We’ve picked products we think you’ll love and may earn commission from links on this page. Read about why you can trust Good Food reviews.
Breville VTT981 Edge 2-slice toaster review
Published: February 7, 2022 at 4:38 PM
4.5
A star rating of 4.5 out of 5.
A well-priced model from a trusted brand. Read our full review of the Breville Edge toaster.
Advertisement
Pros
- Copes with all sizes of bread, wide range of toasting settings, helpful “lift-and-look” feature.
Cons
- Doesn't toast evenly on both sides
Breville VTT981 Edge 2-slice toaster summary
This is a lovely, shiny toaster that has the wow factor as you lift it out of the box. Packaging is cardboard apart from one plastic bag protecting the toaster. Settings are chunky and stylish. The three reheat, frozen bread and cancelling buttons are marked with icons, making their function easy to guess if you’re not a fan of reading the instructions.
The instruction booklet is very detailed including a diagram and exhaustive details on how to use the machine. There are even toasting tips and explanations of how the toaster works best e.g. for slightly dry bread, use a lower setting than normal.
This is an average sized toaster and not one that has a big footprint. Controls are on the side rather than the front, so it takes up less room on the worktop. It has a sleek appearance so would fit in well with a modern kitchen.
Read our review of the best toasters to buy
How easy is the Breville VTT981 Edge 2-slice toaster to use?
Operating this model is very straightforward for anyone who has ever used a toaster before, and easy to pick up even for anyone who hasn’t. We liked the way the function buttons (e.g. defrost) lit up with a subtle but attractive white light when being used. The cancel button also illuminates to remind you that is an option.
The browning control offers a very wide choice of nine options which enables you to get incredibly specific with your toasting levels, should you want.
If you can’t face choosing which setting to go for, there is another option. Just fling your toast in and then, using the toaster’s best feature, lift the lever to check how it’s getting on. Not ready? Then lower it again without interrupting the programme. Most of us have suffered the annoyance of under-done toast which, when returned to the toaster and restarted, ends up burnt. This does away with that problem, as long as you are happy to stand over it.
The toast sprang out impressively when done, apart from some smaller slices but the lifting function quickly sorted that out. The sides of the toaster got warm but not hot.
Breville VTT981 Edge 2-slice toaster results
The toaster has deep slots which dealt effectively with all sizes of loaf, including when tested with extra tall slices. The toast was brown right to the top. However, the two sides weren’t evenly browned with one side quite a lot darker than the other when we tested it on settings four and five.
Toasting was fairly quick, though of course different breads took different times. You do need to adapt the settings according to which bread you use; one loaf tested fine on level 5 but a different one became burnt. It averaged around 2 mins 10 on an ordinary loaf on setting 5 (the middle setting), with a similar time using the defrost function.
Conclusion
We liked the ease of operating this toaster – it’s all pretty intuitive – and the lift function in particular. This would work well for smaller families (or those where only one person eats toast). But it lost half a point for uneven browning.
Breville Edge 2-slice toaster specifications
Wattage: 1050 watts
Product weight: 2.17kg
Size: H21.6, W29.5, D19cm.
Key features
Bagel function: no
Defrost function: yes
Cancel button: yes
Manufacturer warranty: one year
Removable crumb tray: yes
Wide slots: yes
Related reviews and recipes
Best toasters
Best sandwich toasters
Top 10 brunch gadgets
Best gluten-free bread
Avocado on toast recipes
How to make French toast
Advertisement
Do you have a toaster you love? We'd love to hear your product suggestions below…
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
