Toaster that looks and cooks great

When my old toaster stopped working, I knew it was time to buy another one.
Seems they do not last long in our house and I have purchased many of these appliances over the years.
Finding a good 4 slice toaster was quite a challenge.
Some were very expensive with fancy buttons and gadgets that were of no use to us.
Some were so cheaply made that you knew it was a waste of money to buy.
All I wanted was a toaster that was easy to use and did what it advertised to do to make good slice of toast.
I happened to see this Sunbeam 4-slice toaster in of all places Kroger Food Market.
I liked the design and the features of this one, so I purchased this toaster.
I am quite satisfied with this appliance and I like all the things it can do, after all it is just a toaster that is suppose to make your bread toast.
I was wrong, this little appliance can do many more things than just toast a piece of bread making it a good choice for me.

Features

This toaster has extra wide slots which will adjust to whatever size bread is put inside.
I make my own bread, sometimes no matter how you try to cut the slices perfectly even it never comes out that way, so some slices are thicker than others.
I have no problem toasting these slices as the toaster adjusts itself to allow for different thicknesses, therefore there is no worry about slices getting jammed.

Each 2 slice side has its own knob for adjusting the lightness or darkness of the slices of bread.
If there are 2 people are using this at the same time each can have the desired shade of toast they need at the same time.

There are 2 separate knobs on each side that are numbered from 1-8.
The number 1 is the lightest shade and the number 8 is the darkest.
This feature comes in handy when one side had bread in it and the other side had English Muffins as muffins need more time and a darker setting.

There is also a bagel button next to the light/dark knob.
This setting will toast bagels according to thickness as well as desired light/dark setting.
I like this button but I wish it was placed somewhere else because it can get confusing,  most people who use this think it is the stopped button that releases the bread from toasting any more.
Many times I have to go back and shut this off as the red light stays on until it is pressed down.

There is also a stopped release button under the light/dark knob.
This button will raise the toast, stopping the it from getting too dark.
After the toast rises, you can push the bread carriage lever up a little more.
This will raise the bread up higher making it easier to remove thicker slices or slices that have become jammed.
This way no one will be using a knife or fork in the carriage which can be very dangerous to do.

CLEAN-UP

On the bottom of the toaster there are 2 crumb trays that can be removed and emptied of crumbs that have fallen down.
This is a great feature, if too many crumbs build up they can catch on fire. This should be cleaned quite often to make sure that this does not happen.

You can wipe down the outside of the toaster with a damp cloth, which is easy to do as it does not get very dirty maybe only finger prints, etc.

DISLIKES

There are only a few things I don't like about this toaster that are more cosmetic more that performance.
One is that the dial that shows light/dark is the color gray and the color of the arrow that points to the number that you select is also the same gray color.
It can be hard to see.
I fixed this by using my permanent black marker and darkening the arrow so that it can be seen easier when selecting shades.

As I stated before, the bagel button should be moved away from the number knob as it is mistaken for the pop-up button.
The pop-up button is hidden under the number knob and if you didn't read directions, you would not have known it was there. It blends in with the design and can not be seen.
This should be either move or made a different color so that anyone who uses this will know it is there.

LIKES

All in all I think this is a very efficient toaster with many features that work as they are advertised to do.
This was not a very expensive toaster but it is made extremely well, not tinny and quite solid for me.
I am sure it will last for awhile and that will make it a well worth investment for me.