keep the bottom of the bagel lighter. Unfortunately, this was not the case and all parts of the bagel, be it top or bottom of the top or bottom received the same amount of doneness.

Crumb Tray:
The crumb tray slides out making this toaster easy to clean. With other traditional toasters in the past, I would have to flip them upside down over the trash barrel to get the left over crumbs and burnt pieces out. This method of cleaning is now a thing of the past. Prior to use, I coated the crumb tray with a piece of foil. Now, I occasionally remove the tray, throw the piece of foil away and put on a new one. The whole process only takes about a minute.

Recommendations:
I recommend the Cuisinart 2-Slice Toaster for any family that does not already have a toaster or toaster oven and is looking for something basic. This toaster is constructed better than other traditional toasters I have had in the past. The defrost and reheat settings work well. And it toasts toast with the push of one button rather than having to restart to get desired doneness.

After a few months of using the Cuisinart 2-Slice Toaster and being disappointed with the bagel setting, which was the main reason we held on to it, I gave it to my brother. The Cuisinart 2-Slice Toaster is a great toaster, but we choose to give it away as we already have a toaster oven and this toaster did not add much more. The defrost setting is great, but I can just as easily put the item in the microwave for a couple seconds prior to toasting.

My brother, who recently got rid of an older toaster when I gave him this one, reports this new addition to his home meets all his basic toasting needs.