De'Longhi CTH4003 4-Slice Toaster

After many years of having a toaster oven, I finally got sick of the mess of it and decided to go with a toaster instead. My husband actually picked this one because of reviews he had read on it. I love several of the features on it. You have a defrost cycle for your frozen items that works perfectly on bagels. Then there is the bagel setting that only toasts the inside parts of the bagel, which keeps the crust soft. While I will admit it took several tries to figure out the way to put the bagels in for this feature....once you get it ...you'll love it. I finally have perfect toast, bagels and waffles. I also love to crumb trays....so easy to clean.

My old DeLonghi finally broke after many years of good service, and I wanted another 4-slice toaster in stainless steel, so naturally I selected this one. It's OK but some earlier reviewers were correct -- it tends to toast the bread a little too light, and I don't mean only frozen bread or bagels. It's adequate and I love how it looks, but I keep it on the highest setting and sometimes have to pop the toast back down for a second time.

Looked at all the expensive $250+ toasters and decided to take a chance on this one, it has performed perfectly! (got free super saver shipping) Put in 4 slices and they all come out toasted the same, defrosts bagels perfectly, clean design and the blue leds are cool. Knobs at first looked like plastic (really smooth finish), but are metal (cast zinc, I think) as advertised. Replaces my 8 yr old 2 slot Delonghi that was crome plated and showed signs of rust (kept it next to the sink), but after 8 yrs it still worked perfectly.