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A toaster in 1950 would probably be closer to $250. Also, I don't like this counterargument because it holds that we should expect to be no better at creating high quality appliances today than in 1950 despite 73 years of advances in engineering and technology.

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A Kenmore toaster in 1951 was $21 new, or $253 now.

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.

What changed to bring down the cost so much? There's some clever bits to make them work, but the bill of materials is low, and none of the parts or manufacturing should be all that complex.

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