Kenwood TT290 > Reviews (4)

We've had this toaster now for the last three years; it replaced our old Philips toaster which ran for approximately 10 years. I'd say the build quality on it is much lighter than our Philips but crucially the controls are easier to use since there are three options plus the normal browing dial you'll usually find on other toasters.

~~ Features ~~

The beauty of the Kenwood is that it has a cancel button, a reheat button and defrost button which means that unless your bread is completely fresh you can still pop in a slice of bread which has at least some frozen part to it - as the manual says though it cannot defrost a frozen slice and for safe concerns to defrost bread in a microwave before putting it into the Kenwood.

There is also a slider option too when ever the Kenwood is used; when for example you slide bread into the toaster you can allow it to pop up the normal way, but by pushing the slider upwards allows the bread to push up a bit more to enable the owner to grab at the bread slice that bit more. Naturally just by looking at this toaster it is easy to say that it has cool sides all around the product and this is a great advantage against our old 10 year old Philips model.

~~ So how does it toast? ~~

The Kenwood does a great job of toasting bread, with visible stripes of where the element has cooked the grains in bread. Three stripes on either sides are usually available if the toaster is set at setting 3 or 4 and out of the 6 settings, you'll get burnt toast if it is set at setting 6!

At the first two settings however general average thick sliced bread seems to struggle with actual browning and it isn't always uniform- but frankly if you are looking for a toaster that gives off a design on toasted bread, you may be able to qualify for a mad house! All that is important is the fact that it works well, but there are a few downsides;

~~ Downsides ~~

The Kenwood toasts really well but like many toasters of its age, it has to be maintained well to keep it going like new. Unlike our Philips which had to have two screws undone to remove the crumb tray, the Kenwood has a flush fitting slide out tray which is easy to pick out. However it doesn't always reveal the crumbs inside, and I end up shaking the toaster over the kitchen sink to get the large burnt sections of bread which stick to the elements.

Another downside to the Kenwood is the bagel lifter mechanism. It is allocated on the left hand side of the toaster. Whilst it is great for heating up croissants, bagels and other bread products, over the years the metal grid which pops up to heat these products has bent with the weight of bread. It is a good idea and novel to include it in the design though!

~~ Prices ~~

So the price. Well we paid £24 from Argos at the time for this toaster although it is now available at £14-99 on many high street shops but is it worth considering anyway? I'd say yes for its simple good looking design, compact roundedness and overall performance. The controls are easy to use, the three buttons all light up which is a new design element for all of us against our mechanical type toaster we had before and anyone in the home can use it.

~~ Conclusion ~~

It is not the kind of toaster you can walk away and leave it to do its work though; certainly for more precise browning control as the user you can stop the toasting at any time by pressing the cancel button. Any more features and you would have to consider a toaster at a much more elevated price. Thanks for reading my first review.

www.kenwood.co.uk