If counter space is in short supply, a compact toaster can help you whip up a quick breakfast without cluttering your kitchen. The best small toasters offer useful quality-of-life features, like cycle countdown indicators or a reheat function that lets you add a little extra time to the toasting cycle. They also provide a wide toasting range, so you can brown all kinds of carbs in a single cycle. And they toast bread evenly on both sides, achieving consistent results across multiple batches.
We've tested more than 20 toasters, and below, you'll find our recommendations for the best compact options. If you want more to consider, check out the best 2-slice and best 4-slice models. Toaster ovens aren't usually as good for toasting, but they offer more versatility, so you might also be interested in the best small 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.
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Best Small Toaster
If you want the best small toaster with plenty of convenience features, and don't mind paying a premium, the Breville the 'A Bit More' 2 Slice is a fantastic choice. It has a high-end stainless steel body, a relatively compact design, and a suite of useful extra features. Along with the typical 'Bagel' and 'Frozen' settings, there's an 'A Bit More' option that adds a little time to the end of a toasting cycle. There's also a cycle countdown indicator so you know approximately when your toast will be ready, and, if you want to check for yourself, the 'Lift and Look' feature lets you raise the slots without stopping the toasting cycle.
It offers a superb toasting performance, making evenly toasted bread on both sides, and it performs consistently batch after batch, so you can make lots of toast without needing to adjust the settings. It also has a fantastic toasting range, so you can easily make golden-brown toast with sandwich bread or denser brown breads in a single cycle.
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Best Mid-Range Small Toaster
Consider the Oster 2-Slice Toaster with Quick-Check Lever if you want a more affordable, compact toaster. This toaster is a little thinner and shorter than the Breville the 'A Bit More' 2 Slice, making it a good option if saving space is your top priority. It has a plastic body and a simpler set of functions. It has buttons for bagels or frozen foods, and its 'Quick-Check Lever' lets you take a peek at your toast without interrupting the cycle.
It makes very even toast, leaving each slice evenly browned on both sides, and it performs fairly consistently batch after batch. Its toasting range is pretty good too, though even the darkest shade setting may not be enough to properly brown denser bread in a single cycle. However, it has seven shade settings, and you can use setting 6 to make golden-brown toast from white sandwich bread. This toaster is also particularly well-suited for smaller items since its slots are very shallow when raised, allowing you to grab something like an English muffin without burning yourself.
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Best Budget Small Toaster
If you want a simple, but effective toaster at the budget-friendly price point, you can't go wrong with the Black+Decker 2-Slice Toaster T2569B, which is typically available for less than $50. With its simple plastic shell and limited functions, this toaster won't turn any heads, but it delivers the essentials while saving space and cash. Like our top pick and the Oster 2-Slice Toaster with Quick-Check Lever, it's equipped with buttons for bagels and frozen items, but there's no way to check your toast's progress without hitting cancel.
While it lacks the bells and whistles of most pricier options, this model stands out for its exceptional toasting performance. It has a fantastic toasting range, so you can easily get your desired shade and toast denser breads in a single cycle. It toasts extremely evenly, too, leaving your toast uniformly browned on both sides. And it toasts consistently, so every batch comes out the way you want it, no matter how many slices you make in a row.
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Best Cheap Small Toaster
The Hamilton Beach 2 Slice Toaster with Extra-Wide Slots 22217 is a great choice if you're looking for a compact toaster at the lowest possible price. It has a plastic shell like the Black+Decker 2-Slice Toaster T2569B, but it's smaller, making it ideal if you're trying to save space and cash. This model doesn't include buttons for frozen items or bagels, making it simpler than most, but it has seven shade settings, and, of course, a cancel button, so the basics are covered. Despite its name, this toaster doesn't have particularly wide slots compared to other options, but they lift up high enough that you won't burn yourself retrieving smaller items, like English muffins.
It makes very evenly browned toast across the entire surface of the bread and on both sides. Results remain consistent batch after batch, too, so you don't need to adjust the settings to get the same outcome. That said, its toasting range is disappointing. It toasts very lightly, so you have to use the second-highest setting to get golden brown toast from sandwich bread, while the lower settings produce pale, barely browned bread. As a result, you have to toast denser breads twice to properly brown them, but given that it's usually available under $30, that might be a welcome trade-off.
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Best Small 4-Slot Toaster
Need more capacity in a small package? Consider the Breville Die-Cast 4-Slice Smart Toaster. Despite having room to toast four slices of bread at a time, it has a fairly compact design, making it an excellent option if you regularly make a lot of toast and counter space is at a premium. Like the Breville the 'A Bit More' 2 Slice, this high-end aluminum toaster also comes with a range of special features that help set it apart from cheaper models. It has cycle countdown indicators, so you know approximately when it's time to start buttering, a 'Lift and Look' feature to check your toast's progress mid-cycle, and if it's not quite browned enough, you can use the 'A Bit More' button to add a little extra toasting time.
It offers excellent toasting performance. With a fantastic toasting range, you can make anything from lightly toasted to completely charred sandwich bread in a single cycle, which also means you should be able to thoroughly toast denser breads without running the toaster a second time. It toasts very evenly, too, so your toast comes out uniformly browned on both sides. However, if you're making multiple batches, the toaster tends to heat up and make darker toast on the second and third rounds, so you'll have to adjust the setting between batches if you want to make a lot of toast with the same results.
Recent Updates
Mar 03, 2026:
We removed the Cuisinart 4 Slice Compact Plastic Toaster as our 'Best Mid-Range Small Toaster' to better align with user needs. We also removed the Breville Die-Cast 4-Slice Smart Toaster from our 'Best Small Toaster' category and added it to a new category, the Best Small 4-Slot Toaster. We added the Hamilton Beach 2 Slice Toaster with Extra-Wide Slots 22217 as our 'Best Cheap Small Toaster' and made small edits throughout for clarity.
Feb 04, 2026:
We reorganized this article to list our recommendations by price. We added the Breville Die-Cast 4-Slice Smart Toaster as the 'Best Small Toaster,' the Black+Decker 2-Slice Toaster T2569B as the 'Best Cheap Small Toaster,' and added the Black+Decker 4-Slice Toaster TR4900SSD as a Notable Mention. We also made edits for clarity throughout.
Dec 04, 2025:
We've verified the availability of our picks and made some edits for clarity.
Apr 14, 2025:
We made minor updates to the text and checked that the products are in stock.
All Reviews
Our recommendations above are what we think are currently the best compact and small toasters for most people. We factor in the price, feedback from our visitors, and availability.
If you'd like to do the work of choosing yourself, here's the list of all toaster reviews. Be careful not to get too caught up in the details. While no toaster is perfect, most are good enough to please almost everyone, and the differences are often not noticeable unless you look for them.