Kenwood Eon€51.95Highs: This toaster has won design awards, and it's easy to see why. With its brushed chrome finish - great for hiding buttery fingerprints - and elegantly clean lines, it is the coolest looking toaster.
The cord storage is natty as is the auto-toast function, which sees the bread lowered automatically, and then emerge in a gently levitating fashion rather than the traditional popping one.
Lows: Mind you, the auto toast function is a bit thick - if you take a piece of toast out and decide to put it back in to keep it warm, it insists on restarting the toasting process. The toaster and the crumb tray are separate, which is fine until you move it and scatter crumbs all over the place.
Verdict: Elegantly fussy
Star rating: ***
Dualit 2NG2GB
€77
Highs: With its polished chrome and rubberised plastic, this has a funky American diner feel to it. It looks fairly sturdy and there can be no complaints about its toasting ability. Like many modern toasters, it has a bagel function.
Lows: Beyond that, however, it has precious little to make it stand out. It is the most expensive of the toasters and it's hard to see how its high price can be justified. The absence of additional features - bagel toasting notwithstanding - is mildly disappointing. The crumb tray is very shallow and its removal requires a steady hand.
Verdict: A little overpriced
Star rating: **
Philips Gloss Metal Toaster HD2626 51.99
Highs: This has an excellent built-in warming rack and additional features including defrosting, reheating and toasting settings. The box says it delivered the most perfectly golden brown toast in a toast-off with its main rivals - the testing was carried out at the Philips Test Centre so while you'd have to wonder how impartial they were, it does deliver an impressive piece of toast. It is so shiny you could almost shave and/or apply make-up while waiting for your breakfast.
Lows: The shininess will attract all manner of smudges and smears so will require regular polishing if it's to look its best. It's also a bit bulky and will take up more space on your counter top.
Verdict: Hmmmmm, shiny
Star rating: ****
Hinari Lifestyle Coolwall Toaster
15.49
Highs: This is the cheapest of the toasters and works perfectly well. In the PriceWatch Toaster Olympics, in which we set all the toasters atoasting at the same setting at the same time, this was the surprise winner and beat all its rivals by at least 20 seconds.
Lows: While it is very cheap it also looks it. And the box does not inspire confidence by making so much of the fact that it has a "variable browning control", as if it were some kind of special feature and not something included on every toaster since electricity replaced fire as the toasting method of choice . On close inspection, the toast - while speedy - turns out to be awfully anaemic looking.
Verdict: Fast and functional
Star rating: ***
Prestige Toaster
61.95
Highs: This comes in a range of bright colours including fire engine red and shocking pink which makes a change from the ubiquitous chrome finish normally on offer. It has a range of additional features including bagel toasting and defrosting and delivers toast that is perfectly browned. The function buttons glow in a friendly fashion and are easy to identify in a rush, which is handy if you suddenly smell burning.
Lows: It is a fairly pricey option. It is the only toaster tried whose outside was almost too hot to touch after just one outing. And it lost further points by coming a disappointing last in our Toast Olympics.
Verdict: Pricey and ponderous
Star rating: **
