Unless you’re the rare breed that wakes up at 5:30 to tidy up and have a jog before preparing a breakfast feast in the oven for your sleepy family, you’re probably more familiar with needing a quick slice of toast as you race out the door with your coffee flask.
The toaster and kettle set are the absolute staple of every Aussie kitchen, with huge versatility and cooking options for even those that don’t cook. It’s also a quick and dirty shortcut to transform the look and accent of your kitchen, without renovating!
Whether it’s quick and easy vegemite toast, or delicious crumpets dripping in honey and butter, or your own warm-and-gooey homemade banana bread, the humble toaster is the only way to get it perfect, and avoid having those greasy pans to wash up afterwards.
A toaster seems like such a simple and basic purchase, but when looking through the options, it’s alarming to see the sheer range and variety of features in today’s modern toasters. Where’s the one toaster that just makes perfect toast, exactly the way you want it?
A great toaster is one that will last for years of daily use, consistently browning evenly on both sides, but will also look good and be easy to clean and use. Toasters have a range of settings these days, with dedicated buttons for extra features, and some even have two sets of controls!
We’ve taken some of the guesswork out of your search and scoured the stats of all good toasters across Australia. So, here is our own selection of the best toasters in looks, quality, longevity and features, followed by a guide to choosing the toaster that works best for you and your needs.
1. Breville the Smart Toast 2 Slice
The best thing since sliced bread, and the best 2 slice toaster
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While definitely one of the priciest options in the market, the Breville the Smart Toast 2 Slice is currently the best toaster to buy, with every feature you could ask for, that will last and last through years of daily use. If your home is really into their toast, this toaster is a breakfast investment worth saving up for.
The extra wide and super deep slots on this toaster take all sorts of English muffins, bagels, crumpets, fruit loaf, Turkish pide, and sinks them deep into the cooking space for even browning without having to turn the bread. When finished, this toaster also has a motorised carriage lift that gently raises the toast up to meet you, rather than have it “pop” loudly and risk making a mess.
The smooth left-to-right dial has a firm friction to help you adjust to the perfect setting, and bright LED lights indicate the settings and count down the time left to cook. The brushed steel surface also looks great against the blue and orange LEDs, without looking out of place in the kitchen.
We also love the auto features for “Lift and Look”, that lifts toast for you to check without resetting the toaster, and “A Bit More” which gives your toast another go when it’s not quite perfect yet. We don’t really have true integrated smart toasters just yet, but the Smart Toast is definitely coming close.
2. Breville the Smart Toast 4 Slice Long Slot
The best long slot toaster for all kinds of bread, including your own
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The super long and extra wide slots on this machine make it almost an insult to call this a toaster, when it’s capable of browning a wide range of crumpets, turkish loaves, fruit loaves, sourdough cobs, and more! For regular bread, the two slots will easily fit four slices, making this machine a great buy for families who just love their bread.
Whether you want the long and wide slots for 4 regular slices, or for 2 of your fanciest, you’ll be pleased to find the toaster is not overly enormous to take up all your valuable kitchen counter space, and manages to look sleek and chic in brushed steel. Apart from an extra couple of inches in length, there’s no extra bulk to interfere with your regular chopping and prep space.
For irregular kinds of diagonally cut or home made bread, it can be tough to find a toaster that will fit without catching a stray chunk of bread and burning it to ashes. This long slot toaster is perfect for this, because not only is it long enough for artisanal diagonal cut bread, it is also extra wide and self-centring for that rustic uneven cut that is so popular for modern home made breakfasts.
Down the side, LED lights count the time remaining from a dial that is smooth and satisfying to slide to your desired brownness, while there are also separate buttons for “Lift and Look” to check on progress, and “A Bit More” when you’d like it a touch browner.
3. DeLonghi Distinta Flair 4 Slice Toaster
The best 4 slice toaster for families with different tastes
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As usual, DeLonghi is taking the award for classiest and best looking toaster, that works well and is as reliable as it is impressive. The separate controls make this toaster ideal for families where some like their toast doughy while others love it nearly burnt!
The design of this piece centres around a mirrored twinset of separated controls, fantastic for preparing different styles of bread that need different heat at the same time. This is a really great feature when you want to cook a toast and raisin toast combo without risk of burning the raisin toast.
Easy metal-wrapped buttons down the front allow you to cancel the toasting mid-bake, defrost bread from the freezer, and reheat the toast you forgot to take out of the machine. The dial for variable browning is a beautiful retro touch to the design, but also a fast and clear indicator for bleary eyes in the morning.
The lever lifts extra high to allow you to reach smaller slices, and together with wide slots and a dedicated setting, suddenly small fat bagels may become an enticing breakfast option. The two crumb trays underneath are easy to remove and clean, so this toaster is a great choice for many types of bread.
4. Sunbeam Café Series 2 Slice Toaster
The fastest toaster for evenly toasting all kinds of bread
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This small and simple toaster may not look overly fancy, but offers a great variety of toasting options and smooth easy operation in a speedy and reliable machine. An impressive top temperature and quick acceleration make this toaster a great purchase for those who want some even toast, fast.
If you’re the kind that likes a variety of different breads for breakfast, this toaster has all the bases covered. Irregular shaped breads can be a bit tricky to accommodate in many toasters, but the Café Series’ extra wide and extra deep slots can take a large range of breads, even high-top loaves.
The extra wide slots will still do a great job on thinner machine slices, with self-centring cages inside that keep bread centred for even browning on both sides. Even crumpet lovers won’t be disappointed, with a special setting that ensures crumpets are evenly toasted on top without burning the bottom.
The removable crumb tray pushes in to eject out, without any sliding around for this surprisingly sturdy and stable toaster. The brushed steel is easy to clean, keeping your toaster looking fresh for years of toasting to come.
5. DeLonghi Icona Capitals 4 Slice Toaster
An eye-catching statement toaster that’s as reliable as it is beautiful
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For those looking to decorate their kitchen with tasteful furnishings, the Icona Capitals series is a beautiful artistic set of kitchen appliances in bold colours, inspired by the world’s most iconic series. We particularly love the soft-yet-striking look of “Sydney”, with a high gloss, silvery white finish, reminiscent of the Opera House.
The twinset controls of this 4 slice toaster allow you to control the heat and browning of two pairs of toast slices at the same time, a fantastic feature when two people want different types of toast for brekkie.
The front panel has beautiful pearlescent buttons to control cancelling, defrosting, reheating, and bagel options for your toast, with gorgeous chromed details including a retro dial to control toast colour in 6 positions.
Non-slip feet help keep the toaster steady while you push function buttons and levers, while also preventing kitchen spills from staining the underside of this beautiful toaster.
6. Sunbeam Alinea 4 Slice Toaster
The best value toaster for looks, quality, and features at a reasonable price
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Far from the most expensive toaster on our list, this beauty is a high-value buy that’s still comparable to the top-tier models. High wattage and excellent browning control allow this toaster to keep breakfast fast and fancy.
Available in three colours, this toaster comes in a beautiful silky matte finish that will suit all types of kitchens and feel part of the design. Gorgeous to look at, the Alinea series is still highly functional and durable with a wide range of settings for independent control over two pairs of toasts.
The twin controls adjust settings for pairs of toasts separately, to 9 browning settings. This range is really helpful for more precise control over fruit bread and raisin toast, when the sugars can heat up toast suddenly mid-process. The independent twin controls also mean that couples who like their toast differently won’t have to remember to reset their settings every morning!
This toaster also features a quick check function that allows you to lift the toast to check progress without interrupting the cooking time, a great feature when you’re toasting something new.
7. Breville Lift and Look Plus 2 Slice Toaster
Extra wide slots and fast reliable toasting make this the best crumpet toaster
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This super simple 2 slice toaster is a reliable and speedy machine, with all the key features you need and none that you don’t. Small and cute in white and chrome, this sweet little toaster is an inexpensive gateway to perfect toast daily.
“Lift and Look” refers to a feature that Breville have implemented in many of their more modern toasters, a manual lever that raises toast so you can check how brown it is, without interrupting the toasting cycle.
The slot carriages are wide and self-centring, and also tall enough to take any machine cut of bread available from your grocery. Larger and smaller breads both brown evenly, and at decent speed. The slots are wide enough to take even crumpets, with a dedicated crumpet setting that allows perfect browning of the top without overcooking the flat bottom.
The defrosting setting is handy for frozen bread, and Breville’s standard “A Bit More” setting is as popular as ever for when breakfast isn’t quite done.
8. DeLonghi Brillante Exclusive 4 Slice Toaster
A sophisticated and classy toaster with intuitive controls
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This elegant toaster brings a feel of exclusive luxury to work spaces both at home and at the office. Intuitive controls and faceted finishing with chromed details make this toaster ideal for guests and clients to enjoy a morning snack with their coffee.
At the front, two levers control the four slots, with a central chrome dial to adjust desired browning level. The two levers also slide smoothly to an “extra lift” position to allow you to more easily remove fresh toast without hurting your fingers.
Electronic controls across the front set functions for reheating, defrosting, and cancelling the current toasting program. These functions are visually indicated by neon lights so you can easily see your settings from across the room.
Two removable crumb trays are easy to slide out, clean and replace, thanks to non-slip feet that hold the toaster steady on smooth counters. The facade looks metallic but is actually durable black polished plastic, making it easy to clean without ever scuffing.
9. Russell Hobbs Brooklyn 4 Slice Toaster
A cool and quirky toaster for modern and hipster kitchens
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The Brooklyn 4 Slice is a simple toaster with a highly unique look, with matte black finish and copper accents that bring a warm industrial vibe to cool urban kitchens.
The split carriages allow you to cook 2 or 4 slices at once, with twin copper controls on either side for independent settings. This avoids wasting any electricity when only two slices are needed, and helps avoid changing someone else’s settings.
The toasting slots are excellently wide for thick cut loaves, but not overly long. Smaller breads are definitely favoured by this machine, with a springy extra-high lift to help remove smaller slices without burning your fingers.
Each side has six browning settings and a dedicated button for cancelling the program, reheating toast that has been left too long, and defrosting bread straight from the freezer.
The thin crumb trays slide out independently, allowing easy access for removal of debris, and the brushed steel exterior is easy to wipe clean to keep the toaster looking great.
10. Kambrook 2 Slice Wide Slot Toaster
The best economy value toaster with extra wide slot and modern functions
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For a reliable and good looking toaster that has the features you need for a bargain price, the Kambrook Wide Slot toaster is easily the best value for money choice. It also seems to be constantly on sale on Amazon.
This cute toaster is covered in white plastic that’s easy to clean, with a silver dial for 6 stage browning control and a silver lever for carriage control with extra lift. The removable crumb tray is easy to clean and replace quickly.
With many cheaper wide slot toasters, we often see that regular thin toast has too much room to lean, resulting in uneven toasting on both sides, however, the self-centring slots on this toaster have an internal basket that holds bread in the very centre to ensure perfect browning on each side.
Unfortunately, we’ve seen some customers have found this internal basket to be faulty on purchase, resulting in uneven toasting, so you’ll want to hang on to the 12 month warranty until you’re sure you aren’t the victim of faulty manufacturing.
11. Russell Hobbs Studio 1 Slice Toaster
A compact and efficient affordable toaster for studio kitchens with limited space
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When you only need a single slice of toast, the energy lost to the regular 2 slice toasters can quickly add up to make a nasty dent in your electricity bill. For anyone looking to save on energy and counter space, this is a smart and inexpensive toaster with excellent performance.
The speed of toasting for this small machine is remarkably fast. Despite only using half the energy, with less bread to cook, this toaster is able to afford concentrated heating that can get your toast to “very dark” in under 80 seconds. The Russell Hobbs Studio 1 Slice is the fastest toaster in Australia - if you don’t consider 1 slice toasters to be cheating!
With a 30% smaller footprint than most other 2 slice toasters, it’s also great to see a good toaster that takes up so much less valuable counter space, so it can stay out without taking up your space for the 99% of the time you aren’t cooking toast.
This toaster looks great in a modern smart home, with a large and clear digital display that will count down the toasting process in seconds, so you can time the preparation of the other elements of your breakfast accordingly.
How to choose the best toaster for you
When shopping for toasters, the options can be a bit overwhelming. Prices range from $20 to hundreds of dollars for the top brands with every feature. We’ve found the price will understandably change a lot between number of slots and length of slot, and after that it’s often about brand name and looks. To keep focused on what you and your family need, here are the main things to consider:
Number of slots
Toaster brands love to sell their 4 slice machines at the moment, it’s newer tech and incurs a premium for the extra heat and space. If you’re regularly cooking two pairs of toast at a time, this is a fantastic way to halve cooking time, especially with independent controls for family members who like different darkness!
However, it’s a waste of electricity and kitchen space if it makes no difference to cook one pair after the other. Also keep in mind that when cooking 4 slices simultaneously, the middle two slots often get a little hotter than the outer two slots, and not much can be done to prevent that.
Long slot toasters
Toasters that describe themselves as a “long slot toaster” will usually take 4 slices of regular bread, but can also take 2 slices of unusually shaped loaves. They are more expensive, but this adaptability can make them much more versatile than 4 slot toasters, which will still have limits on bread size. On the other hand, this takes up far more electricity, which can add up over time with daily use.
Extra-wide slots and crumpets/bagels
Unfortunately, we have seen a lot of toasters claim to have “extra-wide slots” where the marketing team has taken a big leap into poetic licence. Look to reviews to see if consumers agree about this width, as the people are very vocal about disappointments! However, if the toaster has a “crumpet setting”, that’s a great indicator that extra-wide is extra-wide.
A crumpet setting (or sometimes a “bagel” setting) uses one element on high and one on low, letting the top of the crumpet bake evenly without burning the bottom. This is only good for if you like crumpets and bagels, of course, but be aware of this feature, as many reviewers complain about excessively uneven toasting without realising they have activated this feature!
Good features to have
Other good features to look out for in a toaster is a “cancel” button, so you can stop toast cooking without having to turn off the machine at the powerpoint, a “defrost” button to warm up frozen bread without cooking it, and a “reheat” button for toast you’ve forgotten to take from the toaster.
Many modern toasters also allow you to check on the toast’s progress mid-toasting, without interrupting the program, and that also comes in handy more often than you might think.
