Breville Edge 4-Slice Toaster review: posh looks, great toast!

Breville Edge 4-Slice Toaster review in a sentence: Capacious toaster, which can handle anything from sourdough to crumpets using even heat. It looks a treat too.

What’s in a toaster you may well be wondering? Well, aside from bread (or crumpets perhaps), there isn’t a whole lot of difference from one model to another, as our best toaster guide attests. However, there are a few models on the market that do set themselves apart from the competition and the Breville Edge 4-Slice Toaster is just such an appliance.

This appliance is going to be perfect for anyone with a penchant for toast, especially those that aren’t content with thin white sliced. In fact, the Breville Edge 4-Slice Toaster is able to offer a home to all types of slice, with thicker hand-sliced bread types like hunks of sourdough easily accommodated in its sizeable slots. This is quite a big toaster though, so bear that in mind if space is tight. Aside from that, read on to find out just how good the Breville Edge 4-Slice Toaster actually is.

Breville Edge 4-Slice Toaster review: Price and availability

The Breville Edge 4-Slice ‎VTR023 Toaster is available to buy now and comes with a RRP of £75, which makes it good value considering its capacity and general build quality. The toaster is available directly from Breville, but also from online retailers including Amazon, which frequently discounts such appliances so it’s worth keeping your eyes on this one too.

Breville offers a two-slice variant of this model, just in case you’re not in need of quite as much toasts and this has a RRP of £44.99, but can currently be had from Amazon for just £39.99. In fact, Breville has a whole range of Edge appliances, all of which work in harmony with one another.

Breville Edge 4-Slice toaster review: What is it?

The Breville Edge 4-Slice Toaster is part of the Breville Edge kitchen appliance range, so can be easily matched with the various kettles in the collection for consistency. This is a four-slice model, which is reasonably sizeable and features dimensions of ‎44.5 x 23 x 23 cm. It weighs in at 2.41 kilograms. 

That might make it less suitable if you’ve got a limited amount of space on your worktops or have something like a galley-style kitchen. It’s also surplus to requirements if you don’t need much toast, although there is a two-slice variation on the theme you see here, which is available for less money.

The Breville Edge 4-Slice Toaster features 1400 watts of power and comes with a mains lead cable, although this isn’t the longest, so you might want to check that before purchasing. There’s nothing worse than not being able to position a toaster where you want it. Even more so if you’re keen to get the toaster out from under any overhead kitchen cabinets that could otherwise be affected by scorching.

Breville Edge 4-Slice toaster review: Is it any good?

The main benefit of the Breville Edge 4-Slice Toaster is that it can handle volume, so if you’ve got a family and lots of mouths to feed, or just love toast, this is the appliance for you. I’m pleased with the way it can handle more than one bread type too, which offers more appeal if you love the likes of sourdough or ciabatta. There’s also the benefit of being able to lift your toasted slices higher for removal, thereby reducing the potential for burnt fingers.

Another big benefit of this model is the stainless-steel construction. A lot of toasters tend to look shabby quite quickly, especially after they’ve been used a few times. What I really like about this model is the way it can be wiped over after use, a cold damp cloth is fine, and it helps the appliance to stay looking tip-top. Stainless steel seems better able to handle the heat and there’s less potential for crumbs and other toasty detritus to stick to the unit.

Breville Edge 4-Slice toaster review: Performance

The Breville Edge 4-Slice Toaster certainly looks the part, but even if you’ve got quite a lot of space in your kitchen it’s still a sizeable thing. The upside to that is the way that it can handle all kinds of payload. I particularly like the way the timer controls are located on the long side of the unit, which is most likely the way that you’ll be viewing it. This makes setting your time for toast a cinch, plus there’s a crumpet setting defined by a small icon at the top end too.

All of the control actions work smoothly, as does the lifting handle for the toast, which is located on the end of the appliance in conventional style. You can, of course vary the browning using the slider – up or down through the settings, plus there’s the ability to cancel a toasting session at any time. The Breville Edge 4-Slice Toaster is quick to heat and soon has your toast underway, no matter if it’s thin white sliced or chunky wedges of sourdough.

The only trouble with that chunkier bread is that it’s more susceptible for dropping crumbs. That’s covered by the slide out tray at the bottom though, and this is quick and easy to clean. Always a plus if you’ve done something like fruit buns in your toaster, which can tend to discard sticky raisins at the bottom of your appliance and subsequently stink a bit as they burn. Overall, the mix of evenly distributed heat, space for any size of bread and easy retrieval of toasted items makes the Breville Edge 4-Slice Toaster a top all-rounder on the performance front.

Breville Edge 4-Slice toaster review: Verdict

This is a very impressive model from the Breville Edge range and proves to be the perfect compliment to the kettle that I’ve recently been testing too. Granted, you’ll need a decent amount of countertop space to accommodate it, but the Breville Edge 4-Slice Toaster offers great looks, generous capacity for toasting bread and is happy to handle pretty much any type of payload. It’s therefore ideal if you’re a sourdough, ciabatta or crumpet fan. Overall, there’s not much to dislike, though the cable could do with being a tad longer.

There’s also a push in and pull-out crumb collector in the base of the Breville Edge 4-Slice Toaster, which makes cleaning much easier and is another bonus in my book. In fact, the whole appliance is an easy thing to keep maintained, with that stainless steel exterior perfect for a quick wipe down after use. Even the areas around the top, where heat and dirt can gradually yellow the finish look like they’ll be good for quite a few toasting sessions yet.

Breville Edge 4-Slice toaster review: Alternatives to consider

You can get 4-slice toasters at the budget end of the spectrum if money is tight, but if you’re happy to spend a little bit more then we have a couple of prime candidates. The KitchenAid Artisan Toaster is a cracking appliance and has a sizeable capacity too. 

Meanwhile, the Sage The Smart Toast is a top-of-the-range toaster, which benefits from 1-touch auto settings, extra-wide slots and is available in two or four slot sizes. It’s one of our favourites for sure.