Breville BTA820XL Die-Cast Smart Toaster, 2 Slice, Brushed Stainless Steel

It's expensive but it beats any other toaster in my life hands down. i was impressed by last Hamilton Beach toaster with cancel and defrost buttons, but frankly compared to this one it was a pile of junk (costing half as much, it's true). The Hamilton Beach only lasted 2.5 years, ceasing to operate after an effort to gently clean out all the crumbs.That one had two extra long slots for four slices, but I decided to get this two slot one because after all, I can toast as many slices as I want anyway. This one has wider slots. I don't often toast artisan loafs that you can slice into really long slices or that feature would have been important.There is just no comparison of the build quality of this one to previous toasters. It dispenses with that noisy, wobbly spring loading lever to insert the toast and pop it up. Instead it has a totally silent, smooth electric elevator for the bread. The toast no longer pops up like a Jack-in-the-Box. It gently glides up. This is a more respectful way to treat your food. It's also got a very nice, professional artistic design. The style is kind of Art Deco, very nice.The toaster is gorgeous with its real beautiful brushed stainless steel and electronic led lit buttons. The outside does not get hot and burn you like previous toasters I have owned. That's a very nice thing. You really don't want to have something big and burning out on the counter while your busy preparing food.Unlike other toasters, where you have to guess the setting for each type of bread and hope you get it right, it has a nifty "peek" button that lifts the toast up briefly for inspection in the middle of the cycle, along with a cancel button if you find the toast is done. There's a handy "little bit more" button if the toast is not quite dark enough.It also has an LED display that tells the progress of the toasting, another great feature for timing food preparation. Most toasters you have no idea when it will finish.The metal grids that hold the toast in place are much better designed- they are also motor driven and grip the toast firmly. They are not part of some rube goldberg mechanism that is powered by pressing the lever. It's a precision machine.Of course the most important thing about a toaster is the toast. I've never made such evenly browned toast. It's a delight. Not perfectly even like a tan, but no parts are burnt or untoasted. It's a nice even toast. I am so used to toast that comes out with some burnt parts in order to get all of it toasted, that I am astounded by what this machine produces. It's of restaurant quality. Almost. It's not perfectly uniform, there are lighter areas, but it's close. It's got a nice variagation.The defrost button works better than on the Hamilton Beach, which I was not able to use. I no longer have to defrost the bread first.The toast is chewy inside but firmly browned on the surface. I don't know how they do it since the basic toasting method is the exact same bands of heating wires. They don't look any better or more uniformly placed than other toasters. On previous toasters the toast often came out dry or crispy if it was dark enough; not this one.It may be that they worked out the heat production of the elements and the distance from the bread very carefully to produce an even browning without burning. I've only been using it one day but it doesn't look like you can burn the toast even if you set it all the way up- the degree-of-browning setting has a limited range, and changes slowly, so it's hard to get it wrong. That could be a problem if you want to have super dark toast or you have bread that for some reason needs a lot of heat to brown, but it's a blessing for me.So it's pretty expensive for a toaster but you sure see all the money sitting there. It's seems like a fair deal. It doesn't have the look of typical American products that often lack sophisticated design. Breville is an Australian company but the toaster has a German design feeling to it. Nothing about it says wallaby or watch out for the sharks.Toasters are not your most attractive appliance. Compared to mixers, blenders or coffee makers they are homely, bloated and covered with large irregular orifices and levers. So it's amazing that you can imagine these Brevilles getting shortlisted for a toaster exhibit at the Modern Museum of Art, (OK the Italian Smegs are very pretty for a toaster and have a higher rating but do they give your bread an elevator ride? No. Their beauty is surface deep.)One downside to the toaster is that I am eating a more toast, because it tastes so good.

First off our 4 slice toaster of over 20 years passed last Friday; one of the toasting elements stopped working. Out of grief, I began my search, unbeknownst by my wife, for a suitable replacement on Amazon. After reading the reviews, it was clear this expensive toaster was destined to be our replacement for the next 20 years.I announced my choice and what I had ordered to my wife on Saturday just after placing the order... I got an earful for spending so much money on a "frigging" toaster.... I assured her that there was only one better that I could identify and that was selling for over $300 and it didn't have perfect reviews either but both we considered well built and worth every cent; I mean, hey, spread that cost over 20 years right?Well, the toaster arrived this Monday and I didn't have time to unpack it till, yesterday, Tuesday. I read the manual for the toaster and did what it suggested; burning it in at full darkness setting on both sides of the toaster without and bread in the slots. I was impressed how the toaster gently lowered the bread elevators and how the holders moved toward center to hold a piece of bread vertical. I was, also, impressed how the LED's flashed and went out in sequence while the toasting cycle was being completed. When finished, the toasting elevators rose and the toaster beeped the completion of the cycle. Any techno geek would be impressed. I did notice a slight bit of smoke as the toaster burned off oil that had been left in the unit during manufacturing. DO NOT FORGET TO RUN THE TOASTER WITHOUT "BURNING IT IN" FIRST AS DIRECTED BY YOUR USER MANUAL.Well, this morning, Wednesday, was the big day! I plugged the toaster in, put two pieces of bread in, set the browning level to the recommended 3.5 browning level and hit the toast button. Once again, the toasting carriages gently, quietly, lowered and the toasting process began with LED's flashing and the Lift and Look button illuminated along with the adjacent red Toasting button. I watched as the LED's slowly went out as the toasting cycle was completed and when it was time for the toasting carriages to rise... well.... NOTHING! All I heard was a "clicking" for about 30 seconds and then every single button on both sides of the toaster lit up like a Christmas Tree and kept on flashing! You wouldn't believe my ....ummmm ... surprise and the greeting my wife gave me. What a wonderful way to start the day!The very first thing I did was attempt to contact Breville Customer Support but phone but they wouldn't be open until 8 AM Pacific Time so, I filled out a form on their support web site and sent it in. The second thing I did was contact Amazon and requested a replacement and return of this, obviously, expensive defective toaster; no problem, Amazon responded like a champ and a replacement was being prepared and UPS would be picking this "dog" up tomorrow. The world was becoming a kinder and gentler place to live in although I was still concerned about Breville quality and the replacement being sent.Two hours ago, my phone rang; it was Breville Customer Support; I told them what happened. The first thing the Customer Support Rep asked me was "Did you have the toaster plugged into a GFI'd protected circuit (you know those you typically find in a kitchen or, in our case, throughout our home)? Well, yes, I told her.... she said OK, do me a favor plug the toaster into another circuit... well, I had already packed the thing back up for the return to Amazon and, out of anger, left both pieces of toast in the toaster.... maybe Breville could feed the birds once they received the unit back right? Well, I did what she said. Guess what, THIS WONDERFUL TOASTER WORKED AS ADVERTISED!It appears that what you receive is a "smart toaster"; one of the features is recognizing fluctuations in electrical power and it shuts itself down to protect the onboard software! Geesh... I mean, wow I began feeling somewhat foolish although vindicated for my decision to purchase. The Rep told me that this is what the unit is supposed to do and I wouldn't believe how many people, like myself, conclude the Toaster is defective. NOT!While I have only run two toasting cycles now... looking at two perfect pieces of toast staring at me as I type this review, I'm confident this will, in fact, last the next 20 years. I'm looking forward to seeing my wife but, understand if she doesn't exactly come up to me and give me a hug! LOL.Last word, this toaster is built like a tank and I would highly recommend it to anyone looking for a durable, quality built, toaster. Don't be put off by the price; you pay for what you get in this case.Thank you Amazon for standing behind your sale; thank you Breville for your great Customer support and product and thank you UPS for being there when needed!