Customer Reviews

DeLonghi DTT312 2-Slice Adjustable Toaster

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

My attraction to this toaster was the adjustable width feature & that actually works pretty well. The down side is that this thing doesn't toast evenly . Each side has a band across the middle that gets toasted more than the top or bottom & it tends to burn the edges of the bread in this band. Also, one side is toasted at a much different level than the other side.

At this price level, I feel these issues make this toaster unacceptable.

On the plus side, it seems well constructed & the exterior stays cool.

I would not buy this again!

My wife and I have been on a, to date, futile search for a toaster which actually does what it is supposed to do, properly toast bread. We have purchased and tried/tested about 10 different toasters and they have all been, more or less, disappointments as toasters. It seems that toaster manufacturers are more interested in style and fancy electronic functions than in producing a toaster which properly toasts bread to various degrees of doneness evenly. Most toasters require toasting at maximum then, when that cycle completes, immediatley continuing with an additional cycle of somewhat shorter duration because the maximum setting is inadequate to produce dark but unburnt toast in one maximum setting cycle. I ascribe this problem to two causes, underpowered and wide slots which keep the heating elements too far from the sides of the bread.

When we came upon the DeLonghi DTT312, and saw how the slot is variable and that the heating element moves with the variance of the slot width, we thought we'd finally found a toaster which would properly do what it's supposed to do, toast. We were also impressed with the potential ability to heat and toast a variety of breads, bagels, buns, sandwiches, pannini, etc. I was a bit concerned that it is only 800W in Canada (the Kenwood brand in the U.K. is 1075W and its a lot cheaper there, as low as 25 British pounds) but, because the element on one side moves with varying the slot width, I thought that would compensate for the relatively low power/heat. Anticipating that we'd found the Holy Grail of toasters, we bought it. We were like expectant parents, the removal of the toaster from its box was like the birth of a baby with all the hopes for the toaster being successful. I plugged it in, it turned on with a gentle chime, its first sound. I turned the toaster on by pressing the 3 wavy line setting and looked into it. I observed that some of the heating strips didn't glow at all and the strips that did glow glowing had small loops sticking out randomly at various points which glowed very red/hot with parts which didn't glow much. I thought, oh oh, potentially uneven toasting. I cut two identically thick pieces from a whole wheat loaf of bread and gently fed the toaster its first meal with the controls set to their recommended settings. After a short while, another gentle chime emanated from the toaster signalling the toast was ready. I pulled the lever upwards and discovered that the toast was inadequately toasted. I looked in the manual again and decided that the manual was incorrect, it had recommended setting the heat too low, two wavy lines, instead of higher, 3 wavy lines, for non-pre-sliced bread. I toasted two more slices at the higher heat setting which worked but the toast is unevenly toasted, the left slice was starting to burn at its left edge and both were more toasted a bit more in the middle than at their bottoms and tops. I was somewhat disappointed. I hadn't found the Holy Grail of toasters, just a variation on the theme of toasters which don't properly toast. I don't know if it is this particular toaster which has a manufacturing defect in that some of the heating strips don't work and that the quality of all of this model's heating elements/strips is inconsistent which causes parts of them to bulge out and get hotter than the rest of the parts of the strips which continue to lie flat but are not as hot both of which cause uneven toasting. I am taking this toaster back and will try to get the store to plug in another one to see if it has the same problems. If it doesn't, I'll exchange the one I've got for it. If If it does, I'll be requesting a refund and just use my energy wasting but evenly toasting "toaster" oven.

If you've done your homework with the reviews on the Amazon site, you know that you can buy a very decent toaster for under $30; so I resisted buying this one because of the price. But we've now toasted enough bagels, English muffins, and bread slices with the DeLonghi DTT312 that I'm convinced the higher price was worth it. You'll get precise control over how light or dark your bagel/muffin/slice comes out, provided that you take a few minutes and read the directions in the manual. It's a pain to give up and read the manual, but it can pay off. One example: look at the photo of the DeLonghi toaster in the Amazon listing: you'll see 4 buttons in a vertical array on the front panel of the toaster. If you want to toast a slice or two of bread, push the third button from the top. If you want to toast a sliced bagel, face the sliced surfaces to the front and push the second button from the top. DeLonghi evidently feels that only a barbarian would want both sides of a bagel to be toasted: when you push the "bagel" button, only the elements on the front side light up. Your bagel will be nicely toasted on the cut side, and untoasted on the bottom. But if you try the bagel setting on sliced bread, you'll see where some of the complaints of "uneven toasting" come from. Take a minute or two to read the instructions, pop in a couple of slices of bread or a sliced bagel, and you should be as happy as we are with this toaster.

This toaster is simply amazing very easy to use and bagels turn out EXACTLY as they were ment to be..... crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. I've never had my toast turn out like this before. In fact I went kinda crazy and ate quite a few pieces of sourdough cause I just couldn't get enough of the crispy goodness. I also love the soft ding/ring at the end of the cycle, it was not loud or annoying just perfect. So far there is nothing negitive I can say about this toaster. I know others have said the price was a little too high but trust me it's so worth it. I can't wait to try the tray and some panini sandwitches!!

Wow! A toaster that handles thick slices, wide slices,toasts bagels and sandwiches. Unfortunately it does not toast properly - especially breads that are not dense. The middle (horizontally) burns while top and bottom are OK. I lower setting so that middle does not burn, then top and bottom are untoasted. Problem is not as bad with dense packaged bread but toaster is simply unusable for rustic and other similar breads. I realize that no toaster will do everything - BUT IT SHOULD BE ABLE TO TOAST.

Every single toaster I have seen for the last several years has very wide slots to accomodate bagels etc. The downside is they do not make crispy toast. instead, you get a nicely toasted exterior with a soft interior. Hurry for DeLonghi!!! With the adjustable slot, you can bring the heating elements closer together and the result is crispy crunchy toast. Of course, if you like a toasted exterior with a soft interior, you can do that too. It also makes great sandwiches. I am very happy with this product!

Something to consider - I was surprised that two slices of Orowheat sliced bread would not fit side-by-side. So this is not a two slice toaster. Also, the depth is insufficient such that the entire surface of one slice of this type of bread does not get entirely toasted. I thought to return the toaster but realized the return policy stated the product should be unused.

We bought this very expensive toaster thinking that since the price was so high, so would be the quality. WRONG.

First time out of the box, all of the elements did not heat up at all it took 20 minutes of using the toast feature over and over to DRY the toast - it did not toast it. We did read the manual and did everything according to its instructions, it just did not work. When we called the company for refund, after asking the date code, they referred us to the manufacturer. We had to pay return to the manufacturer and then they sent a REMANUFACTURED item, not new.

Do not deal with DeLonghi brands they only send out "fixed" items. I expected new to replace new.

Getting the setting correct takes practice, but this is a good small appliance. The wide slot is great as I use a lot of larger size loaves that wouldn't fit into a typical toaster slot.

The only negative so far is the price tag.

I've only had this toaster 3 weeks but I am really pleased with it. I haven't tried the sandwich part yet, but I believe it'll be fine. My husband likes to slice his bread rather thickly and this toaster really handles that well!! You simply move the top lever to adjust for thickness. One thing I really like is that the toast doesn't pop up when finished - you have to manually raise the toast with the round knob. To me, this translates into a longer life for the toaster, as the "lift" mechanism is what has broken on our previous toasters. There are two toast settings - low and high - but you can dial the knob and adjust each setting from 1 - 10 for infinitely more variety. Bagels cook great, with one side being soft, as it's supposed to be. The controls light up when in use and the toaster has a soft "bing" to let you know when the toast is ready. The entire toaster is easy to clean and the extra large crumb tray is easy to remove and clean. Can't wait to try toasted sandwiches in the removable sandwich rack!