Toaster time: Dualit or… ?

We got one of these https://www.dualit.com/products/architect-2-slot-toaster quite a few years ago. Can't remember exactly how long ago but it's easily more than 8+ years and gets used daily. Still seems to be going strong not had to replace anything on it yet.

A BIG downside to a Dualit is any toast you have elsewhere is inferior to what you have at home. First world problem.

Happy with our 4-slice classic with the two dials and lever-to-lift (which is great and not an issue in the slightest - timer dial makes a loud enough click when it finishes so you know the toast is done).

Cheaper Dualit "architect"? was crap & didn't last for us.

Edit - can't remember how long but less than 4yrs

Our Dualit is now about 20 years old and still works exactly as it did when it was new.  There's not many things that are a no-brainer but this one really is.

Personally I think the sweet spot is 4 slice but with the ability to select 1, 2, 3, or 4 slices (we also have one that 'only' offers 1, 2 or 4 as options)

Edit: the only one to consider is the Classic and yes, you want a cage or two for teacakes muffins, etc.

Costco were doing the 4 slice with cage for 170, usually c200 to 240.

I like them, cage allows you to toast banana bread, pancakes etc.  I replaced elements after 20 years.

My Dualit Classic is 20 yrs old - works perfectly as it always has.
Get one.

Having had a several other toasters over the years, we finally invested in a Dualit this autumn.  Only a 2 slot trad version but it's nice and shiny.

+ves - Shiny, feels good to buy a classic, well made, locally produced product with an almost guaranteed longevity and the timer is quite a nice way to do toast.  Single slot function allows you to only do 1 slice without over cooking one side

-ves:- How ****ing much! Tiny slots, in all directions - it struggles with large slices of any description be it height, width or thickness and it has no ability to centre a thin slice as the guide wires are fixed. We just chop down large slices to fit. Timer takes a bit of getting used to and you may burn drier/staler bread using the same "normal" setting you get used to (2 mins for us) This would be true of any toaster though.  Single slot setting is easy to forget so you may only do 1.25 slices when you want 2.  I now check every time - most of the time.

I like it and would recommend with the above reservations.  If you're used to something with more features or do bigger bread i suspect it's not for you.

G

6 slice dualit here - works fine. It does slightly over do side one of the first slice - I keep meaning to investigate how to fine tune that feature out but thus far have not got around to it

Just had a look at the dualit reviews on which? They’re actually a mixed bag. They give the newgen models a pasting, but the “lite” model is their best buy toaster for 2024.

More info from which?:
Dualit is their 3rd most reliable brand.
Haden, an English company I’ve never heard of, are rated 1st.

Got our Dualit as a wedding present in 1995. Still going strong.

I got a two-slice Dualit Classic cheap from eBay because it was dirty and had a broken timing nob. I did a nut-and-bolt disassembly and clean which was quite satisfying, and it looks great now.

Don't get a Smeg one. Well, I'm unsure about their toasters, but I got a very expensive Smeg kettle which crapped out after less than a year.

we've had a 4 slice dualit for a decade. The timer dial stopped winding last year, I think a new one was £5 and about 5 minutes to replace.

I personally find the "having to set the time every time you make toast" thing a bit annoying, but there are some advantages (ie the second slice of toast taking less time, means you can put it on for a shorter time), also the 2/4 slice switch on the 4 slice toaster is annoying because you'll inevitably put 4 bits of bread in when its switched to 2 and have 2-and-a-half bits of toast.

I'd be tempted by one of the magimixes with see-through sides, but I'm waiting for a toaster that actually monitors the colour of the toast inside and stops it when its the right amount of brown for you

I wanted to buy a classic for £30 off FB Marketplace but it was "the wrong colour" (cream) apparently so we ad to spend £170 on a new polished one!!

#women

Tiny slots, in all directions – it struggles with large slices of any description be it height, width or thickness and it has no ability to centre a thin slice as the guide wires are fixed.

Some models allow a thicker slice (the Combi for example) and thin bread is dealt with by using the cage.

Does it fit hand sawn artisan sourdough?

Thanks for the advice everyone.

apparently so we ad to spend £170 on a new polished one!!

#women

I too would rather spend the money on one that looks decent as I’ll look at it every day #sexism

We just got a 2 slice 'new gen classic' in black/ silver.  From John Lewis (yeah I know very middle class).

Had it about a month.  

Very happy so far.  Took a few goes to gauge the right setting and remember to use the lever to drop the toast (actually I really like that function) and also that if doing 1 slice it's not necessary to waste energy heating the 2nd slot.

I very much support the principle of buying something made by a adults in Britian paying income tax and NI in Britain that subsequently helps pay for the NHS and schools rather than being made by kids or Uyghur slaves under a regime of opresssion in China.

And repairable rather than throw away into landfill in 2 years.

Note the classic and vario are made in Britain, but not necessarily the cheaper ones like the 'architect'.  

stevious<br />I too would rather spend the money on one that looks decent as I’ll look at it every day #sexism

it was tongue in cheek as I acceded without a fight as I too prefer the shiny one.   It's not like we've got anything in the kitchen to match to but it's just nicer on it's own.

We had a Dualit in holiday accommodation over Christmas. it had a bloody stupid timer that was separate from the lever - people either forgot to set the timer at all (just plunged the lever) or got the timing wrong - most mornings there was a strong smell of burned toast.

I certainly wouldn't buy one on the back of that experience and others seemed equally unimpressed.

When we did our kitchen out, we ended up spending silly money on a KitchenAid one (it matched the colour scheme). I like it as it has a cool 'soft' open/close operation rather than a pop-up but, inexplicably, although it toasts bread, it doesn't seem to get it hot so butter doesn't melt much which my wife doesn't like.

Have had a newgen 2-slot for 12 years or so. They win for simplicity, repairability and snob value but aren't the best at making toast, which given the price you'd hope they would be. Treated it to a full strip down, clean/polish and new elements a few months back and it's all shiny again but still toasts darker on one side than the other.

The lite/studio/architect isn't the same at all, as far as I know all made in China.

My father has a Dualit classic double. It is the one thing I will fight with my sister about when he passes - 'tis a thing of goodness.

We got one of these but at a reduced cost which made it more palatable. It has been faultless so far and the features get used unlike sometimes where you wonder why a designer bothered.

https://www.johnlewis.com/sage-the-smart-toast-4-slice-toaster-stainless-steel/p2065166?s_ppc=2dx_mixed_technology_BAU&tmad=c&tmcampid=2&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQiAy9msBhD0ARIsANbk0A-uWzt-7zwgcgDdlnjo5qswBZm7WOi_KO2P11UZMocN3grMIv7WYOMaAl6JEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds  

Why does a toaster need LED's??  Sorry but there's more stuff on [that to go wrong] than is needed in my view.

Great idea buying a broken one, they clean up perfectly and parts are very cheap.

Personally I never got the fuss about Dualit. We had a long slot one as a wedding gift in 2008, died about 18 months ago. It was fine, but I only ever valued it as a toaster, not a piece of art. The thing that bugged me is that it wasn't deep enough

We've moved to a random brand one and, to be honest, it's better than the Dualit. Does everything the Dualit did plus more, like the croissant rack is built in and there's an actual digital timer so you know how long to go before your maillarded bread is ready

Theres one that needs an element for £35 on faceache mktp, looks clean as well

Meh really. Late 90s I stayed in a backpackers in Fiji that had one - owner said it was the only toaster he'd had that didn't break immediately. So I had my eye out for one after that - ended up with a second hand 3 slice classic which is now 20+ years old. As others have said - looks cool, toast is fine, although mine is a bit uneven like others. Perhaps I could fix that by replacing an element, which is of course the upside - I've replaced the timer thingy once.

That said, if I came to replace it I'd look elsewhere too. Of the other options above I have a Sage coffee maker which is amazing (and was an upgrade on another good Sage), so I'd be interested in that Sage toaster - it's the closest to the unicorn toaster which pops up when your toast is the right shade of brown. Hadens look OK too don't they?

Like others ,I've a 20yr old 2-slot that looks and operates as well as it did on day 1.

But...It was £120 which is an outrageous amount for a toaster. I've a kettle that's merely 10 years old that I bought from Tesco for a tenner, the sales lady said to me, "Keep the receipt, these kettles either break immediately, or will go on forever" luckily for me, the latter.

We had one that my mother gave us for Xmas one year - it broke.

Can't see what the fuss is about.

We’ve moved to a random brand one and, to be honest, it’s better than the Dualit. Does everything the Dualit did plus more,

It's a toaster.... what else is it supposed to do?!

We had a long slot one as a wedding gift in 2008, died about 18 months ago.

You could have fixed it for not much - anyway, each to their own, come back in 14 years and give us an update on how the digital timer is working out.

Do you not have a grill built into your oven?

I've got a Dualit classic two slice. Up to now I've never thought about how old it is, but it's 14 years in and going strong.

Dualit: looks great but random toast quality due to the mechanical timer. And I’ve suffered two of the things because… Shiny. There are better toasting options.

I  got a Tefal toaster 35 years ago  still working well.

But would  one brought now be so long lived ?

Got one of these a few years back, got it on sale as it must have been the previous model.  Nice as it is there is no way we would have paid full price for it.

Despite the cost it has been excellent, but be warned it may make you do something really stupid like spend £150 on a matching kettle

It does slightly over do side one of the first slice 

Try turning it on for a few seconds before putting the bread in and setting the timer properly. I find that the single end elements take slightly longer to heat up than the double sided ones between slices.

Had our 4 slice classic since 2007 (shockingly that 17 years ago now). Had to replace the timer mechanism a couple of years ago. Parts cost £6 and it took 5 minutes with a screwdriver.

Dualit,Lite 4 slice here, at least four years old, no issues, cleans up like new easy enough too. Use the single side button all the time but not defrost. Matching tall jug kettle is fine too.

We got a 'posh' one as a wedding present and it broke after 2 years...the toaster that is...Mrs F still puts up with me! We've had the same one from Asda for the last 15 years now and its still going strong.

I was fed up of our cheapo one taking an age to toast stuff so went and bought the 2-Slice Long Lite Toaster a few months back. £100 ish

Perfect Toast every time

Doesnt drop crumbs every where

Stays clean (the metal just wipes clean where as previous ones appeared to get effected by the heat)

Mrs FD wasnt happy that I spent £100 on a toaster, but it just works like no other toaster we have had before

I'm with johnjn2000, the Sage 2 slice though. It was expensive, but the 'quick look' button and 'a bit nore' buttons are ace. It replaced a dualit with plastic on that toasted the bottom half of a slice more than the top and the plastic body had snapped too (despite never having an incident that warranted it).

It's about 4 years in with best enough daily use and it's been flawless to date. But yes, it has more on it to go wrong than it needs to.

Best toast & toaster is my mum's home made bread toasted on the "cool" plate of an Aga, but an Aga is what £10k ? & my mum's no longer of this world😢

One of those previous threads search threw up may have been mine.  I ended up with a 4 slice dualit errr.. errr   classic?  It works and still works a couple of years in,  which must be as long or longer than the previous toaster or two lasted.  I too often forget the 2/4 switch and hence do 2.5 of 4 slices.  Despite the 'set the time each time via a twisty knob' I seem to burn toast a bit more often than with previous toasters, not much though.  Overall I'd say the toast is no better or worse than from another toaster so let's hope it lasts 4 or 5 times as long.

Oh and now others have mentioned it mine also toasts a little uneven, not badly so but I've started to notice it recently.  Either I was previously blinded to this by the cost,  or its getting worse.

Classic Dualit 2 slot here. Wedding present, and now 22 years old and still going strong. Bugger, I've jinxed it!

Why does a toaster need LED’S

I Dunno, does it need LED's? It just delivers a service that I didn't know we neeeded.

I'd get a 2nd hand Dualit and replace whatever needs replacing. They're about as complicated as a light switch. My mum still has the 4 lane one that was in the kitchen when I was a kid, so I imagine that's got 40 odd years on the clock. And she likes her toast. I've replaced the odd bit (elements, timer once) over the years for her but nothing major. We've got a modern one (2nd hand 15 years ago) and that's essentially the same (cosmetically more like the current ones). The only real world disadvantage I can think of (I couldn't care less about having a lever, or some barely perceptible toasting inconsistency) is the slice thickness is limited. A crumpet is its max and there's a trick to avoiding that sticking. But then I can't remember the last time that bothered me. Newer ones can have baskets you lift out and whatnot but I'm not sure I'd bother.

I do remember a cream 6 laner at school though. A part of me fancies one of those, although we've no need for it and nowhere to put it.

Now I fancy a crumpet. Damn you.

For me the noise of the timer is best part of the experience. Pavlovian dribble at the toasty marmity goodness about to happen starts with that noise.

Love it. Love the fact that it's never going to die and can be kept in top fettle with cheap and simple parts. Every consumer product should be made like this!

We've got a 6 slicer in the holiday cottage we run. I....err....acquired it, when a previous employer was going to bin it because it was broken. Just needed a new timer knob but otherwise mint. I might have forgotten my evangelical spiel about them never dying for a moment or two, agreed it was probably a waste of time and I was basically doing them a favour! £277 new the 6 bungers now!

We’ve got a 4 slice one that we’ve had at least since 2009. It gets hammered. You can select 1,2,3 or 4 slices and either 2 or 4 slices one sided for muffins or toasting one side of a bagel etc.

it’s great. Never noticed inconsistent toasting and I like the idea that it can be repaired, in fact I put a new timer switch in a few yrs ago which was cheap and easy and you don’t chuck it away when something minor breaks.

when I used to use the iow ferry a lot the guys in the cafe had a six slice one going pretty much permanently on the morning crossings. It looked yrs old.

I much prefer the way the timer works and the way you can flip the toast up and down for a second to check if it’s done without turning the element off. On a normal toaster unless you use exactly the same bread every day you’ll get different levels on toastiness for the same setting. The dualit method gives you more control. You soon get used to where you need to dial the timer to for the bread you are using.

I'd love a 6 lane!  Family of 5 and toast most days,  a 6 lane highway would keep the toast flowing with much less hold up. Damn you stw, you talked me down to the 4 while converting 6ers yourselves!

Just get a proper Dualit. My 4 slice classic performs well and looks good after 16 years of regular use.

Never had a Dualit.

My absolute top priority for a toaster is long thick-n-thin slots - and my Morphy Richards one must be 10+ years old now and still toasting up a charm.

Discontinued of course.

I’d love a 6 lane! Family of 5 and toast most days, a 6 lane highway would keep the toast flowing with much less hold up. Damn you stw, you talked me down to the 4 while converting 6ers yourselves!

This is almost a reason to have more children.

I’d love a 6 lane!

Me too but that boat has sailed now (and I have actually got a spare 3 slot Dualit I was given if I needed the extra capacity). I often looked at those continuous toasters in hotels but the running costs must be frightenening!

Anyway, given a couple of people have said they get inconsistent results, I've just done a couple of sheets of toast and they're pretty much perfect.  People need to realise that not all bread is the same and even the same loaf will change every day.

A fresh loaf will be quite moist and as such will take longer to brown, while a loaf that's been around a while will be drier and will therefore toast quicker.  That's before you take into account the differences in different types of grain, bagels, crumpets, etc.

This is the beauty of the mechanical timer - I think all Dualit owners know that toast should take about 2 minutes, but if the bread is dry you can simply reduce the time a bit or, if I'm doing crumpets (that I like to be crispy on top) give it the full 3 minutes.

And you can just lift the bread up to check it's not burning.

..

Dualit (not the cheapo ones) because of this Re-buildable so you’ll hopefully never need to chuck it out.

I often looked at those continuous toasters in hotels but the running costs must be frightenening!

But one loop is never enough and two is always too much.

But one loop is never enough and two is always too much.

Partly because
1. Hotels don’t often do test runs when the machine gets to temp. They just set some values and let it run.
2. Different bread types
3. Guests who have no mechanical aptitude see their underdone toast come out, whack up one of the heaters, see half-burned toast come out from a second run, then they scarper.

When set up properly these toast production lines are a thing of beauty. But, yeah, running costs! 2.8kW for this one https://www.nisbets.co.uk/dualit-conveyor-toaster-dct2i/db389?cm_sp=Peerius-_-productRecsTop-_-image

WE had a Dualit. It wasn't great and finally failed.

After much research we plumped for this:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B08HDMVL4H/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

It's the most even-toasting toaster we've ever had and it's under £50 and looks good.

So, do Dualit toasters have to be added to the "STW basket of goods" along with log burners, VW Transporters and Santa Cruz bikes?

Dualit 4-slice Classic for us. Its well over 20 years old and all that's been done is replaced a couple of the elements. Bought it at Costco and the saving covered the cost of the membership.

Thanks again all. I’m pretty convinced but I’m not the only decision maker so we’ll have to see how far ‘a bunch of blokes on a bike forum say it’s good’ will get me.

Happy with our Sage 2 slice toaster, it's the best we've owned (but never had Dualit ):-<br /> https://www.johnlewis.com/sage-a-bit-more-2-slice-toaster-brushed-metal/p1719748? <br /><br />The 'a bit more' setting is well used in our house. Only thing I'd have liked for the slot to be a cm or two longer for some breads but it's fine for most regular slices.

surely we're all onto voice activated toasters nowadays?

Thread resurrection.

For those who have a Dualit.

Do you have to unplug it/switch it off after every use. Apparently all through the blurb it states that it's a fire hazard if you don't, but I don't see why they're any different to a cheap toaster which would be left plugged in and the socket left on. Are they prone to spontaneous combustion if left connected? Did one raze your abode to the ground?

Your views?

Ninja Foodie 3 in 1. Banger.

Your views?

Mine remains plugged in. My fil would unplug his own head if he were able, he is so fire/disaster obsessed. But this is a man who gathers all his important documents together and puts them in the loft when on holiday so you get the picture. I guess we are all built differently.

No. Have never (routinely) unplugged  our 4 slice classic, and it’s been going 24 years now. I can’t see why it would be a fire hazard if it was off.

My Dualit only gets unplugged if the cleaners shift it from a regular socket to the hob socket. Otherwise plugged in and the wall switch is on all the time. You never want to set it going and find it has not cooked your toast.

I’ve never understood the unpluggers. Do they unplug the fridge or the freezer at night? Isolate the boiler.
what is so risky about kettles and toasters…

Can't believe this hasn't been posted yet!

Howdeedoodleedoo!