Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 6-10 of 116
 Acceptable for Bagels, A Disaster for Whole Wheat Toast September 23, 2004
delicateflower152 (Texas)
19 out of 19 found this review helpful
If you only eat bagels, then this might be the toaster for you. It is much better made than some of the other products on the market and is easy to use. The bagel function is okay, it does a nice job of toasting the cut side. However, it doesn't heat the whole bagel sufficiently through to keep it from getting "cold" quickly and becoming "rubbery." If you eat whole wheat toast or homemade breads, then this toaster is a disaster. I turned the thermostat up to maximum browning, but the bread was barely toasted. If you have the time and inclination to retoast everything, then it will probably be fine. The toaster does do a nice job of browning evenly with two cycles. For the money, this toaster just doesn't deliver.
 Good Toaster December 6, 2004
CJA (Sacramento, CA USA)
17 out of 18 found this review helpful
I admit I purchased this toaster simply because it matched the rest of my KitchenAid cobalt blue appliances.
This toaster is great for bagels, english muffins, and hamburger buns! Pop it in there and in a few minutes the cut side is pefectly toasted and the outside is warm but not crunchy. A big plus for me is the large size of the slots.
Once I got used to the settings, I have never had to double toast. I simply adjusted the darkness meter. I've never had to use either the lightest or the darkest setting. So I'm a bit puzzled about the problems others have mentioned in their reviews. Maybe they like their toast basically burnt?
The mechanism inside supports the bread, so if you have a thinner slice it gets an even toast and doesn't flop like it does in some toasters. The crumb tray that pulls out from the side is a smart and handy feature. This way cleaning the toaster does not involve holding the whole thing over the trash can. Also, this is the first toaster I've ever had that doesn't launch my toast onto the floor or counter.
In my opinion this is another solid product from the KitchenAid line and I love mine!
 Still working out the kinks August 15, 2003
Constance D'Ulisse (philadelphia, pa USA)
15 out of 19 found this review helpful
I had to have this to go along with all my other cobalt Kitchen Aid appliances because 1. it's my favorite color and 2. it's hard to find a blue toaster. Only gave it 4 stars instead of my usual 5 because I'm still trying to figure out how to get my toast to my preferred brown color. It's still a little too light for me and I'm always fiddling with the control. However, with this toaster you can push the lever down again immediately after it pops up if the toast is not done to your liking. With every other toaster I've owned there was a delay of one or two minutes before retoasting.
Bagels vs Bread August 27, 2004
G. W. Loftis (Weston, FL United States)
14 out of 18 found this review helpful
Because I suffer from insomnia, I am often awake at "odd" hours, at least "odd" to the rest of the world. Often, I reheat a plate of last night's dinner but by adding freshly toasted bread, the dinner suddenly does not taste like leftovers; or I might putter around and make a club sandwich, or a quick burger, or a tuna or chicken salad on toast, etc. [See Jack Nicholson in "Five Easy Pieces"]
Because of my love for club sandwiches, I bought the four-slice version of this toaster; I'm too impatient to wait while that third slice toasts independently! Other than the capacity of the four slot version, this whole line of toasters actually performs pretty much the same, and more importantly, as advertised! I have two friends who bought the two-slice version after seeing mine work, and they are just as pleased as I am. (There is a problem with toasting thinner sandwich breads and it is discussed below. Depending on what you toast and how often, this problem could even be a deal breaker for you though I urge you to keep reading with an open mind.)
Unbelievably, when KitchenAid says this toaster toasts bagels a different way, they're not kidding. The cut side of bagels ends up an even, perfectly textured, golden brown, while the crust side is gently warmed, not hard and dried out. That was the first test I put mine through, and it not only passed, it exceeded my expectations! In addition, the toaster can handle the odd hamburger bun or hot dog roll just fine, should the need arise.
Life, however, does reach up and pull you back periodically: in achieving one goal another has been somewhat compromised. This appliance is great as a bagel/bun/thick bread toaster but only an "acceptable" plain-white-supermarket-mush-bread toaster, no matter how dark the setting. Reluctantly, I have to join the chorus of others who have noted that, should you go for a "re-toast" when regular sandwich bread pops up too soon, you'd better stand in place attentively, rather than turning your back and waiting to hear that reassuring mini-clatter of steel on steel indicating your toast is ready. The penalty you may pay is hearing the non-reassuring sound of your smoke detector going off!
Actually, while not quite that bad, the "re-toasted" bread that pops up may more closely resemble a charcoal briquette than the linchpin of a club sandwich. [Note: "pops up" is used above in a generic way; this toaster never violently launches bread skyward the way some others do, and the "mini-clattering" is very "mini" indeed.]
In attempting to be all things to all people, this appliance does come remarkably close. If all you ever toast is sandwich bread, though, you would be just as well off with another, cheaper model, as someone else noted. However, if your toasting "needs" (<--- Madison Avenue at its best! or worst) include bagels, "Texas Toast," sandwich buns, frozen waffles and pancakes, etc. I highly recommend this line of toasters.
Finally, it is my personal belief that if the salesmen/customer service reps (or the manufacturer for that matter), can't explain why you need a "Digital" toaster, it should be 50% off. And if the explanation of the Digital Toaster has something to do with replacing older toasters' innards with transistors and other solid state devices, I, being an old codger, can assure you that I never saw a vacuum tube toaster back in the 50's! LOL
All kidding aside, this toaster is as good as it gets for the price and functionality.
 Free (or $20) Toasters Work Better November 3, 2004
M. Williams (UT USA)
14 out of 16 found this review helpful
In our dealings with this toaster, my wife and I both agreed that we have both been given old, used toasters that had more ability to...well, toast than this stylish, digital (?que?), and costly toaster. Kitchenaid customer support, being very good, actually sent us another one when I complained about the first not being able to toast. Both worked equally poorly. I was simply shocked that a $50 toaster (or more if you go by MSRP) could not even come close to producing dark toast, even when the adjustment knob was CRANKED! If you refrigerate or freeze bread or bagels FORGET ABOUT IT! Just so I am not entirely negative, this toaster gave firm assurance that you would NEVER burn toast...it just couldn't do it...unless you were toasting it for the second...or third (frozen)...time and didn't remember to keep an eye on it. I thought the "digital" age was supposed to make these things automatic. We went out and found an even nicer toaster for less than half the price with all the functions, plus a "frozen" button...AND IT EVEN TOASTS!!!!
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