Dualit Toasters - all they're cracked up to be?

[Andy in Sig]

My toaster has been behaving erratically for some time now. I've given it warnings but it persists. So I did a bit of research into toasters and apparently Dualit are the best. I was wondering if any of you have experience of them and can make recommendations etc.

 

[Rezillo]

Recommended. Very fast hot toasting that doesn't dry out the centre of the bread and there is very little to go wrong.

We bought ours after using one in a holiday let and finding the toast was miles better than at home. Ours is five years old and in that time we've replaced one element for a few quid from Ebay (easy diy). Before that we were getting through cheap and not so cheap toasters at the rate of around one a year.

 

[MontyVeda]

they will last a life time... or that's the idea behind the high price tag.

 

[Archie_tect]

Will buy one next time.

 

[Rezillo]

Mine works very well. However, slices from some taller 'large' loaves of bread don't fit in. So if you always buy a large loaf (whatever that is in Germany) it might be worth measuring the longest dimension of a slice and comparing it to the internal depth of the toaster. This might sound a bit OCD but in terms of breakfast enjoyment a floppy raw half-inch of bread on one end of a slice of toast is a deal-breaker for me.

Or cut the slices in half before toasting them . You're right, of course, but the loaves have to be very tall. The slots are wide enough to take teacakes, with some very minor squashing, muffins and deep crumpets. Crumpets are particularly good with a Dualit because they don't get dried in the middle.

 

[Boris Bajic]

I've had a 3-slice Dualit for well over twenty years. Excellent toast every time and apparently bulletproof.

I bought a new element for it about three years ago and it was a piece of pie to fit.

It's quite big for a toaster and I think the economic argument is crap: yes, it will last a lifetime, but I could buy ten normal toasters for the same money.

But it is not unattractive, I like the tickety-tick of the timer and it seems reliable and consistent.

At the end of the day, it is just a toaster.

 

[Andy in Sig]

Dualit it is then and the bread here tends to be small. Crumpets are a bit thin on the ground, though.

 

[gavintc]

Dualit it is then and the bread here tends to be small. Crumpets are a bit thin on the ground, though.

I seem to remember that German crumpet was pretty tasty.

 

[Fnaar]

I got given mine in 1990, by a friend. It had already done 20yrs or so sterling service on an NHS ward, and got chucked in a skip when the ward was being refurbished. He was an electrician, and he fished it out of the skip, made sure it worked, and gave it to me (we were just about to buy our first house). It's still going strong, never any probs (though one element went recently) and it is fab. 6 slots, but a bit less shiny now than it should be.

 

[gbb]

We had them at my previous employers. It was our job to replace the elements when they went and they are reasonably easy to replace.
Bearing in mind they were doing maybe 10 to 20 slices a day, 5 days a week, I guess they were doing ten times the normal work so can't be that bad.

 

[bikepete]

Another fan here...another nice thing not mentioned yet is that the metal body of the toaster is so massive and conducts heat away so well that it barely gets warm (in domestic use anyway - not tried continuous toasting for an hour or whatever!)

A few years ago I got a bit OCD/carried away and went through three different ones (buying then selling on via Ebay) before landing on the ideal one for Gromit and myself's purposes - four slice, wide slots and a switch that lets you do 1, 2 or 4 slices (many just let you do either 2 or 4).

Even wrote up a web page on how to replace the elements which gets a surprising amount of traffic:

http://www.eland.org.uk/toaster.html

Will do another one soon as the timer has started playing up. No problem getting a spare...

OTOH you can buy a complete cheap toaster for the cost of a spare element or timer... and User13710 makes a good point about tall toast - but few are better in that respect.

 

[DTD]

Went through several other toasters, got a Dualit and it's never had a problem. It does seem to make nicer toast than any other I've had – as someone else said it doesn't dry the bread out as much.
Sometimes wish I still had a gas grill though.

 

[Maz]

We have Dualit toasters at work and they are great.
They make toast of the competition.

 

[slowmotion]

I expect you lot have all got Kirby vacuum cleaners, Bose Radios, and Brennan music storage...

...style victims, or what?

 

[Richard A Thackeray]

I got given mine in 1990, by a friend. It had already done 20yrs or so sterling service on an NHS ward, and got chucked in a skip when the ward was being refurbished.

We had Dualits in the old buildings too, now toasters are banned by the Land-Lord of our PFI Hospital
(as they weren't replaced/brought down, cheaper toasters were bought & set off far too many fire alarms - if they'd kept the Dualits, it wouldn't have been an issue)

The design is perfect for an alarmed environment, as once that timer's gone round, no matter in the toast's stuck, the element is switched off
No carbonised bread creating lots of smoke, & no visit by 'Trumpton'