Which? Magazine

[lin]

Does anybody have access to Which? magazine or online?

I am looking for a toaster that actually toasts both sides and it seems that Which? has just covered this very matter.

I have tried a variety of toasters and wasted so much money that I thought I would see what they recommended.

I know I can take out the free trial but it is a hassle that I would rather avoid as you need to remember to cancel the direct debit before it goes out.

Thanks peeps.

[Shambles]

Can't help with the Which? business, but I've had a few toasters in my time and the only one which toasted evenly was not one of the usual filament based ones. It was an "infrared looking" one with two bars per toast-side (8 bars in total).

If I can remember the make I'll post the details. It was about 10 years ago.

[AJ_007]

I get which every month will have a look through for you. Have got an online account but never used it. will post the details if I can get in

[bigdave007]

Poor shambles!...Ten years since his last decent slice of toast!

My Brothers got an account, i'll give him a tinkle(ooo er missus)when he gets in from his shift!

[AJ_007]

http://www.which.co.uk/houseandhome/...full-table.jsp

password is in a pm

[lin]

Thank you, you're wonderful.

Toast here I come!!!

[AJ_007]

No Probs,

Going to look for a 5mp Digital camera now I think

AJ..

[lin]

And for those who are remotely interested:

LIFE STYLE EXTRA (UK) - Expensive toasters that claim to reheat, defrost and warm your buns were today slammed for failing to do their main task - toasting bread.

And cheaper models give better value when it comes to leaving bread evenly browned, the survey by Which? revealed.

Of the 19 best-selling and widely available toasters that were tested most could not toast evenly on their first attempt.

Grid lines caused by clamps that stop heat reaching the bread and uneven browning annoy customers who buy top price models.

The KitchenAid Artisan at £125 was named as the most expensive and least able of the tested models.

Despite being available in a wide range of colours it scored a paltry 34 per cent and took over 2.5 minutes to toast fresh bread.

Which? said: "We think it's the one to avoid, unless you enjoy paying a fortune for unevenly browned toast."

The survey highlighted the drawbacks of expensive toasters that offer flashy new features.

Of the top five best performing toasters, the Prestige Symmetry, Russell Hobbs Satin and Kenwood TT370 were all priced under £30.

The Cordon Bleu, costing only £10, competed well against more expensive models, taking under 1.5 minutes to toast fresh bread.

Malcolm Coles, Editor of Which? magazine, said: "Most people buy a toaster to enjoy delicious toast smothered in melting butter - not use fancy features like bun warmers."

Bun and bagel warmers and reheating functions fail to warm bread through consistently.

The Breville TT34 lightning was the worst offender while the expensive KitchenAid did not even offer either feature.

Many toasters promise an 'extra lift' facility to remove small items like crumpets.

However on some models the bread carriage did not have enough lift leaving customers struggling to release burnt pieces.

The Prestige, £25 from Comet, with its deeper slots to manage larger slices and ability to cope with frozen bread, impressed on value and was named as Best Buy.

"All-singing, all dancing features were generally a disappointment. Motorised bread-lowering carriages - as found on the Kenwood Eon and the Raton Jasper Morrison - were somewhat temperamental; they wouldn't be rushed, would only accept bread in the correct slot and wouldn't be reasoned with if the toast was burning," said Mr Coles.

Most people wanted a kitchen full of matching appliances in a range of colours but the Which? said you could not trust a company that makes a good kettle to produce a good toaster.

When tested against their Best Buy kettles from the same manufacturers Which? found that of the toasters only the Kenwood Eon at £80 came close to a satisfactory match.

A spokesperson from Which? said toast was one of life's little pleasures and they were really disappointed that toasters, which have been around for a 100 years, cannot be designed to work better than they found.

Mr Coles said: "Which?'s challenge to manufacturers is this: make toasters that toast properly."

Toasters were rated on a combination of factors including specification (defrost/extra lift), performance (fresh or frozen bread, teacake/crumpet, bunwarmer, reheat, speed) and convenience (small items, cleaning, ease of use)

Top toasters:
1: Prestige Symmetry 50541 60%. 2: Krups Expert FEM231 59%. 3: Kenwood Eon TT900 57%. 4: Russell Hobbs 12325 satin 56%. 5: Kenwood TT370 55%. 6: Cordon Bleu 12092 55%. 7: DeLonghi Diablo CTF 2134C 53%. 8: Russell Hobbs Kudos 11417 53%. 9: Morphy Richards Beech 44411 52%. 10: Proline T2SSU 52%. 11: Morphy Richards Essentials 44150 51%. 12: Russell Hobbs Glass 10617 51%. 13: Morphy Richards Contemporary 44721 49%. 14: Rowenta Jasper Morrison TL900015 46%. 15: DeLonghi Argento CT02 44%. 16: Dualit Soft Touch 25076 44%. 17: Tefal Avanti 875915 40%. 18: Breville TT34 Lightning 40%. 19. KitchenAid Artisan 5KTT780 34%

Available from Argos in Almond, and Amazon in Graphite

[stuz]

Hold on, whats wrong with a normal toaster, dont they toast from both sides? I think mine has bars that heat up on either side of the bread...

Is there a reason here or are the shambles clan just really fussy about their toast?

Back when shambles and bert were lads they would just roast some yeast (didnt have bread) over an open flame in the country side, then do a spot of fishing for the supper :whistle

[Shambles]

Back when shambles and bert were lads

Getting a little boring and tiresome now, matey boy

[lin]

Hold on, whats wrong with a normal toaster, dont they toast from both sides? I think mine has bars that heat up on either side of the bread...

Is there a reason here or are the shambles clan just really fussy about their toast?

If you read the report I quoted you would know what is going on. It's not a case of being fussy, it's wanting something to work properly. Nowt wrong with that!

Back when shambles and bert were lads they would just roast some yeast (didnt have bread) over an open flame in the country side, then do a spot of fishing for the supper :whistle

Aye, I believe you've had your knuckles rapped over this kind of comment!

[stuz]

If you read the report I quoted you would know what is going on. It's not a case of being fussy, it's wanting something to work properly. Nowt wrong with that!

Just wondering what the main difference was thats all, I thought most toasters heated from both sides anyway? :nowords:

[Cenus_]

Just wondering what the main difference was thats all, I thought most toasters heated from both sides anyway? :nowords:

I was thinking the same mate, my toaster cos less than a tenner and it does me sound, buttered with brown sauce, mmmmmmm.

[matt1chelski]

Same here, £15 and come with a set along with a kettle, which boils water, all the water not just one side. mmmmm, food

[lin]

I was after one that did just that, because when mine go faulty the first thing they stop doing is toasting both sides.
The one I have now is the Tefal Avanti Deluxe and it's crap. It's a glorified bread warmer at best. When 2 slices of toast is all you eat all day it needs to be good toast!

[Pongo]

What's wrong with a grill ? Or is this rather aged old crone missing something here ?

[AJ_007]

Same here, £15 and come with a set along with a kettle, which boils water, all the water not just one side. mmmmm, food

That 'maid' me chuckle that

[lin]

What's wrong with a grill ? Or is this rather aged old crone missing something here ?

Aye, what a good idea. Put a huge grill on, wait a few minutes for it to heat up, stand and watch the bread toasting on the one side, turn it over, stand and watch it again, waste all that electricity and time.

Hmm, and that has cost me how much?

I could light a bonfire out the back and use a toasting fork!

[ABCMan]

we've 3 toasters

some aincient tefal thing that has a single wide slot with 1 heat bar per side and a second slot with a grill, crap for toast, great for bacon and eggs

a morphy richards electronic thing wide/deep 2 slot with lift, blue lcd display and 6 buttons, works a charm for toast or crumpets

A shnieder(sp?) 4 slot, its electroinic with touch buttons, stainless steel about 4 years old now but still toasts fine from bread to large burger buns.

as for which, i'm afraid i wouldnt trust their reports anymore now than when i used to subscribe to their worthless rag 20 odd years ago. I've no idea if they base their outcomes on the sizes of the stuffed brown envelopes they recieve from the manufacturers or not but ever since they did a "report" on home computers i couldnt trust them. testing the c64, atari 400/800, bbc miro and a few others had the bbc micro leading in every test, strange how in the real world it had worse graphics, less support, worse support, less colours, worse sound and a higer price tag, oh and much lower sales and yet the bbc micro was which's best buy. Anyone who was around at that time would know what utter bullshit that was and if they can say that could you trust their judgement on anything else ever again? i know i couldnt.

[AJ_007]

Well I never got which? back then but if thats the case its sounds pretty sus to me:nowords:

However my mum bought the Which? Best buy iron and it is a beast!

I mean the steam that shoots out is phenomenal, I'm not one for ironing and will beg / pay one of my sisters to do the going out shirt etc.

But this thing is a real pleasure to use "Glides over the toughest of crease's"

I got the 3 month free trial but that was like 4 years ago :|