I love this toaster! Hand made in the UK with a 5 year warranty and all parts are able to be purchased if something goes wrong after warranty period is fantastic and SO MUCH BETTER than the Chinese made products. It toasts perfectly every time, just needed to get use to dialling how many pieces of toast but only forgot this once. It is the perfect colour for my kitchen. the bagel function is great for crumpets and muffins, toasting one side and warming the other is much nicer than most toasters toasting both sides. Just wish they made a matching kettle in the same colour. It is a solid, sturdy product that feels nice and is easily cleaned.

An Extraordinary Toaster

This is the second Dualit 4-slice toaster we have had and superb they are too. The first one lasted 30 years and was beginning to show its age. We replaced several parts over the years but it is still working but doesn't now fit in with our kitchen scheme.The Dualit clear operating instructions and the mechanical timing operation make it perfect for producing any type of toast with any type of bread.A beautiful timeless design that has enhanced our kitchen and cooking for years and we are confident our new one will be the same but that little bit better with its news features

An expensive disappointment

Bought this about 7 months ago. Was hoping it was just a matter of getting used to it but it’s still a punish to use. Burns the edges with barely touching the middle. Two slices side by side, one burnt, one barely toasted. Needs full supervision and constant checking. Have wanted one of these years for many years and wish I’d stuck with my last cheapie.(Not a reflection of Appliances Online, they are always amazing to deal with.)

Awful

I bought this toaster due to the the dualit reputation of reliability, but I wish I hadn't bothered.My main gripe with the toaster is its inability to toast evenly. The toast often falls to one side or another, taking it closer to the element and therefore cooking unevenly. You can mitigate this somewhat by purchasing the cages, which can be used for toasting bagels and the like. The biggest problem comes when you switch on all four bays for toasting as this causes additional heat to transfer from one element to the next, resulting in your toast being burnt on one side.Why dualit don't use an auto centralising cage and some sort of insulating panel between the bays to help with the even cooking, I just don't know. I owned a really cheap lloytron toaster years ... MoreI bought this toaster due to the the dualit reputation of reliability, but I wish I hadn't bothered.My main gripe with the toaster is its inability to toast evenly. The toast often falls to one side or another, taking it closer to the element and therefore cooking unevenly. You can mitigate this somewhat by purchasing the cages, which can be used for toasting bagels and the like. The biggest problem comes when you switch on all four bays for toasting as this causes additional heat to transfer from one element to the next, resulting in your toast being burnt on one side.Why dualit don't use an auto centralising cage and some sort of insulating panel between the bays to help with the even cooking, I just don't know. I owned a really cheap lloytron toaster years and years ago. It managed to cook the bread evenly as it had a self centralising cage. That toaster cost me about £20.

Best ever toaster!

My 12 year old nephew asked me what was so fabulous about this toaster, and wanted pictures of the toast it made to evidence my claim that this was the best toaster I have ever had. I think we have a scientist in the making...But it made me think: How can I be so enthused about a toaster? The most everyday of kitchen appliances. Every kitchen has one, right? Not this one!It is British-made, fully reparable should it wear out or develop any fault, and therefore better environmentally and economically, should those things matter to you.It offers options for cooking 1-4 slices of perfectly evenly-browned toast, coping well with handcut or thicker slices of bread, or up to 2 bagels/hot cross buns (toasted on the one side and warmed on the other - perfection!)It ... MoreMy 12 year old nephew asked me what was so fabulous about this toaster, and wanted pictures of the toast it made to evidence my claim that this was the best toaster I have ever had. I think we have a scientist in the making...But it made me think: How can I be so enthused about a toaster? The most everyday of kitchen appliances. Every kitchen has one, right? Not this one!It is British-made, fully reparable should it wear out or develop any fault, and therefore better environmentally and economically, should those things matter to you.It offers options for cooking 1-4 slices of perfectly evenly-browned toast, coping well with handcut or thicker slices of bread, or up to 2 bagels/hot cross buns (toasted on the one side and warmed on the other - perfection!)It also offers the option of toasted sandwiches using the Dualit cages (be aware these are model-specific when buying these, choose the right one)It is stylish in design and easy to clean.If you have not used a Dualit toaster before, it does need a quick lesson to guide you on its functions. It is not a single press-and-done toaster, but is perfect for making toast exactly as you like it, and is certainly not complicated to use.It is an investment piece, certainly, but I firmly believe I have bought my last ever toaster, and am delighted with the toasting it does. I would highly recommend this item to anyone who toasts a variety of products regularly.

Dreadful. Not worth it

What a fool I am! I read the hype, I liked the colour, I lost my senses and thought that buying a more expensive product meant I was destined for the best toast ever. Ha!! How wrong could I have been. Where do I start..... The toaster looks good, a nice retro style that suited the kitchen decor. So far so good....but does it toast? Err NO. The whole point of a toaster is that it should heat your bread to a nice toast. It doesn't. OK I don't use white bread, so it may well work for that product, but for wholemeal or other breads, its dreadful. AND then to add insult, 5 weeks in an element failed. It must have heard my curses. Surely I can get it replaced by the JL team .. NOPE again silly me for believing in fairies. John Lewis Online Customer Services wished me a ... MoreWhat a fool I am! I read the hype, I liked the colour, I lost my senses and thought that buying a more expensive product meant I was destined for the best toast ever. Ha!! How wrong could I have been. Where do I start..... The toaster looks good, a nice retro style that suited the kitchen decor. So far so good....but does it toast? Err NO. The whole point of a toaster is that it should heat your bread to a nice toast. It doesn't. OK I don't use white bread, so it may well work for that product, but for wholemeal or other breads, its dreadful. AND then to add insult, 5 weeks in an element failed. It must have heard my curses. Surely I can get it replaced by the JL team .. NOPE again silly me for believing in fairies. John Lewis Online Customer Services wished me a lovely day but it's nothing to do with them, washed their hands of it. My advice - steer clear of this toaster. It's had it's day there are much nicer ones on the market. Pity I didn't tell myself that at the beginning.

It's got one job...

... and it does it really well. I replaced my (really) old Dualit with another top brand 18 months ago. It was overpriced rubbish and I finally through it out and bought this. That blissful feeling of knowing you're going to get great toast, not charcoal, not raw bread! One word of warning though, the new elements really are rather keen. So, if you've been using a mere mortal toaster, you'll have to recalibrate, but once you do it makes really, really good toast. And crumpets too... finally, properly toasted, slightly crunchy crumpets.Yes, it's pricey but life is too short to start your day with rubbish toast.

Love it!

Buy IT! I thought and thought about this purchase ... as it is a relatively expensive toaster. Finally pulled the trigger and it is wonderful! By comparison, I was using about a 25 year old Kitchenaid toaster which quit toasting evenly or correctly ... everything was burnt (it was 25 years old!). So in comes the Dualit. Looks, heritage and repairability aside (who doesn't like the looks?!), it makes terrific toast. It does seem to be calibrated to a lighter finish than I'm used to. I like light toast and use a 2 ... my husband darker and he uses 4 (I think). Didn't know how I would like the manual lift (lifelong pop up here) but it is actually very satisfying to operate. Added bonus... if you leave it down while finishing plating it keeps the toast warm until you ... MoreBuy IT! I thought and thought about this purchase ... as it is a relatively expensive toaster. Finally pulled the trigger and it is wonderful! By comparison, I was using about a 25 year old Kitchenaid toaster which quit toasting evenly or correctly ... everything was burnt (it was 25 years old!). So in comes the Dualit. Looks, heritage and repairability aside (who doesn't like the looks?!), it makes terrific toast. It does seem to be calibrated to a lighter finish than I'm used to. I like light toast and use a 2 ... my husband darker and he uses 4 (I think). Didn't know how I would like the manual lift (lifelong pop up here) but it is actually very satisfying to operate. Added bonus... if you leave it down while finishing plating it keeps the toast warm until you pull it!

Really Good Toaster, but make sure you read the instructions

Having used a Dualit Toaster and work, I was keen to invest in one at home. However like many people I came here and read the reviews. I jumped to the low rating reviews and was shocked by many of the negative review and the problems others were having.It is a real shame that John Lewis does not let you reply to the reviews, having now purchased the toaster, I think I could help a few people out.I really like the toaster and before I sing its praises, let me try and answer some of the issues that people are having:Only toasting one side of bread.I think some users may have mistaken the top knob to be the browning control. Whereas it is the number of slots you wish to turn on. One important thing to note, is that slot one is to the left. So I think this is why ... MoreHaving used a Dualit Toaster and work, I was keen to invest in one at home. However like many people I came here and read the reviews. I jumped to the low rating reviews and was shocked by many of the negative review and the problems others were having.It is a real shame that John Lewis does not let you reply to the reviews, having now purchased the toaster, I think I could help a few people out.I really like the toaster and before I sing its praises, let me try and answer some of the issues that people are having:Only toasting one side of bread.I think some users may have mistaken the top knob to be the browning control. Whereas it is the number of slots you wish to turn on. One important thing to note, is that slot one is to the left. So I think this is why some reviewers are saying some of their slots do not work?Slots are too short and uneven toast.I haven't yet found any toaster that take large bread. I even took a template of a slice of bread to many shops. So I don't think there is a toaster for large slices!!I do have a slight issue with toast not toasting evenly. Although to be honest I don't find it a major issue. I believe this is because the slots are quite wide and are designed for you to be able to purchase the sandwich accessory. So medium or thick slice bread works better.Doesn't pop up.Yes but I like that, if you are using a new type of bread and don't know how long to set the timer, you can move the bread up and down to check progress, you can't easily to that with a pop up.So apart from the above, I really like it. It is robust and durable. I also like the fact you can set it to do one slice, therefore saving energy. The best part is that you can buy spares should it fail.But moral of the story, please read and understand the instructions, especially that slot number from 1 - 4 starting from the left, others you might have raw bread!