Cool touch, Clear settings, High-Rise Carriage

Straight up, my requirements for a toaster start with cool touch exterior, clear, easy to change controls and toast eject features. I am a bagel eater. That said, when I went to buy a toaster, I started at about $20 and worked my way up to over $70 very quickly. Coming back to earth, I took one of those BBB 20% off coupons we all get in the mail and applied it to the CPT-120 (marked at about $39).

The cord extends ~28 inches beyond the unit. There is also a cord routing area under the toaster to take up some cord slack. It's a simple white unit, easy to clean but seems about $10 over priced based on it's feature set. BTW, it also comes in RED if you select the CPT-120R.



Good stuff:

1. the toaster is surrounded by plastic. Metal toasters look really cool, but I dislike getting burned, so I ruled them out.

2. Indicators on this unit light up in red, they are easy to see. I like that.

3. Browning is adjusted easily by a knob on the front of the unit.

4. When toast is done, one can lift the handle UP to lift the toast out of the toaster a bit more. No burning your fingers here. This is called the High-Rise Carriage.

5. Toaster can easily be operated from the front or from the side without fear of burns.

6. It has DEFROST and BAGEL settings.

7. It accepts my New York bagels just fine.

8. 3 year warranty.

Bad Stuff:

1. When attempting to push the buttons on the front, the toaster may move across the table. Island users beware. For me, since the sides of the unit are cool to the touch, I can hold it in place with my fingers and depress buttons with my thumb - using only my left hand. If you have a wall behind the toaster, this is a non issue.

2. One must depress the toast handle in order to change toasting options (defrost, bagel...). These buttons are non-responsive before one depresses the toast handle. Not a big deal, but it confuses guests.

3. There is no option to toast only one side of a bagel. (add this and I'll remove the $10 over priced comment!)

4. Slide out crumb tray operates from the rear of the unit. It would be much more convenient if one could operate this from the front.