A toaster is one of those must have small kitchen appliances that can be found in almost every home or apartment.
No breakfast meal is truly complete without some toast slathered with jelly or jam.
If you have a larger family than chances are you will probably need to have a 4-slice toaster. This allows you to brown four slices of your favorite bread.
This article was designed to be informative and to help the reader to be able to make an educated decision on which one is the best 4 slice toaster on the market.
Each of the toasters on our list has a number of features that help to set it apart from other toasters.
Hamilton Beach 4-Slice Long Slot Toaster 4 Slice
The 4-slice Long Slot Keep Warm Toaster from Hamilton Beach is one new small appliances from one of the leading manufacturers of household appliances in the industry.
The two long slots are capable of holding up to four slices of plain bread, extra wide slices of bread, extra thick bread (Texas Toast) or combination of bagels.
This toaster is filled with numerous unique features like a warming button that when pressed will keep your toast, muffin or bagel warm for up to 3-minutes.
It also has three other buttons for a bagel, defrosts and cancel. It also has a rotary switch which allows you to select the amount of browning you want to have (1-7).
There is one hidden secret buried deep inside and it could be the one feature you will absolutely appreciate the most, the lifting mechanism raises the toast higher up so you don’t ever have to dig your toast or bagels out.
The unique shape (narrow, but deep) is the first thing you will notice, but the convenience of the two long slots is a huge plus of the Hamilton Beach 4-Slice Toaster.
Cuisinart CPT-142 Compact 4-Slice Toaster
The CPT-142 Compact 4-Slice Toaster may look like a typical toaster, but it is far from it.
The four extra-wide slots (1.5″ to be exact) are designed to hold a variety of food items like; bread (even Texas Toast size), bagels, frozen pancakes or french toast.
The four slots are separated and controlled as pairs so if you only need one or two slices you simply use one side or the other.
Each side has the identical settings so if you are making four pieces of toast or bagels, you can cook them all the same.
The shader knobs allow you to select how brown ( 1-7, lightest to darkest) and there is also a reheat setting that will warm the toast but not add any additional browning.
A really neat feature of the toaster is one that you cannot see and this involves resolving an issue that plagued toasters of the past; food is lifted higher up to avoid having to dig it out.
The sturdy plastic case stays cool to touch and the stainless steel accents give it a classy look.
The Cuisinart CPT-142 would look great sitting on your counter and is filled with numerous useful features.
Cuisinart CPT-440 4 Slice Toaster
The Cuisinart CPT-440 Touch to Toast Leverless 4-Slice Toaster features a sleek, stainless steel design with fully motorized lowering and lifting mechanism.
The digital push-button operation and LED display to add a more modern look and feel to it. The push button shader is displayed digitally from 1-7 (light to dark). There are also buttons for a bagel, defrost and reheat.
The four extra-wide slots, which measure 1.5″ are wide enough to handle bagels, bread (including Texas Toast) and toaster pastries. The motorized raising/lowering system means that there are no levers sticking out of the front of the toaster.
The toast shader setting can be adjusted with a touch of a button for each pair of toasting slots. The sleek, stainless steel and the digital display will look great sitting on your kitchen countertop.
Cuisinart is one of the top brands of kitchen small appliances and the CPT-440 Touch is another fine example of their workmanship at Cuisinart.
Oster Metallic Red 4-Slice Toaster
The Oster 4-Slice Toaster, Metallic Red (TSSTTRWF4R-SHP) is a high-quality toaster from one of the most established small kitchen appliance manufacturer.
The brushed metal and red tone steel housing of this toaster will fit in with most any kitchen decor.
The four extra-large slots are perfectly sized for a wide range of bread, bagel and breakfast pastries. All of the controls are really easy you use and are located on the front of the toaster.
There is a set of controls for each pair of slots including the rise and lower lever, four push-button controls and a shader knob for lightening and darkening the bread.
Oster came up with a retractable power cord that you don’t have to worry about wrapping up the cord.
The Oster 4-Slice Toaster is a great looking toaster and is packed with all kinds of beneficial features.
Cuisinart CPT-180 Metal Classic Toaster
The CPT-180 from Cuisinart is a high-quality small kitchen appliance from one of the best manufacturers in the industry. This four slice toaster is perfect for making breakfast for a small family.
Whether you like toast, bagels or pastries to go along with your breakfast, the CPT-180 can handle it all. The unique bagel function when pushed it only heats the top portion of each bagel leaving lower portion untouched.
The really classy all brushed stainless steel exterior will look amazing sitting out on your counter or it can be tucked away in your pantry with the corded wrapped neatly underneath.
The extra large slots are set up and controlled in pairs, with the rise/lower lever, shader control and quick setting buttons:
- bagel
- reheat defrost
- cancel
The new high rise mechanism lifts the bread higher up so that you will not have to struggle to get the bread out.
BLACK+DECKER 4-Slice Toaster,TR1478BD
This four-slice toaster features extra large slots to accommodate a wide variety of bread, bagels, muffins and even toaster pastries. There is a set of controls for each pair of slots which operate totally independently.
The rise/lower mechanism has been revamped so that it allows the contents to stick out farther up to make it easier to remove it.
The shader control knob has 7 different segments to control how dark the toast will get. There is also a defrost button and bagel button which when pushed it only heats the top of the bagel adding a bit of crunch to it.
There are also two removable crumb trays they can be emptied to help avoid burning during use. The special cancel button, when pushed instantly, pops the toast up.
The BLACK+DECKER 4-Slice Toaster, is the classic appliance with traditional black and stainless steel combination.
Hamilton Beach 24790 – Classic Chrome 4 Slice Toaster
Hamilton Beach brings back the classic chrome toaster with some new innovative features not found in earlier models. The new higher rise lifting mechanism means that you will not need to dig out your toast like in the past.
The two, identical sets of controls and LED lights each controls a pair of extra-large slots (1.5″ wide). The slots are perfectly sized to hold a wide variety of bread, bagels, muffins, and breakfast pastries.
The bagel function is designed to toast only the top portion of the bagel giving it a bit of a crunchiness and the rest remaining soft.
The controls also feature a pair of shader knobs which allows you to adjust the darkness of the toast from light to darkest. The reheat button will warm up the toast without making it any darker.
The auto shutoff feature will immediately turn off the toaster when your setting is reached. The cord wraps up neatly underneath the base so that it is kept out of the way.
The Hamilton Beach Classic Chrome 4 Slice Toaster is retro look toaster that would fit in perfectly with most all kitchen decor.
KRUPS 1500578368 4-Slot Toaster
The Krups 4-Slot Toaster combines the classic chrome finish with a brushed stainless steel side accents for a unique look that would easily fit in with most any kitchen decor.
The extra-wide slots are definitely more than just show and they each are capable of holding a wide range of breakfast items. This includes toasted bread, bagels and breakfast pastries of a variety of types and sizes.
The high rise lifting mechanism gives the contents an extra rise out of the top of the toaster to prevent it from getting stuck. The bagel function when activated only heats the top of the bagel to add a bit of crunchiness to the top while leaving the lower half soft.
The operator panel features soft-blue LED indicators when activated to ensure that you can see them. The crumb trays are independent and removable to make it easy to clean.
The KRUPS Breakfast Set 4-Slot Toaster is a high-quality toaster with a shiny chrome retro look with an added brushed stainless steel side.
Hamilton Beach Steel Toaster (24910) – 4 Slice Toaster
The Hamilton Beach 24910 4-Slice Toaster is the simplest and most basic toaster on our list. The extra wide, 1.5-inch slots are able to hold a wide variety of types of bread, bagels, muffins and breakfast pastries and browns them to 7 different levels of doneness.
The cancel button, when pressed automatically, stops the browning process and pops the toast up. It also features an extra boost with rising lever that allows the contents of the slot to extend higher up to keep it from getting stuck.
The exterior of the toaster has a brushed stainless steel look that will make it fit in with most any kitchen decor and the power cord wraps neatly underneath the toaster out of sight. It has an auto shut off feature that will make it turn off when the toaster reaches the selected setting.
The Hamilton Beach (24910) is the best choice of the one the toasters that we have on our list.
Breville BTA840XL Die-Cast Toaster 4 Slice
The Breville BTA840XL 4-Slice Smart Toaster features a classy brushed stainless steel exterior that will look great and fit in with most any kitchen decor.
The blue LED indicators for the shading selection from 1-7 segments light up so that you can get a good visual indication. It features a motorized lifting mechanism the raises and lowers the bread, bagels, muffins, and breakfast pastries.
Each of the slots is extra wide to make it easier for everything to fit easily inside.
There is a unique feature that allows you to push the button and it will lift the bread up and out of the toaster so that you can see whether it is cooked properly or not.
The toaster automatically shuts off when the shading setting you chose is reached. There is also a beep to let you know when your food has reached.
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Top 5 Things To Consider While Choosing 4-Slice Toaster
How much Power (in watts) does it have – The higher the wattage in a toaster the better since it will brown your bread faster. So when you are looking for a 4-slice toaster you will want to choose one that has at least 1800 watts of power.
While the thickness of the bread and also bagels will require more power to brown faster, you will want to take that into consideration.
Overall Size – The size of the toaster that you should be looking for will depend on a couple different factors; how much room do you have on your countertop and how many people do you have in your family.
If you live in a tiny apartment or dorm room that does allow toasters, you will probably be better off looking for a compact toaster. If you have more than three people, you should look at least for a 4-slice toaster.
Energy Savings – These days it is really important to save electricity in order to keep your cost down.
One way you can do that is to be sure that the toaster that you choose has the ability to only turn on two of the heating elements of the two slots that you are using when only making two slices of toast or heating up two breakfast pastries.
It is also important to find a model that has a really good energy savings rating.
Browning Controls – The browning elements are what is at the heart of any toaster and how well they are placed inside each of the slots.
To ensure that the heating and browning are the most even you want to be sure that the elements are closer to the bread during the browning process.
Remember to look down inside each of the slots to be sure that it is exactly what you were looking for.
How Long Will It Last – The life-expectancy of a high-quality toaster from a top manufacturer should be able to last 5 -10 years, if not longer.
However, there are a number of factors that will dictate how long your 4 slice toaster will last. Keeping the crumb tray empty and clean will help to preserve the effectiveness of the heating elements.