The 10 Best toasters

Don't get your fingers burnt by choosing the wrong model. Here are our top picks for grill-seekers

1 Lakeland Digital

This retro-look, brushed stainless steel toaster features nine settings, extra-wide slots for crumpets and bagels, a bread-lift function, a slide-out crumb tray and cord storage. Everything you need, in other words, to pop up slice after golden slice. It's available as a two- or four-slice model.

£29.99, lakeland

2 Russell Hobbs Black Glass Touch

This is a Which? magazine Best Buy and with good reason. It browns well, toasts quickly and can fit a wide range of bread sizes, including pitta bread, thanks to its extra-long slots. It looks stylish and has illuminated dots showing the browning level and time until your toast is ready.

£79.99, amazon

3 Dualit NewGen

Robust, handmade and reassuringly solid, the Dualit allows you to heat up slots individually and has a new bagel/teacake setting. Yes, it's pricey, but it provides fantastically even browning and the design is iconic.

£184, amazon

4 Bodum Bistro

The funky Bistro toaster from Bodum – which comes in orange, purple and lime, among other colours – is well-built and you won't find any underdone patches. The high-lift carriage prevents fingers from burning as you try to retrieve your breakfast and the cancel button is illuminated for emergency stops.

£44, amazon

5 Magimix Vision

No chance of burnt offerings with this two-slice toaster that allows you to peer through the glass sides and decide on your exact shade of brown. Gimmicks aside, it toasts evenly and has simple and clearly marked controls, although be warned, the transparent walls mean crumbs show up, too.

£145, amazon

6 John Lewis

This is super-shiny and super-speedy. There are settings for reheating, defrosting and toasting bagels and there's an effective crumb tray. It's dead simple to use and it's available with two or four slots.

£35, johnlewis

7 Prestige Dakota

Available in black, red or almond, this toaster has blue LED lights that tell you which level of browning has been selected and a countdown to breakfast time. It works well with fresh or frozen bread.

£25, amazon

8 Villaware

This offers serious toast technology, with expandable slots, a keep-warm function and a defrost button that automatically adjusts the toast time to accommodate frozen foods. And because nobody likes cold toast, there's even an alarm to tell you when it's ready – great for loud, busy kitchens.

£27, amazon

9 Rowlett Esprit

Rowlett knows a thing or two about toasters – it's been making them in the UK since 1946. Its four-slot family brunch toaster is fabulous. Boasting two conventional slots, one wide slot and another for toasted sandwiches, it caters to your every toasting need.

£176, amazon

10 Kenwood kMix

The kMix toaster comes in a range of stylish colours and is compact, making it ideal for small kitchens. Truth be told, it's a bit on the slow side, but the results are worth the wait – browned on the outside, soft in the middle.

£48, amazon