If you're looking for a new toaster, you'll find plenty of options, from suspiciously cheap to surprisingly expensive. While you don't have to spend much for good performance, if you're going to be using your toaster daily, you might want to upgrade to a model with extra features or find one with a design that suits your style.
We've tested more than 20 toasters from a range of brands, and below are our recommendations for the best toaster brands. We haven't ordered them by performance; instead, they're listed alphabetically, so you can find the brand that suits you best. This isn't an exhaustive list, but our recommendations represent a good starting point for your search, whether you're looking for something simple and budget-friendly or a higher-end model with extra features and a good-looking design. For more information about how we test toasters, check out the changelog for our latest test bench.
For more specific recommendations, check out our lists of the best toasters and the best budget and cheap toasters. Or if you want an appliance that multitasks, check out our list of the best toaster ovens.
We've put our 20 toasters through the wringer to help you make a confident buying decision. But how do we do it? It starts with buying the products ourselves, just like you. We take it a step further with our lab, where we measure a variety of characteristics, like toasting evenness, so that a prospective toaster's performance doesn't come as a shock. You can even compare models and results, making it easy to find the right toaster for your needs.
Check out our About Us page to learn more!
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Beautiful
Everyday Use7.9Toasting Evenness9.5Toasting Speed8.0Features10Crumb Management4.0See all our test resultsSlice Capacity4-SliceBeautiful by Drew, Drew Barrymore's kitchenware brand, offers budget-friendly small appliances, including blenders, waffle makers, and stand mixers, sold exclusively at Walmart. They usually have limited lineups, with just one or two models for each product type, and tend to offer simple designs without a lot of extra features. While they don't always offer the very best performance, they usually work reasonably well. Their minimalist design, including light-up controls, gold-colored accents, and pastel colors, makes the brand stand out from other budget brands.
The Beautiful 4-Slice Toaster with Touch-Activated Display is a sleek model with a steel body and touch-sensitive controls. There are only a few settings, but you'll find a shade selector, plus buttons for toasting bagels, frozen items, and even gluten-free toast. It has wide slots that easily fit bagels and artisanal bread slices, and they lift high enough so you can grab your toast without burning yourself. It toasts quickly and very evenly on both sides of the bread, batch after batch, but unfortunately, while it has seven distinct shade settings, none produce golden-brown toast with white sandwich bread. It also leaves quite a lot of crumbs on your counter, which can be annoying to clean frequently.
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Black+Decker
Everyday Use7.5Toasting Evenness9.6Toasting Speed8.0Features6.0Crumb Management7.0See all our test resultsSlice Capacity2-SliceWhile you might associate Black+Decker with tools like screwdrivers and saws, they also sell budget-friendly kitchen appliances, including blenders and toasters. In our investigation into toaster performance, we found that spending more on a toaster doesn't necessarily lead to more evenly toasted bread or faster performance. Black+Decker toasters rank among the least expensive and best-performing toasters that we've tested. While they lack high-end features that you might want, such as cycle countdown indicators that tell you when your toast will be ready, they offer fantastic toasting performance and have the essentials, like a bagel setting, a cancel button, and a dial that allows you to fine-tune the shade setting, so you're not limited to the marked settings.
The Black+Decker 2-Slice Toaster T2569B is a simple toaster that delivers fantastic toasting performance. It may not offer enough space for longer bakery slices, but it has a superb toasting range, meaning you can get golden-brown sandwich bread or use a higher setting to properly brown denser slices of bread in a single cycle. It browns bread evenly on both sides, performing consistently batch after batch, and while it leaves a few crumbs behind, you won't have to sweep them off your counters too often. We also recommend the Black+Decker 4-Slice Toaster TR4900SSD if you need more capacity. Four-slice models usually toast less evenly, but this model produces exceptionally even results.
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Breville
Everyday Use8.0Toasting Evenness9.0Toasting Speed6.7Features10Crumb Management7.0See all our test resultsSlice Capacity2-SliceBreville is a higher-end kitchenware brand that makes small appliances like microwaves, blenders, toaster ovens, and toasters. Their products often stand out from the crowd thanks to a range of extra features, making the brand a good option if you're willing to pay a premium for quality-of-life touches or the higher-end look of stainless steel. Breville toasters include cycle countdown indicators, a less common feature that lets you know when your toast will be ready. Certain models use buttons instead of levers to push down the slots. Some also include an 'A Bit More' button, which adds 30 seconds to the timer, and a 'Lift and Look' option, which lets you lift the slots to check your toast mid-cycle.
The Breville 'A Bit More' 2 Slice and the Breville Die-Cast 4-Slice Smart Toaster are our recommendations for the best 2-slice and 4-slice toasters from the brand, based on a combination of toasting performance and useful extra features. These options offer a fantastic toasting range, so you can easily toast denser, thicker slices in a single cycle, and they toast bread evenly and consistently, even after multiple batches. They're also both equipped with cycle countdown indicators, 'A Bit More,' and 'Lift and Look.' However, they don't toast particularly quickly, and they tend to leave some crumbs on your counter after toasting.
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Dualit
Everyday Use7.6Toasting Evenness8.0Toasting Speed8.4Features8.0Crumb Management7.5See all our test resultsSlice Capacity2-SliceDualit is a British brand that began producing toasters in the 1940s, but they've since expanded their lineup to include small appliances like kettles, air fryers, and hand mixers. Their products stand out for their solid construction, with high-quality materials and sturdy designs. In fact, posters on Reddit often point out that their Dualit toasters have lasted decades. The brand also offers spare parts for many of their products, so when a part fails, you can easily replace it and keep toasting. Dualit toasters tend to offer good overall performance, with impressive toasting ranges, but less even toasting compared to other high-end models. They have simple feature sets, without many high-tech quality-of-life upgrades, but they include the standard functions you expect from a toaster.
The Dualit 2 Slice NewGen Classic is a high-end toaster with a surprisingly low-tech design. Unlike most modern toasters, this one uses a mechanical timer and manual controls, with a dial you turn to select a toasting time. This makes the toaster easy to repair at home, which contributes to its reputation for durability. It toasts quickly and evenly, plus it offers a fantastic toasting range. Repeated toasting is a weak point, however. The toaster heats up after the first batch, so you have to adjust the settings for consistent results. While it has decently large slots, longer slices may not fit, and because it lacks the clamping mechanism found in most toasters, smaller items don't always sit evenly. Dualit sells a 'sandwich cage' you can use to center smaller items or make a grilled cheese right in your toaster.
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Smeg
Everyday Use8.0Toasting Evenness9.1Toasting Speed7.9Features9.0Crumb Management7.0See all our test resultsSlice Capacity2-SliceSmeg is an Italian brand founded in 1948 as a metalworking and enameling company. By the mid-1950s, they began producing gas stoves, and since then, their product line has grown to include a range of large and small kitchen appliances. They make high-end products, sometimes partnering with luxury brands like Dolce & Gabbana and Porsche, and that premium sensibility shows up in their product design. Their toasters, kettles, stand mixers, and other kitchen products typically feature a retro design, with stainless steel bodies and enamel finishes in a variety of colors, harkening back to the company's origins. They tend to perform well but don't include many extra features, especially given the premium price point. Still, they're generally worth it if you're willing to pay extra for looks.
The Smeg 2-Slice Toaster is a streamlined model with wide, long slots that can accommodate bagels, thick pieces of sourdough, or artisanal bakery slices. There are just two buttons and a dial to control the toaster; the dial selects your preferred shade or 'Reheat,' while the buttons adjust the settings for bagels and frozen foods. It can make anything from barely toasted to charred sandwich bread, and toasts very evenly across the whole face of the bread and on both sides. That being said, it tends to make increasingly dark toast after the first batch, and while it contains the majority of crumbs, you'll have to clean some off your counter as well.
Recent Updates
May 05, 2026:
We removed Oster and Cuisinart from our recommendations, since they're less convenient for everyday use than the remaining picks.
Apr 01, 2026:
We added Dualit to our list because their toasters offer good performance and impressive durability.
Mar 03, 2026:
We've made minor updates to the text and ensured it's up to date, but our recommendations haven't changed.
Feb 02, 2026:
We added Smeg and Beautiful to our list of the best toaster brands, and changed our recommendation for Cuisinart from the Cuisinart Long Slot Toaster to the Cuisinart 4 Slice Compact Plastic Toaster, since the former has been discontinued.
Apr 23, 2025:
We've added a link to the Beautiful 4-Slice Toaster with Touch-Activated Display and updated the text for clarity, but our recommendations haven't changed.
All Reviews
The recommendations above are what we think are currently the best toaster brands at various price points. If you want to choose for yourself, here's a list of all our toaster reviews. Be careful not to get too caught up in the details. None is perfect, and ultimately, the best toaster brand depends on your needs and preferences.