Sage The Smart Toast BTA845 toaster review

Read our full review of the best toasters to buy.

This toaster, made by Sage with Heston Blumenthal, might be eye-wateringly pricey, but it’s a joy to use and ticks almost every box.

The accompanying booklet explains the science of toasting (this is Heston, after all), pointing out that the Maillard reaction means that sugary loaves such as fruit bread will brown faster – hence the addition of a dedicated fruit-bread setting.

There's also a crumpet setting (which works equally well with bagels), the ‘a bit more’ setting for added toasting time, the ‘quick look’ feature to peek at your toast's progress, and a frozen function, all of which are provided for each slot of the toaster.

The only thing missing is a warming option which, along with the price, is all that prevents this toaster from receiving perfect marks.

There are no levers here, just buttons – and we admit to feeling a bit excited when watching the bread smoothly descend into the body of the toaster as if riding a lift. The lack of levers also means the latch won’t eventually wear out, a common complaint with some toasters.

But this toaster also browns well, and handles bagels, crumpets and both thick and thin breads with ease.

Taller slices are a bit of a squeeze horizontally, but they still brown evenly, and toast almost to the top when placed vertically in the extra-wide slots.

The indicator lights tell you how long you’ve got left to toast, and there are crumb trays located at the front. Although the unit is quite heavy, it has a cable tidy to help with storage.

Overall, using this toaster made us feel like we were making breakfast with the help of a friendly robot – which made our morning just that touch more exciting.

Specifications:
Cancel button: yes
Browning settings: five
Extra features: 'a bit more', 'quick look', crumpet/fruit bread and frozen settings
Wattage: 2000w
Dimensions: 29 x 28 x 20cm
Weight: 4.4kg

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This review was last updated in July 2019. If you have any questions, suggestions for future reviews or spot anything that has changed in price or availability, please get in touch at goodfoodwebsite@immediate.co.uk.

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