Delonghi CTO4003 > Reviews (4)

Overview

Not at any time in my life did I envisage thinking it would be OK to spend £60 on a toaster. However, when my new kitchen was fitted in black and cream, suddenly the £5 toaster from Argos just didn't seem to fit in to the beautifully sophisticated kitchen so I decided it was time to find a new toaster (and kettle). It is surprising how difficult it is to find a black toaster for the kitchen, there are a few out there but very few that I liked (or could justify the price of - it seems £60 for a toaster is a bargain in some places!). Anyway, I decided upon this silver and black DeLonghi toaster.

Key Features and Positive Points

First of all, the toaster has four slots of variable width for toasting four slices of bread at once should you wish to. This comes in very handy as our old toaster had two slots and for the two of us we ended up waiting for the toast to be done in two batches - no huge issue but I prefer this with 4 slots. The variable width for toasting means you can get the super thick bread in the toaster without too much trouble - again a huge bonus as I love thick, buttered toast. There are also two dials on the front of this toaster so you can control how brown/black you want your toast to come out. We usually have it set to about 3 which is a light brown but having the dual settings is handy because when I have crumpets, I set it to 8 but can toast my husbands bread in the other side which is still set to 3. I find this particularly useful and time saving. You can change the dial after you have put the bread etc. into the toaster which is also helpful if you change your mind.

On the front there are four buttons to control what happens inside the toaster. I don't use these regularly except for the 'defrost' button which is very useful when you have forgotten to take bread out of the freezer (happens regularly to me). The toast is defrosted in the toaster before being toasted and keeps the bread nice and fresh (unlike if you defrost in a microwave and then toast). There is a reheat button too which I never use but I guess it is to use in case you have forgotten your toast and it has gone cold. The other button is 'cancel' which is quite useful. The old toaster didn't have one of those so we had to switch it off at the wall plug to get the toast out early. I much prefer this option to cancel!

Other "features" include non-slip feet which I guess is fairly useful so that the toaster doesn't move around too much. It also has a crumb tray which collects crumbs for you.

Negative Points

I do love the look of this toaster and am not disappointed by spending £60 as it fits into my kitchen really nicely and looks classy. As mentioned above, I like the cancel buttons and the dials for browning the toast, both of those features are really helpful. There are however some negative points. First of all, the spring in the toaster which springs the bread out when it is done is quite forceful and for smaller pieces of bread or when toasting rolls, they do have a tendency to spring OUT of the toaster completely (not always).

This is quite frustrating as the toaster is next to the sink which is occasionally filled with water......it is not fun to see your breakfast floating in a bowl of bubbles! I have to keep a real eye on the toaster to make sure that doesn't happen. The "crumb tray" does indeed collect crumbs but when you pull it out to empty the tray, the tray is stuck into the toaster so well that inevitably the crumbs are spilled everywhere when you pull the tray out which is quite frustrating. Apart from these two things, there is very little else detrimental to say about the toaster.

Overall

Despite my grumbles, I would buy another one of these toasters. We have had it two years and have not had a problem with it yet (touch wood!). The price is expensive but it does look very beautiful in my kitchen with it's little friend the matching kettle! I am not disappointed in buying it nor do I feel as though I have been ripped off as I am pleased with how it looks. I would recommend this - just don't situate your toaster next to a sink! :)