Not durable

My wife bought this toaster a couple of years ago due to its classic styling and solid construction. For about a year and a half it worked great.

Some of its features:

- four slots, deep and wide enough for bagels
- two "flippers" to start toasting left two/right two slots
- individual power switches for left two/right two slots
- individual toasting settings for left two/right two slots
- five toasting settings + defrost

Like most toasters, the cord is fairly short (about 18 inches or so) so that it doesn't become a hazard. It does take up a lot of countertop, so if you don't have the space either consider a smaller toaster or do what we did and move it to a cabinet when not in use.

We have used this toaster for bread, bagels, waffles and french toast (from Trader Joe's - also highly recommended!). Long slices, such as some types of rye, tend to be too large to be toasted at once and need to be turned halfway through. I don't consider this to be the fault of the toaster.

For most items, a setting of around 3 to 3.5 on the 5 number scale yields a medium brown toast.

Now, unfortunately, for the negatives:

- after about 1-1/2 years of 2-3 times/week usage, the left lever wouldn't stay down anymore, which indicates either an electrical or mechanical problem. We're now left with a two slice toaster

- large items (like some sliced bagels) won't pop up when the toaster is done. This is probably a user problem - if it doesn't slide into the toaster easily it won't pop out after being toasted.

- recently the knob on the right lever now comes off on a regular basis. At this point it was clear that even half a toaster wasn't worth the hassle.

An inquiry into the repair cost seems to indicate that it will cost almost as much to fix this toaster as it would be to replace it.

After having had many toasters over the years, including ones from Toastmaster, Braun, GE and Krups, this one's toasting performance is at the higher end, but its durability isn't. I wouldn't expect this toaster to last more than the warranty period for a household with a large family - as stated previously, ours was used 2-3 times per week on average in a two-person household.

Rather than repair the toaster, my wife and I ended up getting a Dualit 40415 4 slice toaster. It has a similar classic chrome/stainless look but has generally better reviews out there. We ended up getting a Williams Sonoma refurb for over half of the normal price - still very high, but hopefully this one will last longer than 2 years with the Villaware...