GE 2-Slice Stainless Steel Toaster, Extra Wide Slots

I love the look of the retro toasters, and prior to this purchase owned one. It was very cute but flimsy and eventually broke. I did some research and with all the positive reviews (plus wider slots which is what I was looking for) I chose this GE model over another “retro”. I have to say I am extremely pleased! This one is nice looking though much more straightforward as a toaster but works much better than the “cute” one I owned previously. Function over fashion! Definitely good quality, toasts well and the spring for the handle & pop up function feels sturdy!

We have had this for about 6 months. Love the look and function, no issues there. Toasts evenly, and takes the largest bagels you can buy. But it’s a crumb monster. The crumb collection plate is inadequate, so crumbs spill out the bottom continuously. Now I’m looking for a tray to go underneath it. I won’t say stay away, because it’s a good toaster. But beware the crumbs!

Good looking appliance. It toasts breads pretty evenly. Has a “Bagel” setting which we like. Very good value and seems to perform better than more expensive toasters we have owned.

some pre-requisites (because of some differences in the way we use ours)

– we toast almost solely sour dough bread (already somewhat more difficult to toast)
– our breads are nearly always frozen (to prevent them from spoiling prematurely)
– we don’t thaw the sour dough bread first, it goes directly from the freezer to the toaster
– if I make any references to our previous toaster, it was a very reliable, 10 year old, T-Fal brand 2 slice toaster, that was damaged by one of our housekeepers crew members

*** Ok, it is a somewhat attractive appliance (as far as toasters go) as I mentioned in the title(Headline)
*** It’s very lightweight – not a positive or negative necessarily, but the first press of the toaster “start” lever nearly flipped the unit forward – It’s easy to overcome, but you do have to get a bit used to “it.”
*** the unit didn’t smoke anywhere near as back as I thought it might during first start and it “burned off” in one cycle
*** the unit toasts fairly uniformly in each slot
*** the unit toasts decently uniformly between L and R slots although the right side seems ever so slightly lighter so far (not enough to be concerned with – could have been the bread in that slot)
*** I was a bit disappointed that the slots weren’t any deeper than or previous T-Fal (sour dough slice sizes can get fairly long – we didn’t lose anything, but didn’t gain either)
*** the speed at which this appliance toasts is adequate and might be a bit faster than our previous toaster
*** after four tries (again, on frozen, unthawed, sourdough bread) I finally get a decent brown colored finish at one notch down from maximum (no big deal, but much higher setting than the T-Fal) It also “browned” ‘more or less, enough,” at 3/4 power setting
*** it definitely operated well (other than the initial tipping forward issue (which, also again, is easy to avoid))
*** Let’s see, what else, the cord, I like that they give the user two exits (ways to route the power cord)
*** You could see the unit is operating with the handle down, but the “in operation” light is immediately easily recognizable from across the room.
*** The unit, also has “FROZEN” and “BAGEL” buttons, neither of which I used or “looked into”

That’s probably enough review for now. In this price range, it’s going to be very hard to get, what only “might be,” a better unit. I’m happy with the purchase for now. If I run in to a “deep 2 slot” (not four slot due to the location and lack of space there) I’ll replace it later. One more note, we don’t use it for bagels, but they (the slots) look wide enough.

If anything changes, I’ll revise this review, but I don’t anticipate anything… It seems fine for us and I’m satisfied with the purchase.

I sent 2 toasters back and got this one. So far we are very pleased. The issues i had with the previous toasters is that they wouldn’t toasts right on both sides, nor would they push the wide pan breads down when we pushed the lever down, thawed or frozen, had to use my fingers. This toaster does it for me and also toasts nicely. Use stale old breads first to get the smell out, the new crazy electrical new appliance smell. It DOES go away. Do that 3 times with old bread before using. It’s a great toaster! Toasts better with each use. Lightest to dark. A keeper!

Tried 2 pieces of bread in it today separately and while both sides are not perfectly even toasted there is not enough difference to complain about. Adjusted the toast shade a little and the second slice came out good. Would be nice if the cord was a bit longer, yet it is understandable that not everyone has the same appliance setup or placement on their counter space. I can live with that. Seems to be made okay. Only time and usage will tell about the durability of the product, but it’s working fine straight out of the box. Worth the price.