Product Description: This Dualit toaster is designed for commercial use, it is hand assembled in England and built to last, with an insulated stainless-steel body, variable controls and automatic turnoff. With extra wide 28mm slots to accommodate a Sandwich Cage and the award winning ProHeat elements, a patented design which increases toasting efficiency & element longevity. Dualit toaster features switches to control the degree of browning and an ejector system which means that the toast does not pop up but stays warm until the ejector lever is pushed up. The Sandwich Cage, which has a built in drip tray, can be purchased as an optional accessory. 1, 2 or 3 or 4 slices Output per hour: 130 slices Power 1800 Watts 120 Volts AC Dimensions: 14" x 8" x 9" High Materials: Insulated stainless steel body Weight: 9 lbs
Rating : - High Infant Mortality Rate - Two Defective Units - Poorly Designed I bought this toaster and it arived and as soon as I plugged it in there was a spark inside and my circuit breaker tripped. I sent it back and my next one was DOA. It turns out that the exact same thing was the root of my problems. This time I opened it up a found that the black power cord had pulled off of its connector. The reason it pulled off is that it is wrapped around a 3 ounce metal doughnut (which is typically used to reduce line noise in devices like computers or monitors). Why would a toaster care about line noise? It's a toaster and not some hi-tech piece of electronics. Anyway, shipping this unit has about an 100% chance that the electrical connection will become disconnected. The connector is pretty far from the bottom and I had to disassemble more than I wanted to to re-attach it. Keep in mind that I'm servicing a brand-new $300+ appliance just to get it working. Now I know why there's a warning sticker on the bread crumb pan that warns you to unplug the unit prior to removing the pan. Are you kidding me? This indicates that Dualit knows that the power connector can come loose and enegize the entire outside of the toaster but has done nothing to prevent it (like mounting that doughnut thing on something).
Now the good part: I have been using a toaster oven to make toast for years. I didn't realize how much of a difference a dedicated toaster would make. In fact, the toast is far superior when using a toaster as oposed to a toaster oven; however, I think that any toaster would perform just as well.
In the areas of durability, commercial quality and superiority, I don't think Dualit meets my expectations in any one of them. The metal (at least is metal) is quite thin and has poor fit between pieces. The heating elements are thinner than a paper clip. I'm really not impressed and wish I bought a $30 B&D toaster and saved a bunch of money. Lastly, don't even think about buying the sandwich basket since it's just too small.
For about the same price, you can buy a real commercial toaster from Waring or Oster and it will last forever.
Update 8/08: Reported electrocution concern to US Consumer Product Safety Commission and they sent out an agent to review my toaster. The agent said it was a good report and that W&S and Dualit will be investigated. Imagine that you get killed by your toaster -- That would be a shame.
- High Infant Mortality Rate - Two Defective Units - Poorly Designed
