Product Description

The Breville 2 Slice Smart Toaster has an internal smart chip that lowers bread into the toasting slots with a single touch and also regulates the toasting time. On the "a bit more" setting bread is automatically lowered for additional toasting time. The auto lift and look feature automatically raises the bread carriage during toasting without canceling or resetting the cycle. This enables you to view, and if necessary, cancel the browning cycle at any time. The LED panel illuminates according to the selected setting on the variable browning control. The display acts as a toasting progress indicator, counting down how long is left in the toasting cycle. The toaster beeps when the cycle is complete. Made of brushed die-cast metal the exterior wipes clean with a soft cloth. The heating element is 900 watts. Two wide slots accommodate waffles, bagels or toast. Defrost, reheat, bagel and cancel functions. Complete with a Breville assist plug for easy cord removal an d cord wrap storage underneath.

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3586 in Kitchen & Housewares
• Size: 2-Slice
• Color: Silver
• Brand: Breville
• Model: BTA820XL
• Released on: 2008-02-29
• Number of items: 1
• Dimensions: 9.00" h x 8.25" w x 13.25" l, 2.00 pounds

Features

• 900-watt 2-slice toaster with intelligent one-touch auto lowering function
• Push-button controls for toast, a bit more, bagel, defrost, and lift-and-look functions
• LED panel illuminates according to selected setting on variable browning control
• Brushed die-cast metal housing; end-of-cycle beep; 1-1/5-inch-wide slots; cord wrap
• Measures 13-1/4 by 8-1/4 by 9 inches; 1-year limited warranty

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Customer Reviews

Most helpful customer reviews

440 of 467 people found the following review helpful.
Techno Toast!
By Charles Grubmeyer
I spent about a year looking at toasters on Amazon. Needed one for my renovated house. I just could not bring myself to pay $128 for a toaster, but after reading features, was also unable to buy anything else. I convinced myself that it would look so great with my black soapstone counters and brushed stainless appliance junk that I should really consider it a renovation cost. Problem solved!
Toaster arrived last weekend, have taken several days off from job to make toast. First, let's just say how cool the thing looks and works. Yes, it is weighty, but I don't carry it around much. But, it's got these cool tech buttons that do all the heaviest work, like moving the toast up and down. Then there is that row of LEDs that flash to show how much toasting time remains. Also very cool! And it wasn't until I read revies here that I understood what "bagel" settings were. This one has 'em. "Lift and look" takes away some of the dark side of toasting, but is great fo r the anxiety-ridden. "A little bit more" is also fun, though there is no "little bit less". Anyway great fun and great looks. I can't wait to see how house-guests respond. I have to find a house-guest.
One of my biggest hesitations about the Breville, aside from humorous price, was the reviews suggesting it was unable to toast evenly. I immediately bought bread at Acme and found even toasting, slice after slice. The local sparrows were happy with the experiment and urged a repeat run. I guess reviewers here must have gotten bum units? I am surprised Breville does not want to take back the product they bought? I noted in the manual (RTFM) that they recommend a dedicated circuit (and what next, a dedicated toast house?), but they do say if it doesn't get sufficient amps it may perform poorly. I agree with reviewers that an examination of the heating ribbons was disappointing: they are a bit dim and patchy; for this price I was expecting an advance view into He ll.
Anyway, so far I still think !. Beautiful 2. functionality supreme! And all for only $129 or so!

83 of 84 people found the following review helpful.
Finally the best
By RSD48
I had two false starts: A T-Fal delux had slots too short for my favorite bakery bread, a Haier did a very disappointing job on English muffins (using the bagel setting) and did not toast both sides of bread the same. The price of this Breville is a bit hard to take, however it performs beautifully and is built like the sturdy toasters I remember as a kid while having very modern features. It has a "frozen" choice that actually compensates for your bread if it is frozen, as well as a 2 other features that make this a really good choice - the "just a bit more" button drops the toast for just what it says and works quite well, second, the "lift and look" button pauses your cycle while it raises your bread/bagel to check it. Handy if you are working with a brand/density of bread that's new to you. But the real selling point is that it actually toast both sides evenly - the outsides of the bread are nicely golden while the inside is still tender. That seems such a simple thin g, but it's amazing how difficult that is to find.

66 of 70 people found the following review helpful.
Great toaster!
By Yoda
I'm 44 years old and have been eating cereal all my life for breakfast. About 3 years ago I decided I had eaten enough cereal and needed to shake things up a bit. So, I decided that I would convert to eating toast and bagels for breakfast. Not so easy. There are a lot of bogus toasters out there, and I have had my share of them. I'm an aerospace engineer and am pretty picky when it comes to home appliances! They either burn it black in a matter of seconds, or there is no way to accurately predict the outcome of any given slice of toast or bagel, and they often look cheesy! I have a custom house and gourmet kitchen (Sub-zero and Wolf appliances), so I wanted a toaster that looked good on my quartz countertops. We are a family of three, and my old toasters were always 2-slice models, so serving 3 persons at exactly the same time was always a challenge (we have it tough - eh?). This Breville toaster fixed all our toast problems!

First of all, it is not THA T expensive, as there are some brands that push the price range that easily doubles the cost of this toaster. Indeed, it is a middle-to-high priced toaster but worth every penny. What do you get for your money? For starters, you get a toaster that actually works - it makes great toast! The buttons are pure simplicity to operate. The graduated LED indicators for the toast time duration is perfect - it is time-based, so it cooks toast exactly the same time each and every time. I find that 3 works well for English Muffin bread, 3.5 for Thomas' English Muffins and Whole Grain bagels from Panerra, and 4 for very hearty and crusty homemade bread. The fact that you can visually see how much time is remaining is a god-send, since no more guessing how much longer the toast is going to take (again, trivial to many, but necessary when trying to decide when to flip the eggs and pour the coffee - OK, so I'm an engineer and I need everything perfectly synchronized!) We make homema de whole grain breads that are quite hearty. This toaster toasts homemade bread perfectly. English Muffin bread tends to be delicate and tricky to toast, but this toaster does a fine job. Toast always comes out evenly toasted on both sides, thanks to the alignment racks that perfectly center any thickness of bread. I usually toast English Muffins on both sides for 50% of the time and then switch to bagel-mode for the remainder of the time - this makes a great English Muffin! The bagel function works great, and it only toasts the cut side of the bagel, obviously. The lift-and-look and a-bit-more features are perfect and I use these features quite often, especially when I've got an omelette in the pan trying to bring together a perfectly timed breakfast! Of course, I love the style of this toaster and the cast aluminum body just looks great in a high-tech and does not show fingerprints.

Here are some tips: It is usually worth it to preheat the toaster, as th e first batch of bread always comes out slightly different than subsequent batches. So, it is best to start with a hot toaster, but not critical once you learn what to expect. I prefer to use bread at room temperature, as this provides the most consistent results. Varying densities of breads and bagels makes for too much variance in defrost and toast functions, so best to start with a baseline all the time. For delicate bread, it is sometimes worth it to flip the bread over (top to bottom) halfway through the toasting cycle, as this will help minimize burned edges, but this is more an issue with the physics of the situation than it is with the toaster itself.

If I had one improvement to suggest, that would be a lift function. I once had a toaster that had this feature and it was useful for smaller items, but this is a nit. Bottom line is this toaster works well, the outcome is predictable, the controls are easy to operate, and it looks GREAT! Highly recomme nd this product.