Most people will just be happy if theirs isn’t burnt. If that sounds like you, then you’ll probably be perfectly happy with what your thirty bucks gets you here, performance-wise. Fingertips intact, I started taking a closer look at the toast I was making.
Its wide slots are perfect for everything from this slices to small breads, waffles and English muffins. The Hamilton Beach 2 Slice Toaster with Extra-Wide Slots is a simple, budget-friendly toaster. Even though its slots aren’t particularly wide, they can fit thicker slices of bread and lift high enough for you to grab smaller items like English muffins without burning yourself. It has a dial with seven preset settings but no bagel setting to help prevent burning the bottom of your bagel. The Toastation® Toaster and Oven switches easily from toaster to oven — slide the lever and the toaster slot is sealed, trapping heat for baking.
Instead, it looks like a cheap countertop appliance from the 1980s, the kind of toaster Marty McFly might have used to make a quick breakfast before zipping off to class on his skateboard. In that spirit, let me tell you that you can do a lot better than the Hamilton Beach Classic Chrome 2-Slice Toaster. At 30 bucks, and with no distinguishing features to speak of, it’s about as ho-hum as toasters come. Shop around — there’s better bang for your breakfast buck. Nobody wants to waste time thinking about toasters, but that doesn’t mean we don’t want one that works well sitting on our kitchen counter. To that end, the CNET Appliances team is here to help.
Easily Retrieve Smaller Breads Auto Boost automatically lifts smaller breads like English muffins and gluten-free bread slices so they’re easier to retrieve after toasting. Why take up valuable counter space with a toaster and an oven, when the Hamilton Beach® Toastation® Toaster and Oven combination does it all? The top slot works like a traditional toaster with two or four extra-wide slots, and the spacious oven is perfect for pizza, French fries, chicken nuggets and more. How well the toasters or toaster ovens produced both very light toast and very dark toast. Hamilton Beach® 4 Slice Toasters incorporate wide slots to accommodate bagels and slices of homemade bread. Not only do they toast evenly, optional smart functions allow you to reheat and defrost, too.
At a glance, it looked fine as far as toast goes, but compared to what the other models in this roundup were making, it seemed to skew towards dark if set to medium or above. Additionally, I wasn’t getting even results on both sides of my bread — certainly not a deal-breaker for a $30 device, but something to consider if you’re splitting hairs. No toaster is going to wow you with its features, not this $30 Hamilton Beach, nor even a $500 model like the KitchenAid Pro Line Toaster . At the end of the day, it’s just going to toast your bread, which doesn’t leave much room for a feature-rich experience. Prices, Promotions, styles, and availability may vary. Prices and availability of products and services are subject to change without notice.
You put the bread in, you select the desired doneness, you press the lever down, you wait a minute or two. For what it’s worth, the lever mechanism never stuck or gave me any difficulty throughout dozens of tests, and the crumb tray was cooperative, too. We toasted just one slice of large white hamilton beach toaster bread in each model, aiming for medium brown toast. I got the below response when I polled my colleagues to ask how I should go about putting a $30 toaster into context. Breakfast foods don’t get much more ubiquitous than toast — and that makes toasters relevant to just about all of us.
Additionally, the nine “settings” on the rotary dial didn’t produce nine distinct levels of doneness. I could get light toast at the lowest few settings, golden-brown toast right below medium, dark toast right above medium, and burnt toast at the highest settings. In theory, the smooth selector dial should let you hone in on any preferred level of doneness, but the Hamilton Beach just wasn’t consistent enough for that sort of exacting control. I wondered if the chrome build would get especially hot while in use. Sleek, perfectly flat metals tend to cause burns easier than coarse, brushed metal builds. Fortunately, the Hamilton Beach keeps things at a reasonable temperature.
Smaller and just as versatile as a full-size oven, this kitchen appliance is ideal for small kitchens, rec rooms, and vacation properties. Blain’s Farm and Fleet carries quality conventional convection toaster ovens and air fryer toaster oven combos from Ninja, Black & Decker, Nuwave and other trusted brands. This Highland 4-slice toaster oven with hamilton beach toaster air fry technology, is an elegant, multi functional and high-tech piece of kitchen equipment. Healthy cooking has never been so easy with air frying it cooks food faster and creates a crispy, fried layer and even-browning on all sides using little to no oil. It’s sleek and modern stainless steel finishes give you the look you love without the fuss.
Some toasters housing are all plastic, some are all metal or a combination of the two. Typical metal surfaces are chrome and stainless steel. Reflects the ease of cleaning the toaster exterior and crumb tray. Ease of Cleaning is excellent when a toaster has smooth surfaces, no crevices, seams, joints or spaces to trap dirt & crumbs. The crumb tray is accessible and slides out smoothly. There really isn’t a whole lot to say about the usability of this toaster.