The 8 Very Best Toasters

Number of slots: Two | Style of slots: Extra-long to accommodate up to four slices | Settings: Five (plus bagel and frozen), “A Bit More” button, progress indicator | Size: 17.7” x 14.9” x 7.5”

The standout feature of this toaster is its extra-long slots meant to hold up to four slices — or to accommodate extra-long slices that might come from an artisanal sourdough loaf (as opposed to a pre-sliced grocery store bread). As someone who buys the former type frequently, this appeals to me big time. (In smaller toasters, I often have to toast one side, then flip it and toast again, all while hoping it doesn’t get too dark in the center.)

It’s for this reason that recipe developer and cookbook author Ali Slagle calls it a “toaster for toast people” — and indeed, it garnered the most praise among our experts, who also include culinary producer and cookbook consultant Laura Arnold, and recipe developer and cookbook author Odette Williams.

And there are quite a few additional and helpful features of this model, too. It has the delightfully named “A Bit More” button that you can press if you just want a little extra browning without going in for a full second round. There’s a “Lift & Look” lever for times when you’re nervous you went too high or are trying to fine-tune the browning,” says Strategist senior editor Jen Trolio (who has owned a similar version of this model with the same functions for over a decade). And there’s a progress bar so you can keep an eye on where in the toasting process you are.

Number of slots: Two | Style of slots: Extra-wide | Settings: Six (plus white, wheat, bagel, waffles, pastries, English muffin, and cancel) with progress indicator | Size: 17.7” x 14.9” x 7.5”

If you’re after width more than length, I believe this Breville model is your best bet. It comes recommended by recipe developer and cookbook author Anna Stockwell, who says the slots allow plenty of room for bagels and thick slices of sourdough. (The toaster even boasts settings for other thick specimens, like English muffins and waffles.) Still, Stockwell’s favorite function is “frozen,” as she keeps her gluten-free bread fresh in the freezer, and the toaster accounts for defrosting without sacrificing toastiness. And it gets brownie points for aesthetics, which Stockwell describes as “retro-chic.”

Number of slots: None, but fits up to six slices | Style of slots: No slots | Settings: Seven (plus bagel, bake, roast, broil, pizza, cookies, reheat, warm) | Size: 16” x 13.5” x 8.75”

Breville currently offers eight different versions of toaster ovens — but this was the one that came up most among experts I talked to. While any is likely to be a good bet (and a couple of others were specifically recommended, too) the original Smart Oven is a reliable classic. In my own testing, I found it preheats in a matter of minutes and thanks to the removable racks and stainless steel interior, is easy to wipe down clean. (Celia Lee, pastry chef at New York City’s NARO, expressed the same sentiment.) The functions are simple to control: It has a dial to choose temperature, another one for time, and a third to cycle through the different settings (bake, broil, and the like). Perhaps most impressively, it bakes, broils, and toasts evenly, without hot spots. Recipe developer and cookbook author Caroline Chambers even used hers to create and test dishes in place of a full-size oven for two years. “It cooks things fast and efficiently,” she says. For her part, recipe developer and cookbook author Jocelyn Delk Adams notes the even heat distribution, too, which she says works just as well for making uniformly colored toast (like she makes every morning) as it does for roasting a few salmon filets for dinner. She also likes it for reheating food, especially when she wants something to maintain its original crispiness, like fritters or pizza.

It can fit up to six pieces of square sandwich bread (and four of larger cuts). You select the darkness on a scale from one to seven and also tell the machine how many slices are inside to help it regulate where it’s emitting heat (this is controlled by the time dial). The oven shows a minute and second countdown so you know exactly when your toast will be ready (even more specific than the progress bars on some of the models above).

Number of slots: None, but fits up to two slices | Style of slots: No slots | Settings: 15 (plus 350-, 400-, and 450-degree bake, sandwich bread, artisan bread, pizza, pastry) | Size: 14.1” x 12.6” x 8.2”

A steam toaster oven differs from a regular toaster oven in that you add water before you toast. This generates steam as it heats, keeping bread and pastries super moist, pillowy, and soft on the inside, even as they crisp on the outside. In the case of this Balmuda, the water is measured with a tiny cup (which is included with the toaster oven) via a small chamber at the top. It truly works — especially, I’ve found, in reviving leftovers like pizza, reheating foods like empanadas, and toasting bread like pita where in other scenarios, the center gets too crunchy. The machine has several settings for different types of breads and pastries, as well as a few exact degrees (350, 400, and 450) for baking other types of food, and then a dial for choosing the amount of time. Food writer and editor Melissa Kravitz Hoeffner says the steam effect re-creates the texture of just-baked bread, and recipe developer and cookbook author Samah Dada calls it a “refresher” for the way the steam breathes new life into days-old baked goods. Pardilla loves it for foods other than toast, too. “You get the flakiest pastries — that fluffiness of a croissant — and grilled cheese with the pulliest cheeses, like those Hubba Bubba commercials.” she says.

To my mind, there are two notable downsides worth mentioning (though they may not be deal breakers for you, depending on how you plan to use it): Toast takes several minutes longer than a traditional toaster oven to crisp up, and the oven doesn’t include a broil setting — one function I particularly like.