Delonghi toaster toasts the opposition (Delonghi Metropolis CTM4023)

Name: Craggybuk

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Product:	Delonghi Metropolis CTM4023
Date:	27/05/07 (328 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: 4 cooking slots, seperate browning dials, multiple functions

Disadvantages: can struggle with larger sizes of bread

--Background--

I used to do some work for a market research company. Every month, they awarded you points depending on the level of information you provided to them. After a few months of doing this research , I accumulated enough points to purchase this toaster. From memory it didnt cost too many points so I was expecting some low end mediocre toaster that would work for a few months and then start to decline.

--Tour of the toaster--

The toaster is quite nice to look at and is predominantly grey with silver knobs, buttons and top toasting panel. Starting from the top, there are four slots for you to place the toast. These are used in pairs which means that you are not wasting electricity if you only want to toast one or two slices as each pair has its own lever. These levers are nicely positioned on the front of the toaster and are very easy to depress, making this a useful toaster for the older generation who might be getting a bit frail. Situated in between the two levers are the function buttons. In my experience, I have hardly used these buttons. We have the cancel button which releases the bread/toast before the specifed browning has occured. Next is the defrost button which is useful should you need to make sandwiches for example, but you have forgot to get the bread out the night before, simply place your frozen bread in the slots, press the defrost button and breathe a sigh of relief, the Delonghi has just saved your bacon (speaking from experience here!!). The final button is the reheat button. This is a well thought out function as occasionally you might get sidetracked whilst waiting for the toast to pop up. The last thing you want to do it to serve cold toast so the reheat button will but the warmth back into the toast without recooking and burning it. Finally, as far as the front of the toaster is concerned we have to the browning knobs and dials. There is one of these for each pair of toasting slots which means that you could have the left hand slots giving only a light toast with the right hand slots literally cremating the toast should you wish. Your settings are clearly displayed on the two analogue dials. Personally, I have found a setting between 3 and 4 (dial goes up to 6) gives a nice crisp piece of toast.

The back of the machine contains handles to release the crumb catching trays, these simply pop out, allowing you to remove the excess crumbs from the toaster in order to keep it clean. There is one trap for each pair of toasting slots.

--Usage--

This toaster is really simple to use (I have yet to come across a toaster that isnt to be honest). Simply press the lever or leavers depending on number of slices and, approximately 2 minutes later up pops your toast. One minor gripe I would have with this toaster is that bread that is slightly larger than the standard size will sometimes come out with the top corners uncooked, this is not a major problem as you can just turn it upside down and cook it for an extra 30-40 seconds (and release it using the cancel button). This toaster also works great for crumpets, waffles, scottish pancakes, etc though you will need to experiment with the dials to avoid burning these items. Waffles will need to be set to 1 on the dial else the will come out black!!

--Verdict--

After reading the other reviews of this product, I was amazed at the price. If I was going to buy a toaster, I would not be looking to spend £55. I would be going to Argos and picking up the cheapest one I could find, and I'd probably be happy with that. This one however, is a quality piece of kit, it looks nice, it works well and its very reliable. If you are looking for a high end toaster, you would be well advised to invest in this one. To think I 'bought' this one for nothing makes me feel quite content. Its not the cheap and nasty freebie I thought I was getting, instead it is something that sits on the work surface in my kitchen looking proud of the job it carries out for me.

Well done Delonghi, A+.

Summary: High quality toaster

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