Cuisinart CPT-122BK 2-Slice Compact Plastic Toaster, Black

Attractive, easy to use, lots of settings. Bread toasted more evenly than my old toaster. There was a kind of chemically smell when I used it the first time but this went away the next time. This was one of the top picks from NYTimes Wire-cutter. A no brainer buy if you need a new toaster.

I have purchased two of these lovely white toasters, one for myself and one for my daughter. Since then I have moved and can't find mine so I'm about to purchase a third one.It's easy to use. You have to determine your own perfect setting, just as you do with any new appliance.I love the defrost function. It's perfect for my gluten-free waffles and bagels. And if you accidentally pick the wrong setting, it has a cancel button! Brilliant!It looks nice; its a convenient size; it's affordable, and most importantly - it works perfectly!As with all new small appliances such as toasters, you will need to allow for that slight odor the first couple of times it's on. It fades away. I don't know why there's an odor, but it happens with all of them, regardless of the brand.

The plastic and build quality feels a little cheap for a Cuisinart product, but overall it’s been way more reliable than a similarly priced one I bought at the red bullseye. That one quickly started toasting unevenly and the elements died after limited use.The only time this one malfunctioned was after a power outage. I think it was stuck on bagel mode. I unplugged it for a bit and reselected the correct options and it’s been fine ever since.Overall, good value for a lower end toaster for an occasional user, if you catch it on sale. It toasts evenly in regular mode. Bagel mode is just right. If you toast a lot, I’d spend more on one of their higher end ones though.

Compared to other Cuisinart toasters I have had in the past, I was extremely disappointed with the Cuisinart 2 slice toaster CPT-122BK model. Not sure if I just got a defective one or if they are all like that, but it didn't work correctly.The toaster itself is very lightweight & low quality compared to the others I have had. It looks good & the cord is a good length & can be contained underneath. I definitely recommend a removable crumb tray & it has one. It was packaged well & I had it delivered in an Amazon box. I like the cancel, bagel & defrost options & the wide slots - unfortunately, that's the only good things about it as it didn't toast as it should.I ran a couple cycles to burn off the manufacturing residue & tested the toaster with several different types/sizes/thickness of bread at the various heat settings - all had issues. Weirdly, the pieces of toast that I scraped off the burnt parts tasted like there was cinnamon on it & I was using Texas toast & peanut butter, so there shouldn't have been a cinnamon taste. The bread was still cold even though it was burnt. It appeared brand new in the box with all of the wrappings & no crumbs in it when I unboxed it, so I don't know what happened.The plastic sides of the toaster got very hot, even on the lowest setting. The lever isn't smoothe when you press it down & you can see the red heat elements through the lever slit in the plastic. Thicker bread doesn't pop up very much when it's done. The bread carriage doesn't hold the bread in the center of the slots & it didn't settle in the same spot every time.Toasting at level 1 or 2 doesn't get the bread toasted or warm. Level 2.5 - 3.5 burns one side of the bread while the other side isn't toasted at all. Turning it over to toast the other side ends up burning both sides. Anything higher makes charcoal. There's no control at all over the toast brownness because it goes from nothing to burnt in less than 1 level. Weirdly, even when the toast was burnt, the bread wasn't warm at all. The heat elements get really red & all seem to light up, but I don't know what makes the toaster do what it does at the lower heat levels.If you like burnt cold toast, you would probably like this defective toaster.I need to have a toaster that works correctly & consistently since we use it every day for multiple people & picky eaters.Thankfully, I am able to return the toaster without leaving my house - the UPS building is about 10 miles away from my house & I don't have a vehicle right now & we don't really have any public transportation options here. UPS will pick it up at some point tomorrow & being a label to put on it. Hopefully that goes smoothly! I have already ordered a different brand toaster that has 4.7 stars - hopefully I get one that actually works well, every time.