KitchenAid Toaster - 4-Slice - Brushed Stainless Steel

Purchased this toaster to replace an existing 2 slice that was beginning to have issues. After reviewing a lot of options, decided on this four slice toaster from Kitchenaid. This toaster does the job and has extra wide slots to accommodate large toast and bagels. Settings are straight forward and toast has been uniform each time over the last few weeks. We have owned a lot of Kitchenaid products in the past with very few issues, so another winner from Kitchenaid. One note is that this is a fairly large toaster, so it does take up counter space and depending on your kitchen and space, may be an issue. Other than size, I would certainly recommend.

From what I read online, I thought I'd give the benefit of the doubt since we already own some nice KitchenAid products. I was disappointed in this toaster since it toasted unevenly -- dark on one side light on the other and not when the bagel setting was used. It would also cook lines into the toast -- again, not evenly. Besides that, it felt cheap and "rattly". When I pushed the lever down to start toasting, it was really springy at the bottom and I'd expect it to catch but found myself pushing down several times trying to get it to stay down without pushing so hard I'd break it. I believe for the price, the quality of this toaster is totally unacceptable -- even if it does look nice.

Initially, I was not impressed as the toaster wasn't toasting things as well as my cheap Black & Decker I had did. I was almost ready to return it until it finally started toasting things properly. It's almost as if it needed several uses for it to get "warmed up." It's working great now which is why I gave it 5 stars. The 4 slice option is a must have for families!