Cuisinart CPT-65 4 Slice Electronic Toaster
From Cuisinart
4-Slices of Perfect toast require the right touch. The Cuisinart® Total Touch 4-Slice Electronic toaster lets you toast everything from bagels to muffins thoroughly and evenly because it is not only wide enough, but it is also smart enough!
- Amazon Sales Rank: #306430 in Kitchen & Housewares
- Color: White
- Brand: Cuisinart
- Model: CPT-65
- Dimensions: 7.25" h x 14.62" w x 7.75" l, 5.12 pounds
This electronic appliance places 1,500 watts of toasting power at your fingertips while providing 21st-century flexibility. Its two 1-1/2-inch-wide slots accommodate four slices of thick bread or two sliced bagels or English muffins, and they're long enough (10 inches) to hold oversize homemade bread. The touch-control panel offers seven browning settings, from light to dark, and an electronic memory that automatically sets browning at your previous preference unless you change it. Other buttons permit defrosting, reheating without browning, special timing for bagel toasting, and the cancellation of all settings. To save energy and toasting time when only one slot is needed, there's a button that turns off the back slot. Other features include a slide-out crumb tray, cord storage, and a lever to lift short slices extra high. This handsome toaster, in gleaming plastic that stays cool to the touch, measures 14 by 8 by 8-1/2 inches. --Fred Brack
Satisfied Kansas Toasters
I bought this a year ago and have been very happy with it. It's well made, easy to clean, looks good - and toasts great. The slots are plenty wide for bagels and it easily fits four standard sized pieces of bread (or waffles, etc). However, you it will only accomodate two slices of larger bread (eg. Healthy Choice or Earth Grains). The only improvement I would suggest is they should make it about 1/2 inch taller - part of a large bagel can stick out the top and not get as toasted as the rest.
We never use the defrost or reheat buttons. We use the bagel button (although I really don't know what it does) and the 2-slice button is nice for saving electricity. Smaller items can be removed more easily after toasting by lifting the lever on the right.
Overall, I'm very happy with my decision to purchase this toaster.
Cuisinart 4-SliceToaster
For the price I expected a better, more even browning. I found it to be no more even than a relatively cheap (about $40) 4-slice toaster it replaced. One side (the interior) of each of the two compartments had weaker heating than the other making one side of the toast much lighter than the other. The two-slice option is nice and the electronic darker/lighter control is convenient.
Bells, whistles, and a light
When you first plug in this toaster, an LED display, front bottom center, indicating your "darkness preference" glows red whether or not you have pressed the lever for toasting. The instruction booklet offers no information about this light. I called Cuisinart's 800 number and eventually received word that Yes, that's normal, and Yes, they get loads of calls about that light, since consumers are in fact in the dark regarding whether it should be on at all times. Evidently Cuisinart forgot to write about it in their booklet. So your toaster will have a little red light on - even when in "Park," with the ignition off - just like your car's alarm system.
The toast seemed fine, and the capacity is good. There is a much-touted electronic function ("Custom Control") that enables the toaster to "remember" how you like your toast. If you think about it, most toasters of the past forty or so years have had this simple ability, albeit mechanically. The toaster is big enough, the spring-loaded lever is too resistant to feel right, and - inscrutably - the rear plastic feet of this toaster wear sensible non-skid rubber shoes, while the front feet are unshod, causing the toaster to not quite stay put each time you depress that hefty lever.
This big and comparatively expensive toaster hopes to convey an impression of high quality and tech-y smartness, but doesn't quite succeed. And the glowing red light just seems silly, because a toaster doesn't need to look like it has a security system.
