Four 4 Slice Toaster are a little bit more expensive than two slice models, but they are very useful for those who have large family members or who host a lot of overnight guests. They do take up more counter space but that's goes along with more use you can gain from this kind of toasters.
Breville Die-Cast 4-slice Smart Toaster BTA840XL
(*Est. $180), the 4-slice big brother of the BTA820XL covered earlier in our report, gets reviews similar to its smaller sibling. The two toasters are virtually identical, with features such as lift-and-look, which allows you to lift the lever to check on the toasting process without interrupting the cooking cycle, and the "just a bit more" button, which allows you to add browning time without restarting the process. It also has a bagel setting, extra-wide slots and self-lowering lever. The four-slice model has separate controls for each pair of slots. The Breville four-slice toaster gets somewhat better user reviews than the smaller two-slice version. The majority of user reviewers at Amazon.com give it a 4- or 5-star score, despite the high price.
(*Est. $180), the 4-slice big brother of the BTA820XL covered earlier in our report, gets reviews similar to its smaller sibling. The two toasters are virtually identical, with features such as lift-and-look, which allows you to lift the lever to check on the toasting process without interrupting the cooking cycle, and the "just a bit more" button, which allows you to add browning time without restarting the process. It also has a bagel setting, extra-wide slots and self-lowering lever. The four-slice model has separate controls for each pair of slots. The Breville four-slice toaster gets somewhat better user reviews than the smaller two-slice version. The majority of user reviewers at Amazon.com give it a 4- or 5-star score, despite the high price.If you don't want to fork over nearly $200 for a toaster, you might consider the Cuisinart Compact 4-Slice ToasterCPT-140 (*Est. $50). This toaster is included in two professional reviews at Cook's Illustrated and FineCooking.com, where it's evaluated for performance and ease of cleaning. This toaster has bagel and reheat modes, extra-wide slots, a removable crumb tray, stay-cool sides and extra-lift lever (which lifts bread items a bit higher, saving you from sticking utensils down the slot to rescue toast). One quibble: There are no visual clues about which way to orient a bagel, which is a feature that most toasters do have (hint: the cut side should face out). This four-slice Cuisinart toaster has more 1-star than 5-star reviews on Amazon.com. The major complaint: You guessed it -- uneven toasting.
(*Est. $50). This toaster is included in two professional reviews at Cook's Illustrated and FineCooking.com, where it's evaluated for performance and ease of cleaning. This toaster has bagel and reheat modes, extra-wide slots, a removable crumb tray, stay-cool sides and extra-lift lever (which lifts bread items a bit higher, saving you from sticking utensils down the slot to rescue toast). One quibble: There are no visual clues about which way to orient a bagel, which is a feature that most toasters do have (hint: the cut side should face out). This four-slice Cuisinart toaster has more 1-star than 5-star reviews on Amazon.com. The major complaint: You guessed it -- uneven toasting.Despite the uneven-toasting comments, the four-slice Cuisinart toaster gets better overall reviews than other models in its price class. The Breville BTA840XL scores higher, but it costs almost four times as much.
