Hamilton Beach 4 Slice Toaster with Extra Wide Slots

Why it's worth it

This Hamilton Beach gives you two independent sets of controls, seven shade settings and a boost lever for short items — the features that actually matter — in a light steel-and-plastic body that costs a fraction of the Breville. It won't brown as evenly, but it gets a family fed.

Independent controls are the feature to buy at this level. Each pair of slots gets its own shade setting and cancel button, so a kid's frozen waffle and your dark rye can run at the same time without anyone compromising. You can stagger the start times too, so the second round lands right as the first one gets eaten. Most cheap 4-slice toasters put everyone on a single dial.

The slots are extra wide, so bagel halves and thick slices go in without a fight. That's the usual failure point of budget 4-slice toasters — Real Simple's testers found budget models keep pace with premium ones on plain white bread and fall behind on bagels and thick slices. This one lands on the better side of that line, though it isn't in Breville territory on evenness.

From our review of 4 4-slice toasters

What we like

• +Independent controls are the feature to buy at this level
• +The slots are extra wide, so bagel halves and thick slices go in without a fight
• +Toast Boost lifts short items — English muffins, small rye slices, the last heel of a loaf — up where you can grab them

What to know

• –The light housing shows in the results
• –It feels inexpensive in the hand, with thin levers and a hollow-sounding shell