There are very few simple pleasures that rival a plate of hot, buttered toast. To get that perfect slice, you need the best toaster that can deliver evenly toasted bread, every time. Some of the latest models can cope with chunky sourdough, and even cater to different toast preferences at once.

After years of testing a range of kitchen appliances, I've developed a knack for finding the features that truly matter. Ultimately, when it comes to an appliance that gets used daily, good value for money is what it boils down to – apply that to toasters, and you’re looking for models that brown toast evenly, and consistently, and that are easy to clean, as accumulated crumbs will inevitably result in a burning smell.

For this review, I got my hands on a range of two and four-slice toasters, from basic appliances to sleek designer-led models, which suit different household sizes, toast preferences and a wide range of budgets. Keep reading for the best toasters that will streamline your mornings.

Read more: Best microwaves, tested

The best toasters for 2026 are:

  • Best overall– Salter alchemy toaster: £50, Dunelm.com
  • Best budget buy– Daewoo white essentials two slice toaster: £12.99, Daewooelectricals.com
  • Best for longer slices– ProCook stainless steel long slot toaster: £79.20, Procook.co.uk
  • Best four-slice toaster– Lakeland stainless steel four-slice toaster: £69.99, Lakeland.co.uk

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  • BestToaster overall
  • Why we love it- Sleek design
  • Compact for a four-slice

  • Toasts quickly

  • Take note- Narrow slots don't fit longer slices of bread

The Salter alchemy is everything that the best toaster should be. It has a four-slice capacity, so ideal for a family or couples who like at least two slices of toast each. Proving that practicality doesn’t have to be boring, it has a sleek design with a metallic finish and curved edges that look good on any countertop.

Performance-wise, this toaster really shines. It delivers consistently with even browning across a range of breads, from basic white to sourdough. Although, if you do like a sourdough or homemade loaf, then you may get frustrated with the narrow slots, which aren’t quite big enough for longer slices of bread. For that, I’d recommend the ProCook four-slice toaster (£99, Procook.co.uk), which has plenty of room for slices from artisan loaves.

Really easy to use with straightforward controls, this toaster has buttons to select the reheat, defrost, and cancel functions. There’s also a small dial on the bottom that gives the option of seven browning settings to achieve your ideal shade of toast. It toasts really quickly, which is ideal for family breakfasts where waiting ages isn’t an option.

Cleaning is easy enough – the crumb tray simply slides out and slides back in when it’s been wiped clean. This, hands down, is the best toaster I tested, as it’s easy to use, quick to toast, and doesn’t take up too much space.

Key specifications

  • Size:18.3cm x 30cm x 28.5cm
  • Toaster capacity:Four slices
  • Functions:Defrost, reheat
  • Browning settings:Seven

  • Wattage:1,850W

  • BestBudget toaster

  • Why we love it- Easy to use
  • Compact

  • Doesn’t get hot on the outside

  • Take note- Very basic functions

  • Struggles to fit long slices

Ideal for anyone on a budget, this is a very basic, easy to use toaster from Daewoo. It doesn’t have any extra functions, such as a defrost or reheat function, but you can choose one of the six browning settings using the dial on its side.

To check on the toast as it’s cooking, you can pull the lever upwards and it’ll stop the toasting process. This lever can be lifted high, which is ideal for extracting or checking on smaller items such as crumpets. However, this toaster isn’t any good for long slices or larger than standard slices, as the slots aren’t very big.

It did a really good job of toasting our bread – it wasn’t the quickest toaster I’ve used, but it toasted my bread evenly. Cleaning it isn’t an issue as the crumb tray pops out from the bottom, while the plastic exterior means you just have to give it a quick wipe over, and you won’t need to worry about greasy fingerprints showing up, either.

Key specifications

  • Size:17cm x 14cm x 24.5cm
  • Toaster capacity:Two slices
  • Functions:None
  • Browning settings:Six

  • Wattage:700W

  • Besttoaster for sourdough

  • Why we love it- Fits long slices of bread
  • Options for different bread types

  • Sourdough comes out golden

  • Take note- Not the easiest to clean

  • Shade settings four and above are too powerful

Cuisinart’s simplitouch toasts more than just a standard slice of bread, with presets for bagels, fruit bread, English muffins, crumpets and sourdough, too. These are all depicted on a colour touchscreen control panel, where you select the type and choose between six shade settings. The visual shade settings are pretty accurate as to how your toasted bread will turn out, but I will say that it’s powerful and for most items I never went above the third setting.

The large slots allow wide sourdough slices to easily fit without having to cut them in half. The sourdough setting browns bread beautifully, and on the third or second shade setting (depending on the thickness of your bread) it comes out perfectly golden and crunchy.

There are some handy extra features too, including a button to add an extra 15 seconds to finish off almost-cooked bread or the option to toast a single slice.

After a few months of use, the stainless steel at the top of the toaster has developed some burn marks that are hard to shift. However this doesn’t take away from the fact this a powerful and versatile toaster, which can be used for a wide range of bread types.

Reviewed by Sabrina Sahota

Key specifications

  • Size:31cm × 21cm × 18cm
  • Toaster capacity:Two slices
  • Functions:Bread, bagel, sourdough, English muffin, fruit bread, defrost, quick view
  • Browning settings:Six

  • Wattage:1,000W

  • BestToaster for families

  • Why we love it- Four toasting slots
  • Easy to use

  • Each side toasts independently

  • Take note- The slots aren’t big enough for larger slices of bread

What’s great about the Morphy Richards cassini four-slice toaster is that each side can function independently. This means that if you’re only toasting two slices, you don’t have to heat the whole toaster. Plus, you can use different toasting levels, from one to five, for each side, at the same time.

The design is compact for a four-slice toaster, so it sits neatly on the kitchen counter without taking up too much room. It looks premium, but some parts feel plasticky. Nonetheless it’s lightweight, so if you store your toaster away after use, you should be able to move this around easily.

Straightforward to use, it has a defrost button, a cancel button, and one of my favourite features, a reheat button, which warms up cold toast without burning it. The toaster works quickly, and toast comes out evenly, with the edges that didn’t get burnt.

The crumb tray is removable and easy to get in and out, so I found cleaning it to be easy. I also found that the plastic, hexagon pattern finish doesn’t show greasy fingerprints like a smooth high-shine design would, which is another tick for the design.

Key specifications

  • Size:20.6cm x 31.7cm x 29.7cm
  • Toaster capacity:Four slices
  • Functions:Defrost, reheat, individual controls for each side
  • Browning settings:Six

  • Wattage:1,800W

  • BestSmart toaster

  • Why we love it- Fits longer slices of bread
  • Works well across bread types

  • Easy to clean

  • Take note- Some may find it too complicated

If you’re into your kitchen gadgets, you need to have this toaster on your radar. Toastly’s two-slice toaster will take any guesswork out of making your perfect slice of toast, thanks to its digital panel that gives you a visual guide of toast colours. And it doesn’t just do toast, it can handle bagels and waffles, too.

The slots are wide and deep, so you can easily slot longer slices of bread inside. Even though it may look complicated to use, it’s incredibly intuitive. Just select your bread style, then choose the shade of toast that appeals to you the most, and it will get to work. I tried all the different settings and it was very accurate, time after time giving the same results.

If you’re toasting a shorter slice of bread, the high carriage lift means you can get the slice out easily without burning your fingers. The toaster is also easy to clean, thanks to the pop-out crumb tray, And, surprisingly, the outside doesn’t get too hot when in use, despite being made from stainless steel.

Key specifications

  • Size:26cm × 15.5cm × 18cm
  • Toaster capacity:Two slices
  • Functions:Crumpets, defrost, bagel, waffle
  • Browning settings:Six

  • Wattage:880W

  • BestToaster with a retro design

  • Why we love it- Retro design in lots of colours
  • Bagel function

  • Compact size

  • Take note- Crumb tray easily pops out

  • Doesn't fit long slices easily

The Smeg toaster is a work of art. If you’re into your retro kitchen appliances, then this is a must-have. It has a two-slice capacity with functions including reheat, defrost, and my favourite, a bagel setting.

It doesn’t just look the part – I was super impressed by its performance, too. It doesn’t quite fit longer slices, which need trimming down before going into the slots. However these are extra wide (presumably to fit a bagel), so if you like a doorstop chunk of bread, you’re in luck. When it comes to toasting, it consistently delivers evenly browned toast. It has six toasting levels, and even when on six, it doesn’t char the bread.

Cleaning is simple, as the crumb tray just pops out. However, this can cause a bit of an issue because it can pop out if you just knock it, and it doesn’t feel that sturdy. This toaster is pricey too, as you’d expect from Smeg, and you are paying for the design, because while it toasts well, it doesn’t have any additional features that you wouldn’t find on a basic, cheaper toaster.

Key specifications

  • Size:19.8cm x 31cm x 19.5cm
  • Toaster capacity:Two slices
  • Functions:Reheat, defrost, bagel
  • Browning settings:Six

  • Wattage:950W

  • BestToaster for longer slices

  • Why we love it- Perfect for long or thick slices

  • Stylish

  • Take note- The outside gets very hot

  • Stainless steel picks up fingerprints

This ProCook four-slice toaster has two slots, which are great for longer slices of toast, too. If you are toasting four large slices of bread, you’ll have to toast them vertically or two at a time.

It’s very simple to use and has seven browning settings that can be controlled using a dial, while there are buttons on the side to select reheat, defrost, and cancel. The thicker the slice, the more likely the edges were to burn slightly, but with regular slices, the bread was evenly toasted. The whole length of the bread gets toasted, so I wasn’t left with cold, soft edges like I have been when using some toasters with smaller slots.

The crumb tray is built in, but slides out for easy cleaning. However, because the outer material is a very shiny stainless steel, it picks up finger marks extremely easily, so you may have a job on your hands keeping it nice and polished.

Key specifications

  • Size:38.5cm x 15cm x 16cm
  • Toaster capacity:Four slices
  • Functions:Reheat, defrost, cancel
  • Browning settings:Seven

  • Wattage:1,600W

  • BestFour-slice toaster

  • Why we love it- Four-slice capacity
  • Fits large slices

  • Modern design

  • Take note- You have to use the left side first

  • Fingerprints show easily

The stainless steel exterior of this Lakeland four-slice toaster looks the part. Plus, this is a good option if you like homemade bread, because it has extra-wide slots, and fits slightly longer slices, too.

It’s pretty basic in terms of functions. It has a defrost and bagel setting, which can be activated by pressing the buttons on the front of the toaster. There’s a dial at the base that allows you to set the browning level, but this controls both sides, which means you can’t cater to two different preferences simultaneously.

Considering it’s stainless steel, it doesn’t get too hot on the outside, although if you do have a home with young children, you may want to keep an eye on it so they don’t touch it whilst it’s on. I also noticed that the cable is very short, which may be restrictive when it comes to placement on the countertop, but this could be a safety feature to ensure it doesn’t get knocked off the side.

One strange feature of this toaster is that you have to use the left side of the toaster first – if you don’t press it down, you can’t use the right-hand side. Whilst this is fine once you know about it, there’s no mention of it in the instructions, so it took a little working out to realise that the toaster wasn’t broken. It’s easy to clean, although the stainless steel does mean fingerprints show up easily.

Key specifications

  • Size:29cm x 28.5cm x 20.5cm
  • Toaster capacity:Four slices
  • Functions:Defrost, bagel, ‘lift and see’
  • Browning settings:Six

  • Wattage:1,900-2,300W

  • BestToaster for bagels and crumpets

  • Why we love it- Has preset bread types
  • LED light indicates how much time is left

  • Can easily check on your toast

  • Take note- The outside gets very hot

The Sage toast select luxe is a compact option with capacity for two slices of bread. The slots are not wide, but they are deep, so if you’re toasting a long slice of sourdough, you should get the majority of the slice inside the toaster. Made from brushed stainless steel, this will look good on any kitchen cabinet. Although be warned, it does get very hot on the outside and stays hot for quite a while after use.

One feature I absolutely love is the LED indicator on the front on the toaster, which lets you know how much toasting time is left. This is invaluable if you don’t want the rest of your breakfast to get cold whilst you’re waiting for your toast. I also like the ‘quick look’ function, which lets you pop the bread up to see whether it’s at your desired level of toasted, and then put it back down without having to start the process again.

The toaster is also easy to use, with all the functions well labelled. The toaster has six preset toast types, including white, brown, grain, rye, fruit, and crumpet, so it takes the guesswork out of how long you need to toast your bread for. To the front is the dial that allows you to select your bread type, and opposite is the LED timer. Then, to the side there are three buttons, including one for ‘a bit more/reheat’ and one to toast bread from frozen.

The high push-up is helpful when you’re toasting smaller bits of bread, as it’s easy to get them out without risking burning your fingers. Plus, the toaster is easy to clean, as the crumb tray pulls out from the side, although it did feel a bit flimsy and plasticky compared to the rest of the toasters I tested.

Key specifications

  • Size:20.9cm x 20cm x 34.1cm
  • Toaster capacity:Two slices
  • Functions:Six bread settings, ‘a bit more’, ‘a quick look’, frozen
  • Browning settings:Six

  • Wattage:840-1,000W

  • BestTwo-slice toaster

  • Why we love it- Intuitive design
  • Works quickly

  • Has a keep warm function

  • Take note- Not great for long or thick slices

With a sleek and stylish design complete with an LED display, this two-slice toaster looks quite high-tech at first glance, but actually, it’s pretty basic. The controls are intuitive, and can be operated using the touch screen. First, you select your ideal toasting level, which ranges from one to seven, and if you’re a creature of habit, there’s a button to set your favourite level without having to cycle through them every time.

There is also a keep warm function, a defrost function and a timer that counts down until the toast is ready. Plus, the toaster is easy to clean, thanks to the removable tray.

The toast cooked well, but I wouldn’t recommend this toaster if you prefer long slices of bread. When I tried toasting a longer slice of bread, I found that the edges toasted quickly, but the middle didn’t quite get toasted enough. However, after cutting the bread down to size, it worked perfectly and produced an evenly toasted slice. If you do prefer longer slices, you’d be better off going with the ProCook 4 slice long toaster (£99, Procook.co.uk).

Key specifications

  • Size:19.7cm x 19.7cm x 32.6cm
  • Toaster capacity:Two slices
  • Functions:Defrost, reheat, a favourite shortcut
  • Browning settings:Seven
  • Wattage:1,050W