A $300 toaster! This came up on the Tony Kornheiser podcast, and he and his friends swore that it, well, revolutionizes the toast eating experience. Toasted on the outside, soft on the inside. He said that the timer has a countdown, that in the last 10 seconds, goes to 10ths of a second.
Just as I don’t need $300 jeans, I don’t need a $300 toaster. Of course, if I were a delicate flower whose ordinary toast just wasn’t toasty enough on the outside or sufficiently soft on the inside, I might value that 10ths-of-a-second countdown.
This copies a hot tip for using a toaster oven to make toast – spritz the inside (back and sides) of the oven with water before putting in the bread and toasting. The added humidity keeps the toast from drying out. A lot cheaper and easier than sssteam heat.
Honestly, this doesn’t bother me at all. “Regular” toasters might cost $50-100, so this is three to six times that. That same multiple is true for other things, like major appliances or cars or whatever.
When I was a kid, we had a country cottage with a wood-burning stove and Mom would toast thickly sliced French bread directly on top of the cast iron stovetop, bread that was delivered daily from the little French village bakery. That was the best toast I’ve ever had. Today I mimic the effect by toasting sliced baguette, rolls, or bagels on a preheated hot crepe pan. I doubt this toaster would be any better or even as good, and some things like thick bun halves or relatively small baguette slices probably wouldn’t even fit. I think I’ll stick with my crepe-pan method, which is great at toasting the outsides without drying out the bread, and more versatile than a toaster.
The problem with this instaGlow toaster as I see it is the pissy little slots, same as most toasters on the market (it’s been awhile since I’ve checked, so I’m assuming).
I once hunted for about 2 years for a proper toaster. Not because I’m really anal about it. I just wanted a toaster that would accept 2 long and wide (as in thick) slices of bread. Seemed pretty simple to me. Turned out it wasn’t. This was about 15-20 years ago. I finally found a Cuisinart that suited my requirements. I still have it. The only other toaster that matches is Breville. Could be other on the market now. I’ve never used Brevill so not advocating. Just a photo to illustrate slots.
Note that each slot is long enough to accept 2 slices of ‘regular’ size bread, thereby making it a 4 slice toaster.
Bread comes in many shapes and much of it is quite wide, so a toaster needs long slots. I also prefer buying unsliced bread and like to cut slices of decent heft. Not the razor thin fall apart slices from store sliced bread.
I can’t tell from the photo how wide (for thickness) the OP toaster slots are, but the length of the slots gets a fail. Therefore I wouldn’t pay 50 cents for it. If anyone cares
If you’re going to spend $300 on something with those limitations, might as well splurge and go for this bad boy at over $400, which apparently really does kick ass, one absolutely perfect slice at a time.
Y’all know (some of you do) that I love my gadgets. I did get the $300 Balmuda toaster. I got it with amazon rewards points, of which I have hundreds of dollars worth. I save them for frivolous gadgets that I’d never use real money for.
I have a piece of sourdough toast every morning with a cup of coffee. The toaster is cool. Well, it’s not cool exactly… it’s hot. Is it worth $300? Probably not. But I like it.
It might have been this Esquire review that pushed me over the edge. Can’t remember.
Growing up, my mom (who was a post-hippie pre-foodie) would make us bagels in the morning - heat a large cast iron skillet, throw in some clarified butter, and put sliced slide down for a short while until GBD (Golden Brown Delicious). There was crisp cooked surface, buttery goodness, and it was never dried out like the toaster or a toaster oven. Same option was used for cold winter grilled cheese. And while I have a toaster oven for quick toast options, if I have the time, this is still my go too option for prepping burger buns, bagels, and the like.
I just get the electric stove-top ring red, then hold the bread over it with two forks, until it smokes. Perfect toast every time, any size or shape slice.