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Cliff Rohrabacher
08-09-2009, 4:00 PM
For more than $300 I'd have expected something more than a toaster that wouldn't toast, toast.
I'd put a slice of white in it crank it up to max and the toast would come out a L-O-N-G time later not well toasted and not even evenly toasted.

So a year later back to Williams Sonoma it went.

They said they'd warranty it for life even if the factory didn't.

They took it back I walked out with a credit and a Breville "smart" toaster.
I'll see if this one is a disappointment too.

Mind you I asked myself why I wanted a $300.00 toaster in the first place back when I bought the first one. The $30 ones in TARGET or WALLMART are perfectly fine. Really, it's just freaking toast FCS~!!

But da missus liked it and at da time we was on a spending spree getting all the little counter top and drawer filling junk and appurtenances appointing our brandy spanky new super spendy kitchen with all the fanciest and most toniest appliances and crap that one can get.

It is amazing how fast one can spend money.

David G Baker
08-09-2009, 4:17 PM
Cliff,
I got some real nice ocean front property in Arizona that would look very nice in your brandy dandy spanky new kitchen. :D
Some of the newer toasters will not toast just one slice of bread, for some reason there must be two slices or the single slice must be in the correct slot for the toaster to function properly. Another invention to make our lives easier.

Tim Morton
08-09-2009, 5:14 PM
my wife brought one of these toasters home awhile back and no matter how many slices of toast or bagels we put in the thing it barely warms the bread.

Looks great on the counter....but it takes 2 or 3 cycles to put crisp on my english muffin in the morning.:rolleyes:

Caspar Hauser
08-09-2009, 6:01 PM
A long toasting fork the red coals of a fire, a heap of pikelets or crumpets, a pat of best butter, and Grandma, best toaster ever. :)

Roger Newby
08-09-2009, 6:49 PM
spend 300 bucks for a toaster???????????:eek: must really like warm bread:confused:

Alan Zenreich
08-09-2009, 10:05 PM
We've had a Dualit 2 slice toaster for about 5 years. It works perfectly. My wife loves it.

First set the timer to preheat the toaster. When the bell rings, add the bread and reset the timer. When the bell rings, lift the bread and see if it's done to your liking... if it needs more, lower the bread.

Most folk who don't get good results omit the preheat step. The trick is not to put bread into a cold toaster, it's much like preheating a frying pan or oven before adding the item to be cooked.

After 30 years of different automatic toasters that did not make decent toast, we're very pleased with the Dualit.

I look at the Dualit as being the Lie-Nielsen of toasters. Nicely made, no frills machine, and in the right hands turns out fine results.

Cliff Rohrabacher
08-09-2009, 10:13 PM
I'm told that toasters have succumbed to the fear of liability

Dualit has a recall in 94 for fire hazard.
Some time there after all toaster makers have gone the route of making them so they no longer get hot.

Can't have any red hot elements in a kitchen with the modern pack of dopey know nothings with too much money and too little common sense.

So stoves don't get hot toasters don't toast I suppose it's only a matter of time before they realize that some one might cut themselves with a knife and round over all the edges.

M Toupin
08-09-2009, 11:20 PM
I'm told that toasters have succumbed to the fear of liability

Unfortunately, that's were we're at, we're now protected to the point that we can't even make toast. When our 25 year old toaster oven died we went through 3 new ones before it sunk in that NONE of them actually toast nowadays do to greedy lawyers and "liability".

Seems kinda ironic that you can't buy a toaster that toasts Cliff :eek:

Mike

Eric DeSilva
08-10-2009, 11:34 AM
We've had a Dualit 2 slice toaster for about 5 years. It works perfectly. My wife loves it.

+1. I have a Dualit 4 slice toaster. Fits anything and toasts nicely. I will say, however, this stuff about preheating is new. Never had an issue with insufficiently toasted toast. I like the fact that the toast stays inside it even after its done so it doesn't cool down if you haven't finished cooking your eggs yet.

Cliff Rohrabacher
08-10-2009, 7:15 PM
do to greedy lawyers and "liability".

While I'm most certain that there are lawyers who are greedy on a par with any other sampling of the population it is remarkably unrealistic to blame lawyers for litigation and the results.

The lawyers don't start the quarrels that end up in the courts, the lawyers don't make the products which but for a little more investment might have been safe, the lawyers don't misuse dangerous things and them blame the manufacturer, the lawyers don't produce pharmaceuticals that harm hundreds of thousands, the lawyers don't cut out the wrong kidney or eye or cut off the wrong hand ( yah that really happens).
The lawyers are called in after the parties have got to a place where they are entirely unable to have a constructive dialog.

Then the lawyers invoke a very complicated system of laws (which they didn't create) in a process whose sole purposes are to find truth and make the injured as right and a court can make them.

The lawyers enforce your civil rights when the state runs roughshod over you.

The Lawyers enforce freedom of contract when the other party welshes or cheats.

The lawyers are the reason you don't need to settle your disputes with a rifle.

M Toupin
08-10-2009, 8:21 PM
Apparently touched a nerve huh Cliff?

Everyone's entitled to an opinion, even lawyers, but I think you're going to have a tough row to hoe if you think the vast majority of folks are going to swallow that diatribe.

Mike

Alan Zenreich
08-11-2009, 7:31 AM
Lets try to keep this thread about toasters.

We could revector the thread to include using toasters for woodburning tasks <vbg>

Alan Zenreich
08-11-2009, 7:38 AM
Eric,

The idea of preheating the toaster was new to me too, but it makes perfect sense.

I don't drop eggs into a cold frying pan. Preheat your cookware, add the food.

Among other things, it gives the elements a chance to heat fully, and evenly before presenting the food item.

This also improves consistancy when toasting multiple items sequentially. If you do your first pieces from a cold start, the next set is starting from a hot start and requires less time for the same results. So it seems to me that doing everything from a hot start is easier to control (meaning no adjustments to time needed)

Eric DeSilva
08-11-2009, 10:38 AM
I don't drop eggs into a cold frying pan.

Maybe you should... Seriously, I've started cooking scrambled eggs by breaking them in a saucepan, adding a couple chunks of butter, and only then putting it on the heat and whisking/stirring. Tends to make small curd eggs, european style, but they taste better to me.

I've also heard the way of making non-greasy, cooked on the inside, crispy on the outside fries is to put them in a cold pan with cold oil, then bring it up to heat. Never tried that one.

I do take your point, however. I just don't think I make that much toast...

Joel Goodman
08-11-2009, 11:36 AM
I'd pay $300 for a toaster that ran on 220V and cooked toast really fast -- the new toasters are slow. In fact I bet you could sell a lot to folks that have to have the best. 3 phase toasters anyone?

Eric DeSilva
08-11-2009, 1:01 PM
Made by Binford?

John Shuk
08-11-2009, 9:18 PM
It's pretty sad that a toaster can cost that much and do a lousy job. Seems to be the case with alot of stuff these days. Maybe the makers across the Pacific think we won't check to see if things really work?
I remember buying a really nice and expensive computer. Came with Windows ME. Thanks Microsoft:mad:

Alan Zenreich
08-11-2009, 9:31 PM
The Dualit "Vario" (http://www.dualit.com/content.asp?page=/catalogue/productRange.asp?categoryCode=15) series is made across the Atlantic... hand built in England. This is not to be confused with their lower priced "Lite" series (http://www.dualit.com/content.asp?page=/catalogue/productRange.asp?categoryCode=18)... manufactured in China.

As noted, there are many of us who own the Dualit Vario toasters and are quite happy with the results, so I don't think there's any engineering problem, and reports of quality are quite high. Of course, there could be units that don't work properly, but that goes for virtually any product... expensive or not.

Chuck Stewart
08-13-2009, 9:39 AM
As a teenager my sisters were constantly burning their toast, course you could not blame them this old beast fired up hotter than a coal furnace (and found the back of your hand all the time) Anyway, I got tired of seeing all the logs go in the garbage so one day I grab one and smothered it with butter and grape jelly and you know what...kinda tasty...give me all you got...which some days saw me eating six slices of burnt toast before going to school.

David G Baker
08-13-2009, 11:04 AM
Chuck,
Seems like I read that the carbon on burnt toast is a carcinogen similar to the burnt meat from the barbecue or grill depending where you are from. Guess both of us are going to croak cause I love both of them. :D

george wilson
08-13-2009, 11:05 AM
Our Dualit works perfectly. I never heard about preheat either. It is a good,honest,commercial grade toaster. If someone's doesn't toast,it must have an electrical problem.

John Schreiber
08-13-2009, 12:08 PM
Makes me appreciate the toaster I got for my wedding almost 30 years ago. It probably didn't cost more than $20 back then and it's still working fine.

Cliff Rohrabacher
08-13-2009, 5:51 PM
Apparently touched a nerve huh Cliff?

Yah people are so easily manipulated and lawyers are the butt of every one's azazal goat list.


but I think you're going to have a tough row to hoe if you think the vast majority of folks are going to swallow that diatribe.

Only when people are willfully obtuse.

Cliff Rohrabacher
08-13-2009, 5:53 PM
A long toasting fork the red coals of a fire, a heap of pikelets or crumpets, a pat of best butter, and Grandma, best toaster ever. :)

Indeed. My BBQ does a better job than the appliance designed to make toast