Are you and your family toast lovers? Do you enjoy toast every morning? Or what about lunchtime, snack time, and dinnertime? There’s no specific time when to eat toast.
However, if you have a big family, this might bring about chaos. Some can enjoy their toast right away while others have to wait. Your pan or 2-slice toaster takes too long to make enough for everyone.
The good news is that there are 4-slice toasters to quicken the process! In a few minutes, everyone can have their fair share of toast.
The problem is, there are a lot of 4-slice toasters out there. Which is the best one? Which one should you invest in?
Here, we’re going to review the top 7 4-slice toasters in the markets today. We’ll also help you determine the best one for you by giving you a list of what to look for.
So let’s get straight to it!
How to Find the Best 4-Slice Toaster for You – the 6 Things You Should Consider Before Buying a 4-Slice Toaster
The truth is, the best toaster for your kitchen will depend on your needs and preferences. It’s important to know this before you buy any toaster. These 6 things to consider will help you determine that.
What are the 6 things to consider? Slot dimensions, lift and lower mechanism, shade selection, modes, size, and quality and design.
Let’s take a look at each in detail.
Slot Dimensions
It happens more often than not. People rush to buy toasters only to find their preferred bread toast can’t fit inside the slots. So they go and buy another toaster and another until they find one that fits the type of bread they want toasted.
To avoid this, you need to look into the slot dimensions. You also need to answer one important question.
What types of bread are you planning on toasting? Regular sliced bread? Bagels? Sourdough? Any kind you can get your hands on?
Once you answer this question, it’ll be a lot easier to know what slot dimensions you need.
For regular sliced bread, all the toasters’ slots can fit it, so that’s not a problem. But for the bigger or thicker bread, you need to make sure the slot dimensions are wider or longer or both.
Lift and Lower Mechanism
Once the bread is toasted to your likeness, how are you planning on removing it? This is especially difficult if the bread slices are small.
Well, this is where the lift and lower mechanism comes in. The mechanism, or lever, allows you to place the bread all the way down to toast every side evenly. And all the way up when it’s finished for easy removal.
Now, there are two types that you can choose from – automatic or manual.
If you’re planning on multitasking, cooking eggs or preparing to go out, the automatic is a better option. The bread will pop up once it’s finished. There’s also sometimes a bell ding to tell you when that happens.
The manual requires you to lift the lever to pop up the toast. It’s a better choice if you want to check on the doneness or have more control over the toasting.
Shade Selection
Do you like your toast golden-brown? Or do you prefer it dark and crispy? Or what about a very light toast with a slight crisp?
The shade selection determines the toast you want. Usually, there are just 3 options – light, medium, and dark. If you want more options, some toasters offer up to 7 or 9 shade selections!
If you like dark toast and your children like light and your spouse likes golden-brown, a toaster with many shade selections is the right one for you. Everyone can enjoy their preferred doneness of toast.
Modes
Are you going to use your toaster for toasting only? What if you want to toast bagels? Or what if you want to defrost frozen waffles before toasting?
The modes are sort of like special settings. The most common modes are bagel, defrost, and cancel.
The bagel mode will toast only the inner surface of the bagel and warm the outer surface to give you a perfect bagel.
The defrost mode is to, well, defrost frozen pancakes or waffles, of course. Once defrosted, it will start to toast it immediately.
The cancel mode is for when you want to stop the toasting before it’s even done.
Some other modes you’ll find are “reheat” and “keep warm”.
A toaster with different modes means you can use it for something other than toasting bread. So it’s important to consider whether you need these extra modes or not. And if you do, find the ones that you do need.
Size
With any kitchen appliance, size is an important matter. You don’t want to buy a huge toaster if you have little kitchen space. You won’t be able to store it anywhere.
Even if you do have space for a big toaster, you might not want to draw too much attention to it. A small toaster is better in this case.
So whatever the case, always make sure you measure the size. Seeing if it can fit your kitchen space or if it sticks out like a sore thumb in your countertops.
Quality and Design
Finally, you should look into the toaster’s quality and design. You definitely don’t want to buy a toaster that breaks down within a few uses, do you? Or, as we mentioned earlier, do you want a toaster that sticks out like a sore thumb?
For the design, it really depends on your preference. If you like to match your appliances, look for one with a similar design. If you like it to stand out, look for one with bright colors or unique designs. How about if you like a classic design?
For the quality, look for one that’s solid, sturdy, and reliable. The best way to know about the quality is to ask questions about it to the seller, read customer reviews, or check it out.
The Top 7 4-Slice Toasters – a Review of Each Product to Get You Started With 4-Slice Toasters
As promised, we’re going to list the top 7 4-slice toasters here. The best one indeed depends on your needs and preferences. But this list will help you get started on what’s good in the markets today.
1. Most Classic: Cuisinart CPT-180PI 4-Slice Toaster
Are you looking for a classic 4-slice toaster? Cuisinart has one of the most retro designs out there.
Its brushed stainless steel and black painted steel give it a timeless look. It’ll surely complement your classical culinary taste. Not only that, the material will ensure it’s very durable and reliable.
What’s more, it’s BPA free. You don’t have to worry about the heating elements producing chemicals in your toasts.
Also, you get a great option for modes and shade selection. As well as other great features.
It has bagel, defrost, reheat, and cancel modes. This is probably the most modes you’ll find in a 4-slice toaster.
For the shade selection, you’re given 6 options. 1-2 means light shade, 3-4 medium shade, and 5-6 dark shade.
The best part is that there are 2 sections of modes and shade selections. One section of 2 can toast a shade of light toast while the other 2 slots make darker toast or even bagel and defrost. This is perfect if your family prefers different toast doneness.
The other features it comes with are LED indicator lights, removable crumb tray, and cord wrap.
The LED indicator lights allow you to know what mode you’re on with one glance. The removable crumb tray makes cleaning an easy task. And the cord wrap, found underneath, keeps the power cord out of sight when you’re not using it.
If you get this toaster, you need to break it in first. Turn it on, put it to the highest shade selection, and wait for the manufacturing coatings to burn out.
If you do this, you don’t have to worry about any offensive smells. For further instructions, this product comes with an instruction booklet.
Cuisinart CPT-180PI 4-Slice Toaster Chart
| Slot Dimensions | Size | Modes | Shade Selection | Other Features |
| Width: 1½ inches
Length: 5⅜ inches |
L: 11.15 inches
W: 10.65 inches H: 7.5 inches |
Bagel, defrost, reheat, cancel | 6 shade selection options | LED indicator light, removable crumb tray, cord wrap |
2. Most Quick: Barsetto 4-Slice Toaster
Are you always in a hurry to make breakfast for everyone? Don’t you wish your toaster could toast faster?
Barsetto’s 4-slice toaster has one of the quickest heating elements on a toaster. It’ll only take around 2 to 3 minutes to toast 4 slices. You can say goodbye to panic toasting for the whole family during your morning rush.
The reason why it’s so quick to heat up and toast bread is because of its dual side baking feature. Both sides of the slots heat up evenly for quicker results.
Its superior heating element is not the only reason why it’s quick. It’s also because there are separate controls for 2 slots each.
Here’s an example. Let’s say you’re 4 in the family. 2 prefer light toast while the other 2 prefer darker. Since you can choose a different shade for every 2 slots, you can get 2 different toast shades in one go. So everyone can have their preferred doneness in one go.
Another great thing about this toaster is that you can combine the shades as well. Since there are 2 dials of 7 shades, you can combine it to 14 shades! You can go really dark and really crispy in your toasts with this feature.
One thing you should note! It gets rather hot on the outside when turned on. Make sure you don’t touch it and keep it away from the children.
Barsetto 4-Slice Toaster Chart
| Slot Dimensions | Size | Modes | Shade Selection | Other Features |
| Width: 1½ inches
Length: 5⅗ inches |
L: 11 inches
W: 10.7 inches H: 7.3 inches |
Defrost, reheat, cancel | 7 shade selection options (can combine to 14) | LED indicator light, removable crumb tray, cord wrap |
3. Most Even: CUSIBOX 4-Slice Toaster
Of course, you want your bread toasted evenly. Who doesn’t? This is the perfect toaster for that because of its self-centering slot guides.
There are too many toasters out there that boast wide slots to fit any bread type. The downside to that is the smaller and thinner ones won’t heat up evenly. The top will always be more burnt than the bottom.
Why is that? The slot is too wide for the thin slice. In turn, it’ll lean a bit forward and have the top nearer the heating elements.
This toaster also boasts wide slots. But, each slot has a self-centering guide. The moment you push the bread down, the guide will make sure the bread is straight and centered, no matter how thin.
Along with the toaster, you get a cute card with pictures that show the shade colors of each shade selection. So you know exactly what shade selection 1 to 6 looks like without having to test it. You can trust that the pictures are very accurate.
Overall, it’s a simple toaster that does its job. And, the best part is that it’s not even expensive at all!
CUSIBOX 4-Slice Toaster Chart
| Slot Dimensions | Size | Modes | Shade Selection | Other Features |
| Width: 1½ inches
Length: 5⅘ inches |
L: 11 inches
W: 9 inches H: 6.8 inches |
Bagel, defrost, cancel | 6 shade selection options | LED indicator light, removable crumb tray, cord storage |
4. Most Options: Amstetch 4-Slice Toaster
How would you like even more bread options for your toaster? Yes, we’re talking about irregularly shaped bread like croissants and pain au chocolat.
You might be thinking, “how can a croissant or pain au chocolat fit inside a toaster slot?” The simple answer is that it can’t. But with this toaster’s great feature of a grill rack, you can heat these types of bread to give it a lovely warmth along with its buttery or chocolatey taste.
The way you do this is to install the grill rack above the slots. Place the irregular shaped bread on top of the grill rack. Turn on the toaster and put it on reheat mode.
The steam will then rise up and heat the bread in the grill rack. You can easily heat your croissants, pain au chocolat, sandwiches, or even pizza slices!
While you’re doing that, you can toast bread inside. The normal toast function will still produce steam to rise up to the grill rack and heat whatever is in it.
You might worry that its focus on the grill rack will remove a lot of its “toaster performance”. That is not true at all. It functions as a top-quality toaster still.
What’s more, it’s a very compact toaster. You can take it with you anywhere, to your office, to a campsite, or anywhere else without any trouble.
One nuisance that you might find annoying, though, is that the power cord sticks out from the front. You might not like the sight of that if it sits on your countertops.
Amstetch 4-Slice Toaster Chart
| Slot Dimensions | Size | Modes | Shade Selection | Other Features |
| Width: 1½ inches
Length: 5⅖ inches |
L: 5.88 inches
W: 2.75 inches H: 3.54 inches |
Bagel, reheat, defrost, cancel | 7 shade selection options | LED indicator light, removable crumb tray, grill rack |
5. Most Lengthy: Maxi-Matic ECT-3100 4-Slice Toaster
Don’t you wish you could fit in longer bread, like sourdough, in your toaster? Well, with this toaster, that’s now possible.
Instead of 4 vertical slots, this toaster has 2 horizontal slots reaching 10 inches long!
In one slot, you can either toast 2 regular sliced bread or one long slice of sourdough. It’s still considered a 4-slice toaster but there’s a catch, which is a chance to enjoy long bread as toast.
You might worry that it’ll take up so much counter space. It won’t.
Did you know that this toaster boasts to have a space-saving design? This is because, though it’s very long, it’s also very slim.
You can place it at the back and it won’t bother you as you use the counter for preparing meals or whatnot.
The downside to this toaster is that it doesn’t have dual controls. You only have one set of buttons for the modes… One dial for the shade selection… And one lever for the lift/lower mechanism.
In this case, you can only choose one mode and shade selection at a time. Probably not the best choice if your family has different toast preferences.
Maxi-Matic ECT-3100 4-Slice Toaster Chart
| Slot Dimensions | Size | Modes | Shade Selection | Other Features |
| Width: 1¼ inches
Length: 10 inches |
L: 15 inches
W: 7.25 inches H: 7.5 inches |
Defrost, reheat, cancel | 6 shade selection options | LED indicator light, removable crumb tray, warming rack |
6. Most Affordable: AICOK 4-Slice Toaster
Are you looking for a 4-slice toaster that’s budget-friendly? AICOK offers one of the most affordable, high-quality ones.
Since it’s cheap, you can’t expect fancy bells and whistles like on the other toasters. It does what toasters are supposed to do. So it’s all good.
One thing that does make it stand out among the others is its wider slots. Before you get too excited, we’ll tell you it’s not that much wider. Still, adding 1 centimeter makes a big difference.
At 1⅗ inches, you can fit your donut or Belgian waffles in to reheat it after an overnight stay in the fridge. You can do that without squishing it inside the slots.
And, there’s no need to worry about burning your fingers or arm if you’re able to hit it. Its cool touch comes from the stainless steel material and the heat dissipation grills at the sides.
It’s a rather big toaster, though. If you have minimal counter space, maybe it’s not the best toaster to get.
AICOK 4-Slice Toaster Chart
| Slot Dimensions | Size | Modes | Shade Selection | Other Features |
| Width: 1⅗ inches
Length: 5⅖ inches |
L: 33.5 inches
W: 18.5 inches H: 25.5 inches |
Bage, defrost, cancel | 7 shade selection options | LED indicator light, removable crumb tray, cord wrap |
7. Most High-End: All-Clad TJ824D51 4-Slice Toaster
Are you looking for a toaster that’s solid, sturdy, and reliable? This toaster provides all that and more, giving you everything you need in a toaster.
It has all the basic toaster modes – reheat, defrost, bagel, and cancel. It has yet another mode, the “more time” button.
This is the only toaster here that has digital screens. These screens are so you can see how much more added time you’d like for your toast. So you’re not just limited to the 6 shade selections. Amazing!
And, it has self-centering guides in each slot for the perfect toast evenness. It has wide slots for many types of bread. It’s intuitive.
On top of all that, it has a very beautiful and classy design that’ll look great in your kitchen counter.
Does the All-Clad TJ824D51 4-slice toaster have it all? We think so!
Of course, since it’s one of the most high-end 4-slice toasters, it won’t come cheap. It’ll cost about 2 to 3 times more than the other toasters we mentioned here.
One question you might ask is, “is it worth the price?” We say, yes! But it’s only you who can really answer that.
All-Clad TJ824D51 4-Slice Toaster Chart
| Slot Dimensions | Size | Modes | Shade Selection | Other Features |
| Width: 1½ inches
Length: 5 inches |
L: 8.98 inches
W: 13.31 inches H: 12.91 inches |
Reheat, defrost, bagel, cancel, more time | 6 shade selection options (can add more time) | LED indicator light, removable crumb tray, cord storage |
Conclusion
So you now know what to look for when buying a toaster. You also know the top 7 4-slice toasters in the markets today.
With this combined knowledge, you can go out there and find the best 4-slice toaster for you and your family.