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Hamilton Beach 2 Slice Toaster with Extra-Wide Slots 22217 Toaster Review

Tested using Methodology v1.0
Reviewed Dec 15, 2023 at 08:23 am

The Hamilton Beach 2 Slice Toaster with Extra-Wide Slots is a simple, budget-friendly toaster. Even though its slots aren't particularly wide, they can fit thicker slices of bread and lift high enough for you to grab smaller items like English muffins without burning yourself. It has a dial with seven preset settings but no bagel setting to help prevent burning the bottom of your bagel.

Our Verdict

8.1 Toasting

It's a great toaster. This simple model toasts bread very evenly in both slots and on both sides of the bread. Its performance stays consistent batch after batch. However, you must use the highest setting to make golden brown toast from white sandwich bread. None of the presets chars white sandwich bread, so if your bread takes longer to toast or you like it well done, you'll have to run another cycle. Fortunately, its preset cycles don't take as long as some toasters'.

Pros
  • Quick.
  • Toasts both sides very evenly in both slots.
Cons
  • Toasts lightly.
  • 8.1 Toasting
  1. Updated Dec 15, 2023: Review published.

Differences Between Sizes And Variants

The Hamilton Beach 2 Slice Toaster comes in 'Black' or 'White'. We tested it in 'Black' and you can see the label for the unit we tested here.

There's also a four-slice variant with the same features and design, but it may perform differently.

Compared To Other Toasters

The Hamilton Beach 2-Slice Toaster with Extra-Wide Slots is a simple 2-slot toaster. Most of its settings toast bread pretty lightly, so if your chosen bread takes longer to toast, you'll probably have to push it down again after the first cycle. If you usually toast multi-grain bread or bagels, you might prefer a better toasting range, like the KitchenAid 2-Slice Toaster with manual lift lever or the Oster 2-Slice Toaster with Quick-Check Lever.

If you want to see which toasters we recommend, check out the best 2-slice toasters, the best 4-slice toasters, and the best toasters.

Test Results

perceptual testing image
Design
Design
Body
Material
Plastic
Height 7.3" (18.6 cm)
Width
6.4" (16.3 cm)
Depth
10.5" (26.7 cm)
Weight 2.2 lbs (1.0 kg)
Power Cord Length 2.07 ft (0.63 m)
Design
Slots
Toaster Type
2-Slot Regular
Measured Wattage
695 W
Slot Length
5.2" (13.1 cm)
Slot Width 1.2" (3.1 cm)
Slot Depth When Toasting
5.0" (12.8 cm)
Slot Depth When Fully Raised 2.8" (7.1 cm)
Design
Controls And Functions
Bagel Button
No
Frozen Button
No
Stop Cycle Button
Yes
Cycle Countdown Indicator
No
Performance
5.5
Performance
Toasting Range
Pale Toast
Yes
Light Brown Toast
Yes
Golden Brown Toast
Yes
Dark Brown Toast
No
Charred Toast
No
Golden Brown Toast Setting
Setting 6
Cycle Time At Lowest Setting
50 s
Cycle Time At Highest Setting
189 s

The photo above shows the results for slot 1, but you can see a full montage showing all the bread toasted here.

9.7
Performance
Toasting Evenness
Evenly Browned Area
91%
Face-To-Face Difference
30,091
Slot-To-Slot Difference
21,268
8.7
Performance
Repeated Toasting
Run-To-Run Difference
43,635

The photo above shows the results for slot 1, but you can see a montage showing all the bread toasted here.