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 still have slots that are large enough for thicker or longer slices of homemade or bakery bread, and they 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 toast quickly and evenly, without leaving a trail of crumbs on your counter.
We've tested more than 25 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.
Check out our About Us page to learn more!
-
Best Small Toaster
Capacity7.1Toasting Evenness9.0Features10Crumb Management7.0Toasting Speed6.7See all our test resultsEveryday Use8.0If 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, and despite its relatively compact design, its slots are wide and long enough to fit most bread, bagels, and pastries. This toaster also includes 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. That being said, it's not the fastest toaster, and while it's decent at containing crumbs, you'll also have to sweep a few off your counter.
-
Best Budget Small Toaster
Capacity7.1Toasting Evenness9.6Features6.0Crumb Management7.0Toasting Speed8.0See all our test resultsEveryday Use7.5If you want a simple but effective compact toaster on a budget, you can't go wrong with the Black+Decker 2-Slice Toaster T2569B. With its simple plastic shell and limited functions, this toaster won't turn heads, and unlike the Breville the 'A Bit More' 2 Slice, there's no way to check your toast's progress without hitting cancel, but it delivers the essentials. It's equipped with buttons that add extra toasting time for bagels and frozen items, along with six shade settings. The slots are also wider than most, making it a good choice for Texas toast or thick sourdough slices.
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 very quickly and evenly, too, leaving your bread uniformly browned on both sides. It toasts consistently, so every batch comes out the way you want it, no matter how many slices you make in a row. This toaster's also decent at containing crumbs, so you'll have to clean up after it, but not every time you make a bagel.
-
Best Cheap Small Toaster
Capacity6.7Toasting Evenness9.7Features2.0Crumb Management8.5Toasting Speed7.4See all our test resultsEveryday Use6.8The Hamilton Beach 2 Slice Toaster with Extra-Wide Slots 22217 is a great choice if you're looking for a compact toaster at a cheap 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 toasts the bread very evenly on both sides and finishes toasting pretty quickly. Results remain consistent batch after batch, too, so you don't need to adjust the settings to get the same outcome. It barely leaves any crumbs behind, either. 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.
-
Best Long-Slot Small Toaster
Capacity7.1Toasting Evenness8.0Features2.0Crumb Management5.0Toasting Speed7.8See all our test resultsEveryday Use5.9If slices of your favorite bread don't fit in a compact toaster, consider the BELLA 2-Slice Slim. It has a space-saving design, with a single long slot, so it fits into narrow spots that a standard 2-slot toaster won't. It has a very simple design. You won't find a cycle countdown indicator, a way to check your toast mid-cycle, or even buttons for bagels and frozen items, like waffles. Instead, it has just a shade selector with six settings and a cancel button. The long slot makes it easy to toast carbs that won't fit in a regular toaster, like long slices of focaccia or baguette, but it's not very deep, so taller items might stick out the top.
This toaster may lack the quality-of-life features of pricier options, but it offers excellent toasting performance. Its six shade settings can make anything from barely warmed to completely charred sandwich bread very quickly. The result is evenly browned on both sides and consistent, even if you're making multiple batches in a row. However, this toaster doesn't trap crumbs very well.
-
Best Small 4-Slot Toaster
Capacity8.1Toasting Evenness8.2Features10Crumb Management7.0Toasting Speed6.7See all our test resultsEveryday Use8.1Need more capacity in a small package? Consider the Breville Die-Cast 4-Slice Smart Toaster. Despite having spacious slots and 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, it doesn't toast very quickly, and if you're making multiple batches, the toaster tends to heat up, resulting in darker toast on the second and third rounds. It also leaves a decent amount of crumbs behind.
Recent Updates
May 12, 2026:
We removed the Oster 2-Slice Toaster with Quick-Check Lever as our 'Best Mid-Range Small Toaster' since it offers less convenience for everyday use, and added the BELLA 2-Slice Slim as our 'Best Long-Slot Small Toaster' since its single-long-slot design makes it very compact.
Apr 01, 2026:
We verified that our picks are in stock and remain the best compact toasters for most people.
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.
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.