Toaster adventures with DeLonghi

Confession time: I am pathetic in the kitchen. Rich does all the cooking so I probably wouldn't even set foot in the kitchen if I didn't have to walk through it to reach the bathroom. So when House of Fraser asked me to review one of their toasters, I figured I would be the perfect person to write a completely honest, from-an-idiot's-perspective post! 

Unfortunately, our last toaster spontaneously combusted so we were already in need of a new one. The model I was sent is this DeLonghi Argento toaster which just looks gorgeous- it has this kind of 1960s sci fi modernist feel about it which I'm totally feeling. It may be superficial but I'm all about the image. Our exploding toaster was a retro-looking pink thing so evidently I have a very definite style in toaster taste! One thing I'm not a fan of is the way the wire is attached to one of the front corners as it wastes a valuable couple of inches and isn't quite as discreet as it would be at the back, especially since it's a black wire and stands out against the white toaster.

At first, I was a bit overwhelmed by all the knobs and buttons but it's nowhere near as complicated as it looks, thankfully. The big dial on the left alters the browning scale (between 1 and 6) whereas the three smaller buttons are designed to stop the toasting mid-session or active the defrost and reheat settings (fancy, right?) On first use, I became aware of a fairly strong smell of burning plastic, which did worry me, but the instructions manual said this was normal and thankfully I didn't have a repeat of the pink toaster's demise. I really like that the four slots are operated by two different sets of controls, so you can toast bread with different settings at the same time. Perfect for couples and families, especially if you can never agree on prime toastiness, like our household!
Within a couple of minutes, my crumpets were perfectly toasted (on the lower end of the browning scale because I'm a wuss) but I found it very difficult to retrieve them without burning my fingers, since the slot is so deep. Obviously I didn't want to go sticking things inside the toaster and was actually wondering whether I'd have to tip it upside down, before I managed to use my nails as pincers and pick them out. Another way my acrylics have changed my life. I assume it would be much easier with bread but I would have liked it if it was easier to take out the likes of crumpets and hot cross buns, especially as they're the things I most use a toaster for.
Is there anything better than warm, buttery crumpets dripping with Marmite? No. No there isn't. And now, thanks to this gorgeous toaster, I can have them whenever I want! Bloglovin' // Twitter // Instagram