Sage Smart Toast 2-Slice Toaster, Wide Slots, Brushed Aluminium | Wide Slot Toaster, A Bit More and A Quick Look Functions, 1-Touch Lowering, Variable Browning, LED Progress

Even down to the packaging this is a supreme toaster. It arrived in an attractive and robust box, with rigid inserts to protect during travel. The machine’s high quality was obvious from the outset; superbly crafted and designed, the brushed aluminium finish giving it a final mark of excellence. The controls are well placed and their use pretty obvious (their usage written clearly beneath each), but even so the well written and presented manual comprehensively explains all quite clearly and succinctly. All controls are front facing, with no controls where one cannot easily get at them. Even the crumb tray is front facing. The first thing I noticed when opening the box was the size of the slots; wide enough to take a complete crumpet with ease, or even a whole teacake should one wish to do such a thing! I think the generous width of the slots gives the impression the slots themselves are relatively short, but they are adequate, a good 14cms long and 15cms deep. So far I have only tried small brown bread and toasted teacakes, both being toasted so much better than I’ve ever managed previously. In operation it is blissful! Select ones heat setting with the simple slider at the front bottom (or more likely leave it once one has established the best setting), and with the bread in the carriage(s), press the glowing “Toast” button. Now the magic! The moment which thus far still tickles me; the carriage slowly and sedately descends into the toasters innards! The “A Bit More” and “Quick Look” buttons operate in the same way’ the carriages sedately rising and falling to suit. Both very useful, but one might question whether they will get a lot of use, as once one has established the optimum heat setting one tends to stick with it. However I’m sure both will get some use when trying different items. And the final result? Again certainly better than anything I’ve ever managed previously with a toaster. A perfectionist might argue the top is more toasted than the bottom, but there’s little in it. The toaster is arguably a tad expensive, but given the level of sophistication and presentation I don't believe its over expensive. The longevity of the machine is the one question that I cannot address. Given the level of sophistication of the touch controls and lift mechanism it might be easy to argue there is more to go wrong, but given the general build quality and superb presentation, there no reason to expect it. Highly recommended, and without hesitation.

Brilliant toaster, quick and toasts the whole slice. I like the crumpet setting and quick look settings

great toaster, feels a bit slow but very consistent results, the slider reliably toasts to the exact level of 'doneness' you want. The auto start / stop sliding up and down never gets old- a talking point for visitors... Love the quick look and 'a bit more' when you are not sure you selected the right setting.

A pleasure to use, effortless, silent and efficient. Toast quality is very good, slightly uneven inside vs outside but that is true of almost any toaster. Only grouch is the bagel setting which incinerates the bagel unless you back off the timing slider from its normal position. That’s not very ‘smart’!

Genuinely, awesome piece of kit. Read the reviews and was a little worried, but it's the best roster I've owned. Adjustability is excellent and the "little bit more x function is an excellent idea.

Quiet, easy to use toaster. Senses how much to toast the bread to your own personal preference. Slide the toaster to your preferred setting and bread will toast perfectly every time. Also toasts crumpets and English muffins to perfection. I love the way it is totally silent until your toast is ready when it pings to let you know. The ‘take a peak ‘ feature is great as it slows you to see if your toast is ready without interrupting the program. The frozen setting is useful for bread straight out of the freezer. Delighted with my purchase. However, I don’t know how long it will last. My previous Dualit was 25 years old when I finally decided I had enough of its clockwork noise and switched to this Sage toaster.

It's silly money for a toaster, but man doesn't live by bread alone. Generally I'm wary of celebrity endorsed products, in fact it usually puts me off buying the item. But there are exceptions to the rule and this is one. I've not had it long enough to opine on longer term reliability etc. but for the week or so I have been using it this is a simply brilliant device. It looks good and is clever in operation, having lights to show what is happening and perhaps the most interesting feature, it's motorised to lower and raise the bread/toast. Along with that you have a quick look button which raises and lowers the toast at any point during toasting for inspection and a "bit more" button which when it has popped, if it's not quite browned enough, pressing this gives a further 30 second toasting. It has a crumpet setting which I've not yet tried but I have tried the frozen bread setting and two different types of bread, one frozen one not, and both worked fine. As with any toaster you have to play with the browning control at first to discover the optimum setting for the type of bread in use but it does make delicious toast. Having said that, I'm not certain if the toast is really any better than a cheap toaster or if I am just telling myself that it is on psychological grounds. Anyway, this is a great toaster with a host of interesting features that mark it out from ordinary toasters. And it makes good toast. If you are in the market for something different and are willing to spend that kind of money on a toaster, this is it. Update 15 July 2016 I have to withdraw my highly positive review and reduce it to one star because it has just today ceased working and just out of the two year warranty as well. Doesn't come on at all. I have checked the plug fuse and that's not the problem, the toaster has failed. A great pity because while it lasted, as you can see from my previous comments, I really liked it. I liked the clever way it worked and the good toast that it made. However, it hasn't lasted and for such an expensive product that is completely unacceptable so I can no longer recommend it. My previous toaster was a cheapo job from a supermarket for about £7. It lasted seven years and was still working when I gave it away after that time. I've learned both with this Sage and other electrical products that you don't always get what you pay for. Sometimes cheap is better.

I had a Porsche Siemens, long slot toaster before this. Had it for SO many years (about 20!) and loved it. Or so I thought .... It hadn't dawned on me that it never browned the whole piece of toast consistently. I had to take it up, turn it over and put it back in - this toasts consistently! It hadn't dawned on me that countless times the toast used to come up not properly toasted, so I'd pop it back down to start the cycle again and wander away, just to come back to black, ruined toast as it had not toasted a bit more but the whole cycle again. The "A bit more" works! And it hadn't dawned on me I was trying to avoid burning my face while trying to look into the slots before to see the toast and failing. This lets you look mid-cycle without disturbing the programme. Delighted with it. It's quick, it's very simple to use, it's not gimmicky at all, and it's very well constructed. Sure, you're paying more, but you're getting more. One final comment - I bought this £30 cheaper (so £89) from the Warehouse Deals as it was classed as open, with potential very light scuffing/etc. I think that's a blanket statement they just apply as yes, this had brown packing tape to close the box, but inside it had never been opened and was brand new. Delighted!

Scratched product