I purchased this John Lewis toaster approximately a year ago for £49. I was looking for a toaster that would hold 4 slices of toast and a variety of widths so that I could pop the odd teacake in for toasting too. The generous slots mean it also holds crumpets and flat muffins with ease.

The look ~

This one looked the bizz - it came in highly polished stainless steel looking very sleek and shiny on my counter top when first in situe .... It also looks more expensive than it was; sturdy and a quality item. Although £49 for a toaster was definitely my top whack for a toaster.

Reliability ~

The toaster itself is a traditional pop-up toaster with 6 settings; 1 for light toasting (almost like hot bread) to 6 for very dark toasted bread (although why anyone would want toast at the almost burnt it to a crisp is pretty unfathomable to me but hey ho everyone to their own). I find that the No. 3 setting as my norm - I like it fairly light but with enough crisp to hold the butter without soaking into it too much too quickly; but that is my personal preference. The wattage is 1800W. It also has settings for defrosting which I have used on bread many times, browning (for said teacakes or hot cross buns) and reheating (which I have done to toast that I had forgotten and sitting in there.!

Pros ~

It looks good; the rounded corners give it a nice ergonomic feel and it fits neatly into the corner of my counter top, it looks nice and solid and sturdy and dare I dare I say it - a quality item and better still it toasts quickly (which is handy if I am late in the morning, I can grab a piece and eat it whilst running out of the door) it also toasts to a nice even consistency. It came with a free 2 year guarantee which was a good bonus on the purchase.

Cons ~

The downsides are it is difficult to keep looking shiny and new -it leaves finger prints whenever you touch it. Although this does not apply to the knobs as they are in black plastic, but if you need to move it around i.e. for emptying the dust tray be prepared to get your cleaning cloths out to give it a good buff to bring the shine back up and remove all those tell-tale marks.

For me, the worst feature for this item is the wholly inadequate crumb trays - although it is easy to slide out the two separate crumb trays there is no depth to them they are shallow and light and tinny; they seem woefully inadequate for the job. Also I have found the toaster to chuck crumbs about all over the counter even when just putting the toast in and pressing the knob down it spills crumbs everywhere and for that reason I have had to mark it down an additional star.

I am forever wiping them up or having to shake out the toaster upside down over the bin; which then means I have to clean the outside of the toaster from 'said' finger marks - it is a vicious circle lol! In hindsight I would definitely not buy a shiny chrome item again but luckily this item comes in a brushed chrome version which I would recommend over said shiny one.

Although I feel a dark colour is the way forward in future for all my kitchen appliances. I would definitely check the volume capacity of crumb trays in any future toasters I buy - as you can see I am already thinking of an alternative purchase purely because of the mess it creates.

Conclusion ~

All in all a highly reliable toaster that does the job but the hassle of cleaning and continuing emptying and spillage of crumbs - outweighs the good.

Hope this has been helpful to anyone thinking of purchasing it.