Most of the time I would rather make toast under the grill, but when there are people staying overnight it is much easier to get the breakfast ready when I can do more than 2 pieces of bread at once. I have never invested in an expensive toaster but always made do with a cheap and cheerful one. They may not last as long if they are used on a daily basis but for the amount of use I give them, I find the less expensive ones have worked really well.

I did not want to spend a great deal on a new toaster but wanted a well known make so chose the Breville VTT233. It cost £14.99 when I bought it and looking at the prices now it does not seem to have changed much as they are selling for £19.99 on Amazon. There is also a 2 slice version but this was not really suitable.
Although there was not a great deal of room in the kitchen I decided that I would get a 4 slice toaster as it would save more time and then chose the black one over the white.

It had a couple of features that I was surprised about considering it was well and truly at the cheaper end of the price range and one of them was the browning control. In the past I would always pop the bread back in to get it a bit browner, then ended up with charcoal. It was also possible to have the width of the slots altered depending on the thickness of the bread being used. This is great when it comes to dealing with the thickness of the bread, but there are a lot of loaves that are too tall for it so there is a band at the top that has not been toasted. I would put it back in upside down for a few seconds but I could not leave it any longer as the rest would be too well done.

There was a defrost setting and that was helpful, but the reheat one was not one I used much. It made the toast hard and was just the same as sticking toast back under the grill. Although it seemed to be a sturdy and well made toaster the only thing I thought would break was the lever on the side and that turned out to be the case. It was out of warranty and I think I had owned it for a few years.

It was easy to clean as the outside did not show the dirt at all and just needed an occasional cloth over it and the inside had a crumb try that came out really easily. There was also cord storage so there is no need to worry that it is going to get tangled up with the kettle or any other appliance that is on the base with it.

As it was not a thing that was used on a regular basis it was a good thing that it was not very big or heavy. It measured 18.2 cm x 16.2 cm x 38.2 cm (H x D x W) and only weighed 1.6 kg.