I am reviewing my second favourite kitchen gadget, my first being my Tefal Actifry.

I purchased this toaster from Argos, approximately two years ago now, and have never had a days trouble from it. It must be said however, I usually have a death wish on electrical items - it has been said, our house is a place where objects come if they are on a suicide mission, plants too apparently, but that's another subject :o) Good job it came with a two year guarantee!

Back on track, if it hasn't broken yet, it must be good! I purchased the matching Kettle at the same time, but that sadly gave up the ghost - see what I mean? The cost, when I purchased mine (back to the toaster now) was £49.99 or thereabouts. It is now available to purchase from John Lewis at £25 on special offer.

This toaster is different to others as its front panel containing all the buttons is illuminated. Cool eh? The stainless steel body is brushed so it is supposedly finger mark proof. I can confirm this works brilliantly, I hate my other stainless steel appliances as they mark terribly. The top of the toaster is just the ordinary mirror polished stainless steel, but you are less likely to get finger marks here anyway. The two tone of the metal gives it a contemporary feel.

This toaster comes in only a two slot version, so for large families you will have to cook in batches, but this is not a problem, as you are alerted when the toast is about to pop up (eight seconds prior) and so you are ready to take it out and do another batch - no more loitering around, you can be doing something else and come back to it when you hear the beep.

This toaster has extra wide slots which automatically adjust to the width of the bread, for those big doorsteps of homemade bread. A function that I had not seen on other toasters at the time, and is what made me purchase this toaster in the first place, is the ability to toast on one side only - handy for bagels, teacakes or buns. This is the feature that is in constant use in our house, and is where I thought the Kenwood would fail after so much use, but no, it's still going strong.

Included in the box, is a handy warming rack, to keep for food warm without baking it further, if someone should arrive late to the table, for example. I know these are normally on every toaster, but it's quite a handy feature, you may need it but I never have, because this toaster has another feature I've not yet written about. It also has a handy crumb tray, but it is hidden underneath, towards rear of the machine (mine sits against the wall) therefore it is quite easy to forget to empty it.

The rise and fall of this machine is done by pressing one of the buttons of the front. This mechanically lowers or raises the holders (I don't know the technical term, sorry) it raises them without the need to press big, clunky levers. I love this action, as it is almost robotic. Its novelty never wears off for me - I 'm easily pleased :o). After cooking, the toast will raise automatically. If it is not taken out almost immediately, it will lower and automatically use the keep warm function. It's that clever!

There are six levels of toasting on this appliance, when plugged in it automatically goes to number three. This is the perfect number for our toast, midway between normal bread and charcoal. However, after the toast has had one use and is still hot, further batches of toast have to be cooked using number two, as the residual heat cooks the toast further, we have found.

In mornings when we are in a rush and have no fresh bread, we use frozen. There is a good feature on this machine, that defrosts the bread before toasting it, takes a little while longer but is still quick in comparison to other toasters I have previously used.

Overall, I LOVE this toaster, they don't call me gadget woman for nothing!
I totally recommend it, it's modern yet has classic styling and it is novel without being gimmicky.