Best Toasters of 2024
Impressive performance and innovative features distinguish our latest batch of winners
When you shop through retailer links on our site, we may earn affiliate commissions. 100% of the fees we collect are used to support our nonprofit mission. Learn more.
Despite all the talk of countertop appliances that multitask, there’s something satisfying about a great toaster. It does one thing and does it really well, consistently serving up a beautifully browned slice of bread. Whether you’re making avocado toast, a PB&J, or an egg-and-cheese sandwich, a solid toaster is almost as important as the ingredients themselves.
You’ll see more than 30 brands represented in our toaster ratings, including Breville, Cuisinart, Hamilton Beach, and KitchenAid.
Though these manufacturers continue to embrace the tried-and-true design of a conventional toaster, many have added a few features along the way.
The most basic toasters simply come with a lever for lowering your bread and a dial for selecting its color. But more models are offering bells and whistles like touch-button controls, settings for specific types of bread, and even digital screens.
Those features, as well as materials used in the construction of the toaster, can also drive up the cost, says Stacy Canova-Turner, Consumer Reports’ market analyst for small kitchen appliances. You’ll see toaster prices ranging from just under $40 to as much as $400.
But being feature-packed is one thing; performance is quite another. “A higher price doesn’t mean it toasts better, as proven by our testing,” she says.
Do I Need a Toaster If I Have a Toaster Oven?
Toaster ovens might be the hardest-working appliances in the kitchen. But for those who love a perfectly crisped slice of bread, the traditional pop-up style toaster is still best.
Our tests have found that just a handful of toaster ovens excel when making perfectly browned toast. Plus, there’s the matter of timing: All of the pop-up toasters we’ve evaluated crisp two slices of bread in 90 seconds or less, while most of our top-rated toaster ovens take upward of 7 minutes to toast a slice. (There are some exceptions. The Ninja DCT401, Breville The Compact Smart Oven BOV650XL, and Panasonic FlashXpress NB-G110P all toast bread in roughly 4 minutes.)
Given those limitations, says CR test engineer Lisa Keon, toast lovers should consider purchasing a dedicated toaster.
CR's Top Toaster Picks
In our labs, we recently tested new toaster models from the popular kitchen brands Farberware, Hamilton Beach, and Wolf, and a model from Laura Ashley, the Britsh textile brand that has reimagined its business and created a line of kitchenware featuring its beloved floral designs. One scored well enough in our evaluation to earn CR’s recommendation. CR members can go to our toaster ratings to learn more about this model and see the full breakdown of all of the toasters we’ve tested.
Of the 80-plus toasters in our ratings, a vast majority earn high marks in our color range test—a measure of how well each toaster produces both very light and very dark toast—and our full batch test, a reflection of the evenness among all the slices in a batch. But less than a quarter of the models excel at toasting one slice to the ideal shade of golden brown, and even fewer receive top marks across all three categories.
Below, we’ve provided reviews of four toasters that sit in that rarefied group and one more that only slightly misses the mark.
With a stylish stainless steel exterior, the two-slice Breville Bit More BTA720XL excels in our cleaning and ease-of-use tests, thanks to its lowering lever and touch-button controls that are clearly presented and simple to set. This Breville receives fairly high marks for toasting time, too, which means it can turn out toast in less than 3 minutes.
Wide slots easily fit bagels, which have their own designated toasting setting. And the frozen setting takes care of those store-bought waffles, thawing them first before toasting. Is your toast too light? Just press the button labeled “A Bit More” and it will brown a little longer.
For larger families, consider the Breville Bit More BTA730XL, a four-slicer that we expect to deliver the same great results for just a few dollars more.
Attractive, affordable, and high-performing. That pretty much sums up the Beautiful by Drew Barrymore 19039 toaster. The newcomer to CR’s ratings excelled at every toast test we put it through, toasting single slices and full batches to golden-brown perfection in very little time. It even makes an audible beep to let you know when it’s done.
What’s more, it’s less than half the price of the Breville A Bit More BTA720XL 2-Slice and performs nearly as well. If you’re not looking for souped-up features like a digital display or an option to add more time midway through toasting, this touch-activated toaster with cord storage is a solid pick.
Its outstanding performance in CR’s tests makes the Breville Die Cast Smart Toaster BTA820XL one of the highest-rated models in our ratings. This toaster is sleek but spendy. Unlike the BTA720XL, it uses only push-button controls to operate. Instead of using a lever, a toast button automatically lowers the bread to start browning, and the same button gives you the option to cancel, which will pop the bread back up.
Additional features include settings for bagels and defrosting, as well as a “Lift and Look” button that allows you to make adjustments mid-toasting. An “A Bit More” control lets you add a touch more browning before your toast is done. There’s even a place to stash the cord. Just like the BTA720XL, this model earns a solid score in our toasting-time tests and is very easy to clean.
The Cuisinart Countdown Metal CPT-415 uses a digital screen to count down the time before your bread reaches its desired setting, then emits a sound to let you know it’s finished. This toaster’s intuitive controls—for instance, button settings for bagels, defrost, reheat, and cancel—help it snag a stellar score for ease of use. Cuisinart’s three-year warranty is longer than those of most brands in our ratings.
But unlike the two Breville models in this roundup, this model is prone to trapping pesky breadcrumbs, so it receives just an average score for ease of cleaning. If you have a larger household and want to get toast on the table a tad faster, consider the Cuisinart Countdown Metal CPT-435, a four-slice model with a similar design.
A toaster with a touchscreen? It does exist. And with the Revolution InstaGlo, it’s not just high-tech but also high-performing. This smart toaster is easy to use and turns out toast in 90 seconds. It also excels in our color-range and full-batch tests but misses the mark just a smidge in our one-slice test (though users can still expect to get a nice color).
You’ll find designated settings for bagels, English muffins, toaster pastries, and waffles. And if your bread is frozen or just needs to be reheated, it can handle that, too. According to the manufacturer, smart sensors customize the heating process based on the type of bread (there are 34 options, including gluten-free, to choose from), voltage level, and toaster temperature. These convenient presets do come with a $350 price, though. And like the Cuisinart, this toaster can trap crumbs, making it tricky to clean.
How Consumer Reports Tests Toasters
Test engineers at Consumer Reports toast hundreds of slices of bread to find the best and worst two-slice and four-slice models, scoring every slice against an industry-standard toast color chart established by the Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers. It has nine colors, ranging from very light to burnt.
While set to medium, each toaster is judged on how well it makes a single slice of toast as well as a full batch—two or four slices—depending on the model. The best of these models deliver an evenly browned medium toast that matches the shade on the toast color chart.
In addition to the tests that help you determine the quality of your toast, we consider convenience factors, including how easy it is to use each toaster and how much effort is needed to clean it. We also evaluate how long it takes to get your toast to that standard golden-brown shade. It turns out most toasters do pretty well on that test, says Kenneth Sutton, CR’s test engineer who oversees toasters. He says results are very similar across the board, with each model typically delivering a batch within a reasonable amount of time or quicker (1.5 to 3 minutes for two slices).
BEST TIME TO BUY:
