I would argue that a $250 toaster today is still not a "buy it for life" item, but it would certainly have a lot of bells and whistles and almost no user-serviceable parts.
The heating elements should be replaceable!
That rave review was for an identical toaster with different guts, or with amazon reviews, something else entirely.
What were the issues you were having?
We've been using a cheapo £10 tesco or argos one for the past few years. It toasts..
I used Dualit in various places, it does as good or bad a job, can't tell the difference.
I love the Dualit idea, but in the end can't justify the price, not for this particular kitchen item.
Every few years I have to shake out the bread remains and that's about all maintenance it gets.
Works like a charm and the outcome is very predictable.
Granted, I only use it for sliced toast bread. But I'm happy with the results.
My second biggest issue is related to the same mechanism: the "pop" is impotent and does nothing to eject what's being toasted. The most I can hope for is that I can manually push the lever up.
The next biggest issue is with heating element distance. If there's anything that is wider than a slice of wonder bread it's going to get sizzled by the heating element. In the worst cases it causes smoke to be emitted for several runs afterwards.
(Ok, fair, that's only $2,500)
Quite annoying…
Even with Dualit, I would still only purchase from a professional catering retailer. Just in case, there’s any differences, and the fact that purchasing from a professional catering retailer, implies a greater level of longevity, if it ever did breakdown - for potential small claims court, reasons, in the future.
Regardless, Dualit also pretty much make every part of their toasters replaceable, for this exact reason. Hence why I think it’s one of the only decent toasters, out there!
I imagine anything that would break in a toaster is absolutely trivial to fix, but you are working with mains electricity so in most places you probably need a license to service it. Which just costs more than a brand new toaster.
It cost less than $250. It warms, bakes, roasts, dehydrates, as well as 10 other settings. It has 3 different racks, so I can toast 3-4x as much bread than I could in a regular toaster.
I’ve only had it for 6 years, but it has held up nicely, no issues whatsoever. I guess what I am trying to say, is that the product is the bells and whistles these days.
If you're not aware, they had a recall on a bunch of models recently, you should check to see if yours was one of them!
Fortunately my model is not on the list of recalled products. The one I use is an older version of the `Cosori - Original Air Fryer - Silver`.
Not if you buy one that is $250 because it has bells and whistles. You can buy a $250 dollar toaster that is just a toaster and it will be of good quality.
https://www.webstaurantstore.com/waring-wct708-4-slice-comme...
The problem isnt that long lasting, durable products no longer exist.
It's that they're no longer marketed for home use.
You can get stuff just as good as back in the '60s, for comparable after-inflation prices. But they don't sell them at Sears or HomeSense, they sell them at industrial or kitchen or office supply stores.
Maybe, for the environment's sake, people should be buying and using appliances for 70 years. But do people actually want a kitchen full of appliances that are 35 years old on average? Probably not, thrift shops are still full of contemporarily made appliances that were discarded before their useful life ended.
"was hoping it lasted longer & would be better quality but was disappointed" "All the coils do no not glow and It toasts unevenly" "one side stops working after 6 months or so. I’ve gone through three of these" "Bought two of these toasters both stopped working" "Have to replace this toaster about once a year, one side will always stop working" "Lasted me about a month or so and it no longer works". "Died so quickly!"
I think this is a perfect example of the problem. There is a market for $250 toasters, but even for that price you can't buy a reliable toaster.
Either way, the bathtub curve of product failure still applies no matter the price point.
Bear in mind that people on this site are using toasters at duty cycles hundreds to thousands of times higher than home users. 6 months of commercial use of one of these toasters could very easily be a lifetime of use for a single home.
these cost about US$4 locally: https://articulo.mercadolibre.com.ar/MLA-934643608-tostador-... (the price listed on that page is $3499 but currently the black-market dollar is at $950 bid, $1000 ask, so that's a bit under US$4)
but i got mine out of the neighbor's garbage during our eight-month-long covid lockdown, gambling that it wasn't covered with cyanide or something
the electric kind you're probably talking about goes for about US$20–US$40 around here but i wanted to point out that there does exist a more reliable alternative
Features that increase longevity or repairability are considerably less legible to most consumers and therefore get removed first when trying to cut costs.
That's the name I gave to an old blender I had 25 years ago when I lived on my own while studying. The blender was an Oster brand and only had an on/off switch. I sold it to a friend when I left that city.
Fast forward 25 years, my friend told me that his mom is still using the same blender. No programs, no memories, no modes. Just Off and "fuck you" mode haha.
Now I also want a toaster with similar properties. Just let me put my bread slices, click a button and give me my good sliced bread. That's all I need. And hopefully that simplicity makes the gizmo last 20+ years.
https://www.galaxus.ch/en/s2/product/philips-toaster-toaster...
I'm sure it's available wherever you live for around 30$ or so.
https://www.geappliances.com/profile-laundry#front-load
Smart wash! Smart rinse! Smart dispense! AI enabled!
And if you go buy a commercial toaster it will (likely) last as long as one of those old toasters on average.
This said those old appliances could be fixed, but today the labor costs of having someone else do it would be astronomical for most people. A significant portion of the total cost.
I've grown so disillusioned with these "products" that I've started trying to make them myself instead of buying them. It's difficult though. Even something "simple" like a high quality knife requires a lot of skill to create. I want to create at least one before I die though.
You'll need digital calipers as well. You can cheap out for $20, or get Mitutoyo's for $200.
A scanner's also nice in scanning a geometry thats flat, but not required.
Just with a 3d printer and a meager ket, you can replace most current commercial crap in a few hours, and have the replacement as a file you can call on any time.
That's how I'm handling this "throw away culture" shit. I'm replicating what I need and throwing away the actual broken bits.
Reduce, Reuse, REPAIR, Recycle. (Hint: the manufacturers want you to forget the 4th, hidden R.)
It’s not deliberate that they make stuff that fails, they build stuff that lasts only as long as it needs.
KitchenAid switched to all-metal gears on their high-end models fairly recently. In the past, all models had a nylon gear, but the new high-end mixers use electronics to protect the motor.
TL;DR: The Pro Line is what you want. These have higher-wattage motors and are made with all-stainless steel. This is important if you mix heavy things like doughs or meats frequently, as these materials tend to stress and shear plastic more easily.
It doesn't actually move slowly at the stir speeds and sounds atrocious.
> there's not much you can do wrong
That’s right, which means that the repair jobs are probably failing or incorrect…
Although I admit to some scepticism. Seems likely that some toasters will turn out to be of high quality.
Hand made in the UK, fully mechanical and you can get spare parts for it.
There's very little that can fail, it doesn't have a spring that brings the toast up, you need to push the lever yourself. Even the timer is fully mechanical.
They only sell spares for the higher end models. We have a basic Dualit toaster which you can't get spares for (although it has been reliable so far).
High quality toasters still exist - be they in conveyer belt form, salamander grills, or the old stalwart: the Dualit professional models.
The same applies to microwaves, hobs, ovens, ranges (combined hob/oven), et al.
That’s the real problem is that the luxury tier of so many markets has thoroughly enshittified. I generally trust that Apple computers are Toyotas and a few other brands tend to last (or at least have robust enough support structures in place like with the former) enough that I feel more comfortable owning them but few others earn that trust from me.
I’ve heard good things about Miele vacuums, but apparently only the heavy duty canister vacs. Their more consumer friendly uprights are apparently mediocre. Other appliances I have no idea.
If you want appliances that last, buy the commercial ones. Hobart makes an under counter dishwasher that you can bet will never wear out and can be repaired.
Shell out for an industrial washing machine like they have at the laundromats. Those things are made to run all day for years. If they break down, they're repairable.
Previously bought a much cheaper dishwasher for my previous house that is still going strong. I found a geeky person on the sales floor that dealt with dishwasher returns and asked his advice for buying a reliable one: his advice seems to have been solid. I recommend trying this approach.
Unfortunately we can no longer trust brand names. Most previously trustworthy brands have turned to shit. I now mostly aim for mediocrity because that seems to be the sweet spot (cheap is usually trash, expensive usually is poor value for money).
It is very difficult to make good decisions for most purchases - requiring too much effort and brainspace. I never want to learn the details of appliances but I am given little choice.
The other problem is that the UX/UI of many modern devices has gone to complete shit. Searching for a usable appliance is a nightmare.
If there were a brand that released exactly one of each appliance, over-built that one model, and invested the budget in robust components instead of wifi smart home touch screen bullshit, I would love to stop becoming an expert in all these product categories.
Industrial - or old school, Hoovermatic twin tub, where you can choose the exact length(s), of your wash/rinse - albeit, by babysitting it.