If your kitchen aesthetic matters to you, this sleek four-slice leads the style stakes with its range of five tasteful colours. On pressing down a lever, the metal frame fits to the slice size to ensure an even toasting, regardless of thickness. It performed well in our tests, toasting everything from regular slices to thick, chunky farmhouse bread, and providing good colour and consistent browning on both sides.

It consistently browned both sides, albeit with 90% coverage at times due to the wide yet shallow slots – the top of longer slices was often left soft and pale, meaning we had to flip them over.On the plus side, there’s no danger of popping your bread down and forgetting to collect the toast, as a bell goes off once it’s ready. Checking the weight and measurements of your toaster is also important, as four-slice models are significantly larger than two-slice versions, and can weigh a lot.

On the plus side, this model produced some of the most even results from our recent tests, producing golden slices of toast in two minutes (on level three). It felt well-made and durable on test and with six levels of browning, it should suit everyone’s toasting taste. On top of this, the exterior should stay cool in use and be easy to clean, especially if it shows up fingerprints. A great fit for kitchens with a retro aesthetic, this stainless-steel toaster is one of the best-looking we've come across.Accessories - Some toasters come with metal racks that sit on top and allow you to warm items like rolls or croissants. It could have been more consistent when toasting a single slice, especially in the right-hand slots, but it delivered delicious results from thick rustic bread and is a winner for big families. Digital display - Some toasters, such as the Carrera 2 Slice Toaster No552, have a digital display so you can see how long is left with its countdown timer. I love Sage products - I have several and they have all been absolutely excellent - except this one.

It stands out for its clever “a little longer” setting, which gives your toast some extra time if it’s not quite done to your liking when it rises. PayPal Credit and PayPal Pay in 3 are trading names of PayPal UK Ltd, Whittaker House, Whittaker Avenue, Richmond-Upon-Thames, Surrey, United Kingdom, TW9 1EH.

The ‘Quick Look’ button will briefly raise your toast, giving you a sneak peek and allowing you to check it is isn’t over done without completely resetting the toasting sequence. Larger households will be thankful for a four-slot toaster to speed up the morning breakfast routine.

Coverage was patchy, despite the deep slots, and the slide-out crumb tray felt a bit flimsy, but it excelled at defrosting and toasting frozen bread. It mostly browned consistently, though one of our slices wasn’t the same colour on both sides, and we loved its deep, wide slots for toasting hearty farmhouse loaves.

It has an LED display that counts down (in little blue bars, rather than seconds) so you can see how far along it is.