Customer Reviews

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

My husband and I were in the market for a new toaster when our Krups brand, which we liked very much, suddenly died on us after only 5 years (the levers would no longer stay pressed down, and like most modern appliances, it was unfixable). Because we had purchased a Michael Graves coffee maker about a year ago and were very happy with this product, we decided to take a chance and purchase the matching Michael Graves toaster from Target.

As you can see from the photo, this toaster features an attractive, sleek design, a combination of easy-clean white plastic and sharp-looking stainless steel. It is the 4-slice model (a 2-slice version is also available), and like most toasters on the market today, it offers extra-wide slots to accommodate bagels and the like. The heat control dial is numbered 1-5, although you can set the dial anywhere in between the numbers as well (the cute little toast window above the dial even moves from light to dark!). But what I like best about this toaster is the button settings. There are four buttons underneath the heat control dial: bagel, defrost, reheat, and cancel. Once you press down the lever for your toast, you can choose any of the first three options (each button illuminates once selected). Therefore, you can toast and defrost a bagel at the same time, defrost and reheat, etc. And of course, the cancel button is there in case you want to check on your toast prior to the end of the cycle.

At this point, you may be asking--but does it make decent toast? Happily, the answer is yes! This toaster toasts items thoroughly and evenly. Overall, I've found it to toast relatively quickly, but as mentioned in the manual, toasting times vary--for example, while a simple piece of toast will be finished in no time at all, frozen waffles or other products coming from the freezer will take a bit longer. After about a month of use, my husband and I are very pleased with the performance of this product, and it looks great in our kitchen, too! We certainly would not hesitate to buy from the Michael Graves line again; highly recommended!

One final note: Apparently, prior to this model, Target had released a different Michael Graves design toaster which received many complaints from consumers. Kudos to Target for redesigning this product!

My girlfriend recently purchased this toaster--after reading that it was the top rated four slice toaster on Cooks Illustrated (of this price range). I, myself, own a $319 dualit chrome toaster. I have to admit, her $37.99 toaster is superior. The bread is artwork when it comes out--it is evenly and beautifully toasted. It gives new meaning to the word "toast"--as an adjective. It's what my dualit should be. After admiring her toast on bagels, bread, etc--perfectly done every time--for the past three months, I went ahead and bought one for myself. Sorry, dualit.

After trying three toasters, i found one that toasts both sides of a single slice of bread. With others I would have to put down twice or turn around, but not this one. I am very satisfied.

Bill

Hi - I bought this at a Target store. Works well for frozen items, bagels, and regular bread.

The negatives:
1. After about 10 uses (10x both sides), the right lever that you push down to toast is stuck in the almost all the way down position. It still works - you push down about 1 inch, and the toaster toasts. But, it doesn't go up more than 1 inch. So, you always have to stick your fingers in to get the toast out.

2. Difficult to get out small items. I know that the extra high lift lever on other 4 slice toasters is a relative new invention, and that this issue has come up often for me (see #1), so perhaps this isn't a fair complaint (i.e., 20 years ago we all stuck something in toasters to get out small items). Just that now there are plenty of 4 slice toasters with this extra feature, and it was needed more often then I thought - Eggo cinnamon toast waffles aren't tall enough to easily get out.

3. Just personally, I don't think the design is very Graves. White? And, the two levers are plastic colored silver. Just would seem more Graves/chic if red or black or anything but trying to be metal.

Summary: I do like this toaster. Perhaps I just got a bad one, with the lever. I will look into the warranty.

This is the first toaster that I've ever had that toasted bread evenly on both sides. My old toaster would just brown on one side and then throw the bread on the counter because the release was too strong. But this toaster is wonderful....it browns beautifully and releases gently. I'd buy another one if only I needed one.

Why I bought it:
This toaster came highly recommended by Cooks Illustrated, whose opinion I hold in high regard.
The good:
I think it would work very well with regular sliced bread and even with bagels.
Why it didn't work for us:
We toast a lot of larger slices from boule shaped loaves. The slices didn't always fit in the toaster. Larger slices can be cut in half just fine, but there's a slice about a quarter of the way into these loaves that is too large uncut and too small when divided. The other thing is that I frequently bake my own bread. It's much moister than store bought bread, even from artisanal bakers, and takes longer to toast than the maximum setting on this toaster.
What I recommend:
If you toast very fresh bread or toast boule-shaped loaves. Consider a toaster oven instead of this toaster. I have used a toaster oven for years and will be going back to that approach (look out for a future review of the FBC2). If you are more mainstream in your bread choices, this toaster may be just great for you and you should read someone else's review.

Didn't know it was so hard to find a decent appliance just to toast. I had a GE toaster oven for years and really just used it for toast. It was very nice but died a few weeks ago. So I went to walmart and purchased the Black and Decker 4-slice toaster. Right away I saw it didn't toast as well as my toaster oven had. It took forever to toast and still toast was not really done and kind of weird looking.

so I researched online. Toast is important to me because i love my toast in the morning. I found that this one had received great reviews and was highly recommended so off I went to Target where they had just one of these left and then returned the other one to walmart. I came home anxious to try it out. Put the bread in the toaster and voila, perfect toast, even better than the toast from my previous toaster oven.

I did not buy on Amazon due to the high shipping.

I am very happy with this purchase at $37.99!!

Update: I am very happy with this toaster. It makes perfect toast every time, also can set to low or high setting.
Excellent! Highly recommended!

I have been using this toaster for about 2 months.It seems to take longer to toast than any of my past toasters,but it toasts very evenly.The slots are wide and the design is very appealing.The only complaint I have is the cord length and the location of the crumb trays.The trays are accessed from the rear of the toaster and in order to clean them,the toaster must be unplugged and moved due to the short cord length.

We read that this toaster was supposed to be the best out there so we went ahead and bought it. I truly was expecting more but it's seems to be okay. One thing I did not like about it was that large size bread sticks out of the toaster and so all of the bread does not toast. I end up having to turn it upside down and toast it some more time. The bagel feature is very nice and I love having the button to make it pop up when I want it before it's done.

I have had the same experience as "Mocking Otter". It does take forever to toast bread, and then I have to flip it over to get the lighter side. No, I do not have it on the bagel setting, which only toasts one side. I have always had toasters for years, and have only had this one for one year and use almost daily. I am looking for another toaster ---- any suggestions would be greatly appreciate :)