Trouble with Toasters!

Last week, after putting up with a toaster that was gradually dying, we decided to buy a new one and looked through the catalogue to see what we should get, finally settling on a Russell Hobbs model that would take 4 pieces of bread at once. There were two problems with this first one, namely that the openings were too small for normal bread slices, meaning that you needed to either turn the bread round part way through the job or else trim the bread to size, and secondly, by far the most annoying problem, on completing the toasting cycle, only one side of the bread was browned.

Back to the shop we went with it and exchanged it for a Morphy Richards 4-slice toaster, pictured above, only to find that both problems still existed, although, to be fair, the size was not as much a problem as the first one had been.

Looking up some of the reviews on toasters we discovered that, just as many people believe about planetary habitation, we are not alone. It would appear that there are many people complaining of exactly the same two problems as us.

Surely it cannot be too difficult for the manufacturers to sort out these basic problems and market a toaster that works as one would expect it to? What sort of experience have you had? Why not post a comment and let us know.