5 Best Compact Toasters in 2022

Toasters are like tiny ovens, working their magic on bread with a single lever press. When that toast pops up, it feels almost magical! Smear on some peanut butter, jelly, or butter, and you’ve got yourself a yummy breakfast or snack. Way back in the early 1900s, electric toasters didn’t have that springy pop-up action. Now, toast gets done in mere minutes, making it a quick and tasty treat loved by many. A neat tidbit: the term “toast” comes from the Latin word “tostare,” which means roasted.

It toasts bread, plain and simple, and does so arguably better than a toaster oven.

If you want to buy a compact toaster that won’t take too much counter space in your small kitchen or office, I am going to help you choose the best small toaster on the market today.

1. 👛 The Budget Pick: Oster 2-Slice Compact Toaster
2. ⭐ The Performance Pick: Breville Smart Toaster
3. The Even Cheaper Pick: Cuisinart CPT-122
4. The Stainless Steel Pick: Cuisinart CPT-160P1
5. The Digital Pick: Cuisinart CPT-240

Compact Toaster Features

These are the basic features I expect the contender for the best toaster to have.

I only consider models that check the following boxes:

• Footprint that is compact and does not take up limited space
• Toasting that is quick and reliable
• Ability to toast bread, thick bagel halves and pastries like pancakes or English delectable muffins, including special options and slots wide enough
• Defrost and Reheat settings
• Shade settings to make your bread light or dark enough by applying different levels of heat
• Naturally, common features like a high-lift carriage, a slide-out crumb tray and a Cancel button

My Recommendation, Based on Your Budget

Having decided on the features, there are two main choices that people make based on their budget preferences: there is the “lean and mean” crowd and the “buy-it-for-life” crowd.

Based on your preference, I recommend either:

The Budget Pick: Oster 2-Slice Toaster

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This is the compact toaster if you’re looking for the best combination of price, reliability and consistency.

Your bread will come out quickly, it will be evenly brown, and it looks great on the kitchen counter.

Plus, Oster is a reputable brand and this model has been praised by reviewers.

The Performance Pick: Breville BTA820XL Die-Cast 2-Slice Smart Toaster

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This is the Lamborghini of compact toasters.

You will love the advanced features like the ‘lift and look’, the slide bar to set the brown level, the flashing LED bar count down, and the ‘a bit more’ button.

You can adjust the beep volume, brown it a bit more with just one touch — the works.

And it will toast your bread, and it will be even, quick, brown and delicious — the perfect toast.

Three Extra Choices

Now, having made my main two recommendations, I will include three that are also interesting for those that do not like the first two for some reason.

Main thing that sets apart the next three is their controls and design.

The Even Cheaper Pick: Cuisinart CPT-122 2-Slice Compact Plastic Toaster

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This small toaster is pretty good, and has the lowest price among those that I recommend.

I do not recommend going lower – you will regret it.

If you decide on this one, it will be quick and good enough, but be prepared for the brown to be uneven sometimes and the “dark” setting to be too light, perhaps that’s the fault of the heating elements.

But it’s pretty good and easy on the wallet — something that you would buy for the office perhaps.

The Stainless Steel Pick: Cuisinart CPT-160P1

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This is the Cuisinart CPT-122’s older brother.

It is more durable-looking than the previous (plastic) one with a great stainless steel design and some retro vibes.

Otherwise, it’s largely the same as CPT-122, except for the body.

The All-Digital Pick: Cuisinart CPT-420

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This is the last of the Cuisinart trio.

Featuring the same trusty innards (and the same faults) as the previous two, this small toaster looks more modern with an LCD display and all-digital controls.

This is it!

You won’t need to look for any other compact toasters anymore.

I hope I was able to help.

Cheers,

G.