Reports by Consumers

We've got toasters that communicate with the net, coffee makers that can communicate with the net, and now...your travel mug? Well, that's the concept, anyway, of the Yuno Coffee Mug by Yanko Design. Do we really want a travel mug to be able to betray us when Skynet hits?

Because of its excellent beginnings in refrigeration, Kenmore now makes all kinds of kitchen appliances, including dishwashers, stoves, ovens, microwaves, and more. You can even find a few small appliances, like toasters and blenders, under the Kenmore label. However, Kenmore quality production didn’t stop in the kitchen. Like so many other brands, Kenmore now also has a line of washing machines and dryers with long lifespan, reliability, and quality performance.

Finally a reason to move one’s lazy ass and make something in the kitchen (and no I’m not talking about a mess). The European company called Dualit, known for their kitchen products, just ventured into the consumer electronics market with the DAB kitchen radio. No it’s not a toaster that moonlights as a radio (though that would have been cool); it’s just a radio that looks like a toaster.

Hottie Amplifiers are solid state units fitted in vintage toasters and powered by a 9-volt battery. They use a 6″ Jensen MOD speaker and have an output jack to drive an external speaker cab. Hotties will power any 4, 8, or 16-ohm speaker cab and can also be used as an overdrive.

Do you remember green stamps? People used to collect them to get free gifts. My mother used to when I was young. The stamps were around still when I became an adult but soon faded. According to yesterday's Palm Beach Post they are making a comeback.

5. On electric toasters, why do they engrave the message ‘one slice’? How many pieces of bread do they think people are really gonna try to stuff in that slot?

The Baldwins began collecting toasters in the summer of 2002 after seeing a toaster exhibit at the Atomic Museum in Oakridge, Tenn. In almost three years, they amassed over 425 items including, waffle irons, coffee pots, frying pans, mixers, blenders, clothes irons, curling irons and hairdryers.

Even common household electric products like hairdryers, toasters and microwave ovens release ozone as a byproduct, Tringale noted. So do the fans in HEPA filters.

"It's a naturally occurring byproduct as opposed to a primary product of the device," he said. "The crucial question is: at what level does that byproduct occur?"

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This colorful toaster will brighten up your mornings as you are toasting breakfast. With oozing personality, they are decorated in bright stripes, flowers and cowprint.

My theory? Bespoke everything. The tech pretty much exists to have anything and everything custom fabricated at a price nearly in line with mass-manufactured products. Once we move beyond micro-brands to designing, producing and consuming everything on a personal level, I suppose the only brands worth talking about will be which fab shops have the best pricing, turnaround, tech support and customer service.

Not everyone has the time or inclination to design their own socks and toasters etc, so there'll still be room for exceptional designs from people like Philippe Starke, or whoever. On the other hand, when 200,000 *have* designed their own toaster, I wouldn't be surprised to see open source and file sharing of product design specs flood the bulk of the market. Whether these will be free or just really cheap is up for grabs. Probably both.

Why do toasters always have a setting that burns the toast to a horrible crisp which no decent human being would eat?

This is my Sunbeam toaster, still going strong after over a decade of toastie goodness. Happily handles crumpets and those big slices of bread from the delicious Vienna loaves I sometimes get at the bakery down the road. Yum.

Feel free to post a picture of your toaster… Link in the Trackbacks or comments.

My dad proudly told me the history of the toaster as if it were a St. Peter’s thighbone, and how amazed that after more than 30 years, it still worked fine. Sure it was a bit tarnished, but when my dad found that Sunbeam had decided to re-release this toaster (to capture some of the then-popular 50’s-retro demand), my father couldn’t resist and bought a new one. The old toaster was placed in a cardboard coffin and buried with our other relics somewhere in the garage.

About 4 months later, this new toaster broke, and we ended up resurrecting the old toaster from the garage.

we had a black&decker toaster oven which turned itself on and then burst into flames. we just happened to be home at the time, i actually watched the thing in its moment of betrayal. it wouldv burned the house down if we weren't home, i'm sure that was the plan. we called up b&d to complain, and they responded so extremely well... they actually sent out a representative the very next day to personally exchange the burnt unit for a brand new one. afterwards it occurred to me, sheesh, they've probably been sued up the wazoo for this thing, no wonder they were so anxious to take it away from us: but who cares, this current toaster oven, it's been a good friend so far.

Most of the time here at "A Consumer Reports", we like to feature links to sites where a consumer reports on a recently purchased or favorite product. But this see-through toaster is so cool, we're just posting it. Unfortunately, this is just the prototype. The company is looking for a manufacturer.

A toaster made of glass, which celebrates toasting in a glowing and shining way that makes us look forward to enjoy a fresh piece of toast. At work, he shows himself and at the same time he explains how he works. He neither hides the bread, nor its preparation. In this way it is possible to receive him as an idyllic little light. He stages the bread and the way it gets toasted, which is accompanied by warm light ...