The Toastmaster Two Slice TM-42TS is a cheap, compact toaster with a plastic body. It has a shade selector dial with six settings and an option to cancel the toasting cycle by turning the dial all the way to the left. You can find this exact model at Dollar General, though availability may vary by store.
Our Verdict
The Toastmaster Two Slice Toaster provides reasonable performance for everyday use. It's a simple toaster with a fairly small capacity and very few features. There's no way to toast on one side only, which makes it an unremarkable option for bagels, and its slots aren't big enough for taller or wider slices of homemade or bakery bread. Even with sandwich bread, it toasts unevenly, but it works quickly, so your toast stays soft and moist in the middle.
Requires infrequent cleaning of countertops.
Toasts quickly, which helps retain moisture.
Toasts unevenly, leaving food patchy.
Lacks extra features, including one-sided toasting.
Relatively small capacity limits what you can toast.
The Toastmaster Two Slice Toaster is a fair choice for toast. This model toasts quickly but unevenly, so your toast stays soft and fluffy in the center but winds up inconsistently browned, darker on one side.
Toasts quickly, which helps retain moisture.
Toasts unevenly, leaving food patchy.
The Toastmaster Two Slice Toaster is a mediocre choice for bagels. It toasts quickly, which helps ensure your bagel doesn't dry out before popping back up. However, it doesn't offer one-sided toasting, so your bagel toasts just as much on the outside as the cut side. Plus, it browns unevenly, leaving your bagel too light in some spots and too dark in others.
Toasts quickly, which helps retain moisture.
Toasts unevenly, leaving food patchy.
Lacks extra features, including one-sided toasting.
The Toastmaster Two Slice Toaster is excellent at containing crumbs, but the crumb tray is hinged to the bottom of the toaster, so you have to empty it into the trash.
Requires infrequent cleaning of countertops.
The Toastmaster Two Slice Toaster is very compact. It fits easily on crowded counters and in cramped cupboards.
Compact design is ideal for small kitchens.
Performance Usages
Check Price
Differences Between Sizes And Variants
This toaster comes in 'Black,' and here, you can see the label for our unit.
If you encounter another variant, let us know in the comments, and we'll update our review.
Popular Toaster Comparisons
The Toastmaster Two Slice Toaster is an inexpensive toaster with a compact, plastic body that makes it well-suited to small spaces. In fact, along with the bella basics 2-Slice, it's one of the smallest 2-slot toasters we've tested. Of course, this also means it has a relatively small capacity, so it's best suited to regular sandwich bread, since longer or wider slices may not fit. This model toasts nearly as quickly as the much pricier Dualit 2 Slice NewGen Classic, which helps ensure your bread doesn't dry out during a long toasting cycle, but it toasts less evenly than most other toasters, leaving the bread patchy and darker on one side. If you're looking for a small, affordable toaster that leaves bread more uniformly browned, try the Black+Decker 2-Slice T2569B, which toasts nearly as fast and much more evenly.
To find out what we recommend, see our picks for the best 2-slice toasters, the best small toasters, and the best affordable toasters.
The Black+Decker 2-Slice T2569B is a better toaster than the Toastmaster Two Slice TM-42TS. Although they're both simple, compact options, the Black+Decker offers more capacity for larger slices and has a couple of extra features: buttons that increase the timer for frozen foods and bagels, and a dedicated cancel button. The Black+Decker offers a wider toasting range, so you can make dark brown toast in a single cycle, and it toasts more evenly, leaving your bread more uniformly browned on both sides.
The Hamilton Beach 2 Slice Toaster with Extra-Wide Slots 22217 is a better toaster than the Toastmaster Two Slice TM-42TS. These toasters are pretty similar; they both have small capacities and simple designs without any extra features. They also toast lightly, meaning that you have to run two cycles to properly toast denser breads like rye. However, the Hamilton Beach toasts much more evenly, leaving your toast uniformly browned on both sides.
The bella 2-Slice Slim and the Toastmaster Two Slice TM-42TS are evenly matched overall, but they suit different uses. Choose the bella, which has a single long slot, if you often toast longer slices of homemade or bakery bread, or if you want toast that's more evenly browned across the whole surface. Go for the Toastmaster if you want a traditional 2-slot toaster or to find fewer crumbs on your counter after toasting.
The bella basics 2-Slice and the Toastmaster Two Slice TM-42TS are remarkably similar, but there are a couple of important differences to consider. Go for the Toastmaster if you often toast denser breads like rye or if you like bread toasted to a darker shade, since it provides a wider toasting range. Choose the bella basics if you want toast that's more uniformly browned on both sides. Beyond those differences, however, these toasters have a lot in common: they share nearly identical dimensions, have hinged crumb trays that need to be emptied over the trash, and they both toast quickly but lack extra features. You can grab the bella basics at Family Dollar, while this particular Toastmaster model is available at Dollar General.
Test Results
This is one of the most compact toasters we've tested, so it's ideal for small spaces.
This toaster's capacity isn't bad. The slots are long, wide, and deep enough for the average slice of sandwich bread, but you may find that longer or taller slices of homemade or bakery bread don't fit.
This simple toaster has very few features. There's just a shade selector dial and an option to cancel the cycle, but instead of pressing a physical button, you turn the dial all the way to the left to stop toasting.
This toaster's crumb tray has a hinged design, so you have to empty it over the trash to avoid making a mess. It works really well, catching most crumbs each time you toast.
This toaster's light plastic body makes it easy to move around, so you can store it in a cupboard and take it out when you need it if you're short on space.
This model toasts unevenly. Slices of toast come out patchy and darker on one side than the other. You also get different results from each slot.
This basic toaster doesn't have an option to brown one side only, so toasting a bagel or English muffin leaves the outside just as dark as the inside.
Your toast comes out soft and fluffy on the inside, even after browning on the outside.
There are six shade settings to choose from, but even the highest can't make dark brown or charred toast. You can get light brown toast between settings 4 and 5 and golden brown toast with setting 5, but if you like darker toast, you'll have to run a second cycle.