As some of you who read my cooker review recently will know I was a little disappointed with the speed of the grill so I decided to buy a toaster to satisfy the urgent toast requests from my starving children! I have not actually had a toaster at home since my student days and was baffled by the fancy models on the market when I went to buy one. I only wanted a basic model that made toast, I didn't need a crumpet warmer, Panini baker or a model that appeared to do just about everything but wash up! So it came to be that I picked up a Tesco 2T15SS toaster along with my weekly shopping a couple of months ago. It is currently on sale at £14.97 but it was on a half price offer at £7.50 when I purchased it.

This model is made of stainless steel with a black plastic base and a black and grey control panel on the side. It is only a two-slice toaster which is fine for my needs.

I chose the stainless steel model as it goes well with my kitchen but unfortunately, like most appliances with this finish, it is a bit of a pain to keep clean. I always seem to be wiping buttery finger marks and general smears off it. It is quite light at just over 1.3 kg and has a black cable of about 50cm with the standard moulded plug. Overall this is quite a compact toaster which looks attractive without looking overly complicated.

To use the toaster you simply turn the appliance on at the plug, put the bread in the slots and press down the carriage lever at the side, much the same as any toaster the world over. If the toaster is not turned on at the plug the carriage will not stay down which is useful as there is nothing so annoying as putting toast in and then coming back to realise that everything is stone cold. Below the carriage lever there is a control dial which you turn to adjust the length of time you wish the bread to be toasted for. The dial is numbered 1 to 7, we always tend to toast sliced 50/50 bread and number 4 gives a nice golden colour, my daughter prefers her toast anaemic(barely warm bread really!) so she uses 1 or 2. Being able to adjust the timer allows perfect toasting for all bread types. The bread will pop up gently when it is finished; there is no powerful spring sending toast all over the kitchen, just perfect toast sticking out the top ready to be removed.

If at any time you wish to cancel the toasting process you simply press the Cancel button on the side and the toaster turns off and the bread pops up. I find this useful when I just want my toast a little darker and can't be bothered to reset the timer or when I realise my dad has used it and set it to 7 as he loves charcoal with butter and I haven't reset it.

The toaster also has a Toast from Frozen button which adds extra time to compensate for the bread being frozen, I have tried this couple of times and it has successfully produced my toast to the colour I normally cook it to so I was quite impressed. This is a useful feature when we come in late after a weekend away and everyone wants a snack but the bread is all in the freezer.

The toaster has a Reheat button which is designed to reheat toasted bread if it has gone cold; it is supposed to provide a brief reheat. I can't say I have ever had cause to use this as the toast never stays around long enough to get cold!

The toaster slots are quite wide and will accommodate bread up to about 2cm thick. However they are not very long so if toasting bread from a standard sliced loaf there are two options, you can squeeze the bread in but the length may cause it to stick which is a fire risk or you have to put it in with some of the slice sticking out of the top and then cancel the toast process and turn it around halfway through.

The toast that is actually produced is nice and crispy and cooks evenly on both sides and across the full size of the slot.

Like all toasters this one seems to make loads of crumbs. It does have a crumb tray which you access by pulling a handle at the base and sliding it out. It does catch some of the crumbs but since it is very flat and does not cover the whole base it is not very effective at preventing mess. It is also difficult to transport to the bin without throwing crumbs all across the floor as it is basically a flat piece of metal. The manufacturer does state that you should not use the machine without the crumb tray in place, I imagine that is to prevent people touching the elements inside.

The body of the toaster does get warm during use but the coolwall feature means it does not get hot and dangerous.

Overall I am quite happy with this toaster. It is easy to use as the controls are straightforward and the carriage is not at all stiff to press down. The toast it produces is evenly cooked and it toasts quite quickly. Unfortunately the toast slots are not really long enough for standard sliced bread which is a shame but for the price I paid I am not going to moan.