Oster® 4-Slice Long-Slot Toaster

Is there such a thing as a perfect toaster. After all the many reviews of many different brands I went with this one, mainly because of the brand name and visual appearance. Some commented “it doesn’t toast evenly”. Probably true within reason but I really don’t need a perfectly cooked piece of toast. I wanted a toaster for sour dough bread. Works brilliantly, one slice in each slot. It will fit 4 regular/standard slices of bread but not for example the Pepperidge Farm Rye bread which is a bit wider - it only fits one slice on each side. Overall I’m happy with my choice so far. Easy to use, toasts quickly, it’s slim line, sturdy and looks good. I’d give it 4-½ *

Purchased to replace our 1st Oster toaster when it stopped staying latched down upon pressing the lever. After mentioning it to my son he decided to open it up and fixed the issue but the new one arrived the following day so we tried it out and found it worked just as good as the original if not better! I'm encouraged by the fact he was able to disassemble, fix and clean our original in less than an hour so I believe I can expect a long service life from this brand and model.Pro: I like how the 2 slots are extra long and can accommodate the slices of "artisan" breads as well as our family favorite "Seattle Waterfront Sourdough" bread. Across the entire length it will leave the bread toasted perfectly even on both sides whether 1 slice or 2. Simple controls with excellent range of temp settings allowing for the perfect level of toasting. Unlike others which one number would barely toast but 1 higher would end burnt black this unit gives a wide range of brown across 2.5 numbers for larger pieces of toast and 2 for smaller.Con: The stainless steel look goes with the other appliances but is hard to keep clean and the rim around the case catches material when cleaning ... but this is just nit picking unless perfectly clean is your thing then you may find it requires more attention.*** Note: Before using the unit set it to 3 and run it without anything inside for 2-3 times increase temp to 4 and do another 2-3 times again w/o anything inside. This will break in the toaster and burns off the factory finish from the heating elements. It will smell terrible so open the window before hand. The smell will not last and is completely eliminated by the 3rd or 4th initial dry run.Final Thoughts: If you simply want a good slice of toast easily browned to your personal taste this will deliver.

Initially, I had a lot of problems with this toaster upon arrival. I have received three. The first one was packaged well, but toaster body (both plastic and metal parts) had scratches, with the metal having rough spots, too, on top edge. This is not acceptable of a brand new item. Additionally, I plugged it in and all of the heating elements did not light up (turn orange). The first replacement they sent looked okay, but the switch inside connected to the "darkness" dial was broken....dial was loose and did not function. So, they sent another replacement. It's looks aren't perfect (scratched a little but not as bad as the first), and "darkness" dial switch is loose, but it does seem to work. By this time, we were very tired of dealing with messed up toasters and emails to amazon. So, we returned the bad one, threw out the malfunctioning second one in the trash, and retained the third one to use in our kitchen. So far, it works okay despite the darkness dial switch being very loose (it was firmly attached on the first one). Sometimes, the toast is not toasted evenly at all, but it's fine most of the time. I'd say there are some serious quality control issues at the factory! I hope this toaster lasts a long time. We were replacing another long-slot Oster toaster that was great for years, but recently stopped heating up on one side and then decreased functioning overall within a week. Amazon was nice regarding all of the problems we had with getting a toaster that both looked brand new and functioned!

I had this toaster previously and really loved it. My son ended up destroying it so I had to find a replacement. I found a brand new one on Amazon and purchased it even though the price has raised significantly. Being on Soc Sec I am on a limited budget, but I knew this was the only toaster I would be satisfied with. The slots are long and accommodate all sizes of toast and bagels, including varying degrees of thickness. It has controls for bagels as well as toast. The slider at the bottom pulls out and is easy to keep clean. I can toast so many different types of breads. I love it and you will too. It's a great toaster and you cannot go wrong with this one.

Update, Jan 2022:I didn’t end up sending this toaster back because I couldn’t face the thought of more research and trial-and-error with buying a new one, and I’m glad I kept it.I take back my complaints about uneven toasting. It took another few weeks, but the toaster did, in fact, “settle down” and begin toasting evenly, and I’m 100% happy with it, so if you want a long-slice/4-slice toaster and are willing to be a little patient, I’d unequivocally recommend this one.Original review, from ~April 2021:My primary problem was toasting bagels. First off, it's supposed to only toast the cut side if you use the bagel setting (according to customer service), but both sets of elements heat up. That's not a big deal for me, but it's the first red flag that the toaster doesn't work as intended.The BIG problem, though, is that it toasts unevenly along the length of the slot. The edge of the bagel that is toward the middle gets burned, while the edge that is toward the end is under-toasted. I have scraped SO MANY burnt bagel edges over the sink in the last two weeks, y'all would not believe....I gave it a couple of weeks, but despite the experiences of some other commenters, it didn't "settle down" and toast properly for me, so back to Amazon it goes and I have to start the search for a reliable long-slot toaster all over again.