A few months ago, my toaster stopped working. Strangely, despite me personally hardly ever eating toast, I suddenly began having an urgent craving for peanut butter on toast. I needed a new toaster, I needed it quickly, and I needed it cheaply, as my job at the time was under threat (I'm now redundant.).

Despite not wanting to spend any more than £20, I really didn't want anything that was going to look cheap - I've been trying to slowly phase out my white appliances in favour of chrome or stainless steel. I found the Breville VTT214 the most - black sides, with a stainless steel finish down the middle, a slightly quirky slanted top, and some buttons that glowed blue whilst in use . This looked like a smart and stylish machine, and at the time I purchased it was £19.99, down from £49.99.

When my toaster arrived, and I got to look at it in more detail, I was a little surprised by how big this was (15.2 x 15.2 x 7.6 cm) ,although part of this was actually the aggressive silver and black styling making it stand out on the side more than everything else . The two toasting slots were good and wide, easily accommodating a crumpet or teacake, or a thick slice of fresh crust bread. They are also satisfyingly deep.

There is a lever on the side allowing you to raise the base of the toaster to bring up crumpets , so no need to poke about with forks trying to retrieve items from the innards.

There is a dial on the site for different browning settings, and various buttons for defrosting, reheating, or cancelling mid cycle. I particularly like the fact that the button and dials illuminate whilst in use, as I find the blue glow very pretty, and also think it could be a useful safety feature for those with younger children, as you can tell them to stay away from the appliance whilst the light glows. With that said, the sides of the toaster remain cool during use.

Cleaning this is easy, though it does need to be done quite often as the stainless steel part in particular does show fingerprints. However, a wipe down with a cloth and a buff with a duster do the trick . There is also a removable crumb tray which is easy to remove and empty.

I really like this toaster. In use, I find that it browns toast evenly, it doesn't take long to use, and that the slots are a convenient width and depth. It is silent, easy to clean, and stylish.The users manual (which isn't really necessary as the toaster is so simple to use) is written in clear English, with everything explained.

A great toaster - 5 stars