The Cuisinart SimpliTouch XL 2-Slice is a budget-friendly toaster with touch-sensitive controls. The touchscreen allows for more customization than most standard toasters. It has settings for Bread, Bagels, Waffles, Pastries, and English Muffins, along with a shade selector. There's also a Defrost setting, a +15 Seconds button, and an option to toast just one slice of bread.
Our Verdict
The Cuisinart SimpliTouch XL Toaster offers very good performance for daily use. It has enough capacity for a range of baked goods, including thick bagels and longer slices of bakery bread. The touchscreen has settings for Bread, Waffles, Pastries, and English Muffins, along with a Bagel setting, which turns off the outer burners to toast only the inner face. No matter what you're making, it toasts quickly and evenly, without drying out your food. There's also a setting for defrosting, one that adds 15 seconds to the timer, and another that lets you toast in a single slot. However, there's no countdown indicator, which you might expect of a touchscreen toaster. It also leaves some crumbs on your counter after toasting, enough to require regular cleaning.
One-sided toasting works well for bagels, buns, and English muffins.
Feature-rich touchscreen with defrost mode, +15 Sec., single slot toasting, etc.
Spacious slots can fit a variety of baked goods.
Toasts pretty quickly and very evenly.
Crumbs collect around the toaster and need to be cleaned often.
No cycle countdown indicator.
The Cuisinart SimpliTouch XL Toaster makes excellent toast. Bread toasts very evenly and comes out with remarkably uniform browning on both sides. Your toast doesn't take long to pop back up, either, which keeps your bread from drying out.
Toasts more evenly than most other toasters.
Toasts quickly enough to keep your baked goods from drying out.
No cycle countdown indicator.
The Cuisinart SimpliTouch XL Toaster is a fantastic option if bagels are your breakfast of choice. Using the Bagel setting turns off the outer burners, so only one side of your bagel toasts. The inside gets evenly browned, while the outside stays soft. Toasting is quick, which helps keep your bagel from drying out and keeps it soft on the inside, too.
Toasts more evenly than most other toasters.
One-sided toasting works well for bagels, buns, and English muffins.
Toasts quickly enough to keep your baked goods from drying out.
No cycle countdown indicator.
The Cuisinart SimpliTouch XL Toaster struggles with crumb management. The crumb tray catches an acceptable amount of crumbs, seeds, and loose grains, but some also fall past it. They build up fairly quickly, so you have to clean around your toaster frequently.
Crumbs collect around the toaster and need to be cleaned often.
The Cuisinart SimpliTouch XL Toaster is very compact, especially considering the size of its slots, which are wide, deep, and very long for a standard toaster. It doesn't take up much space on a counter or in a cupboard.
Compact design compared to similar-capacity options.
Performance Usages
Check Price
Differences Between Sizes And Variants
The Cuisinart SimpliTouch Toaster comes in a stainless steel finish. See the label for our unit.
If you've tried out this touchscreen toaster, tell us about your experience in the comments!
Popular Toaster Comparisons
The Cuisinart SimpliTouch Toaster is a 2-slot touchscreen toaster that offers exceptional toasting evenness. This model browns each slice of bread more evenly than most other toasters we've tested, even outperforming much pricier options, like the Smeg 2-Slice TSF01, in this regard. Each slice comes out uniformly golden brown on both sides. It doesn't take too long to toast either, though some toasters, like the Dualit 2 Slice NewGen Classic, toast faster, which helps food retain moisture during toasting.
When it comes to touchscreen toasters specifically, this model toasts much more evenly than the two other options we've tested: the Sur La Table Touchscreen 2-Slice and the Revolution InstaGLO R180. Regardless of what you're toasting, the Cuisinart leaves it uniformly browned across the entire surface. That said, those other touchscreen toasters work a little faster, so your baked goods stay moist inside. They also offer cycle countdown indicators, one feature the Cuisinart lacks.
For more to consider, see our recommendations for the best toasters, the best budget and cheap toasters, and the best 2-slice toasters.
The Cuisinart SimpliTouch XL 2-Slice and the Black+Decker 2-Slice T2569B both offer excellent performance for toast, but the Cuisinart comes out ahead overall, since it offers one-sided toasting for bagels, English muffins, and buns, making it the more versatile pick. The Cuisinart also offers a few extras on its touchscreen. You can choose between several baked goods before picking the shade you want. There's also an option to add 15 seconds to the timer if your toast isn't quite dark enough, and another that turns off the burners in one slot when you want to toast a single slice.
The Cuisinart SimpliTouch XL 2-Slice and the Smeg 2-Slice TSF01 both deliver very good toasting performance, but most people should choose the Cuisinart, since it offers the same benefits plus a few extras at a much lower price. Both models have a sleek stainless steel design, provide enough capacity for a range of baked goods, toast bread and bagels quickly and evenly, and they offer convenient features, like one-sided toasting and a setting for frozen foods. The Cuisinart also includes settings for waffles, pastries, and English muffins, along with a +15-second button and another that lets you toast a single slice of bread.
The Cuisinart SimpliTouch XL 2-Slice and the Breville the 'A Bit More' 2 Slice are both very good toasters, but you may prefer one over the other depending on your preferences. The Breville toasts evenly, but the Cuisinart does an even better job and works faster, which helps your toast stay soft in the center instead of drying out. While the Cuisinart's touch screen offers plenty of features, it's missing a cycle countdown indicator, which the Breville includes. The Breville is also better at containing crumbs, so you don't have to clean your counter as often.
The Cuisinart SimpliTouch XL 2-Slice and the Dualit 2 Slice NewGen Classic both offer very good performance, but there are a few key differences to consider if you’re deciding between them. The Cuisinart offers a little more room for longer slices, toasts more evenly, and has a touch screen with a few quality-of-life features, like a +15 seconds button. The Dualit, on the other hand, toasts faster, which helps your baked goods stay soft in the center, and it does a better job keeping crumbs contained. In contrast to the Cuisinart, it’s a low-tech option. It still provides a range of useful features, but they’re analog versions, like its wind-up shade selector dial. The benefit of this design is that it’s easy to replace broken components at home if you want to extend your toaster’s lifespan.
Test Results
Despite its roomy slots, this is a very compact model. It's a good pick if you're short on space but like to toast larger artisan slices.
This toaster is very spacious for a 2-slice model. The slots are wide, deep, and long for a standard toaster, so it'll fit most slices, including longer slices of sourdough or a chunky bagel.
The touchscreen allows for plenty of settings. There are six shade settings, and you can choose between Bread, Bagel, Waffle, Pastry, and English Muffin. The bagel option toasts only one side. There are also settings for defrosting, adding an extra 15 seconds, and toasting in just one of the slots. There's one noticeable omission: there's no cycle countdown indicator. While this isn't a particularly common feature, it seems like a missed opportunity on a touchscreen toaster.
The crumb tray is a weak point for this toaster. It catches most of the crumbs from your toast, but enough fall through that you need to clean your countertop regularly.
As a stainless-steel toaster, this model has a bit of heft. You'll want to be conscious of the touchscreen if you plan to move it around a lot, since the screen makes this model more delicate than its lower-tech counterparts.
Your toast comes out with remarkably even browning. The entire surface on both sides is exceptionally uniform, and you get practically identical results in either slot.
The Bagel setting toasts only the cut side of your bagel. It works exceptionally well, leaving the outside completely untoasted by the time the inside is golden brown.
By the time your toast reaches a golden-brown shade, it's still soft and fluffy on the inside. If you like charred toast, your slices might be a bit dry by the time they pop back up, but this model toasts quickly enough to retain moisture otherwise.
