They say breakfast is the most important meal of the day, but how much would you pay to have your bread perfectly toasted every morning? $50? $100?
What about $400?
No, really. Our experts have put several toasters that cost $400+ in the hot seat to see if their performance is on par with their price tag.
The verdict? In some cases the answer is a firm "no"; in others it's a solid "maybe", depending on your priorities.
We'll explain why these toasters are so expensive, how they performed in our testing, and whether they're worth your money.
On this page:
- Style over substance: The $400 toaster to avoid
- A lifetime investment: Repairable toasters
- Is the $490 Milantoast worth the money?
- Is the $525 Dualit NewGen worth the money?
- Are cheap toasters any good?
- The verdict
It certainly has a distinctive look, but does that justify the Bugatti's price tag?
The toasters with a big price for your slice
We've tested a few expensive toasters in our labs. There's the retro-styled Dualit NewGen that retails for $400 for a two-slice model and $525 for the four-slice version, while the more unassuming two-slice Milantoast costs $490.
Then there's the unusual-looking Bugatti Volo that costs $439 for a white model, and $799 for a gold-coloured exterior.
They're expensive for quite different reasons.
The Dualit and Milantoast are the Teslas of toast: environmentally friendly, but a big upfront investment
The Dualit and Milantoast are designed to be completely repairable so they'll supposedly last a lifetime.
They aren't quite the Ferraris of the toaster world – although with prices that high you could be forgiven for thinking so. Rather, they're more like the Teslas of toast: environmentally friendly, but a big upfront investment.
In keeping with the car theme, while the Bugatti toaster sounds like it's made by the excruciatingly expensive car brand, it's actually an entirely different company that makes kitchen appliances and other kitchen products.
With the Bugatti, you're paying more for… well, we're not sure really
With the Bugatti, you're paying more for… well, we're not sure really. The aesthetic? (Questionable.) The brand? (It's not *that* Bugatti.) The cred of owning an $800 toaster? (Some people must be impressed by that kind of thing.)
We'll discuss the Bugatti separately to the Dualit and Milantoast toasters since they're very different creations.
Style over substance: The $400 toaster to avoid
Spending $400 on a toaster might seem like a questionable idea, but you know what's even more questionable? Spending $400 on a toaster that's not very good at its one job.
Enter the Bugatti Volo: a $439 toaster that's one of the lowest scoring models in our review.
While its eye-watering price tag might seem excessive, this is actually the cheap version. If you thought $400 was too much for a toaster, how does $800 sound?
You can buy the Bugatti Volo in a denim, embossed gold or 'newspaper' finish for €900... but why would you?
We bought the $439 white model for our testing, but if you're feeling especially fancy you can drop $799 on a gold or rose gold version.
In Europe you can even pick up a 'newspaper', denim, leather or embossed gold or black version for a cool €900. Wow.
We checked with the manufacturer and the only difference between the white version and the more expensive models is the coating – which means that no matter how much you pay for a Bugatti Volo, you'll get the same performance.
And that performance is in no way proportionate to its price tag.
With a CHOICE Expert Rating of just 56%, the Bugatti Volo is one of the lowest scoring toasters in our review, which has earned it a place in our list of toasters to avoid.
It was even outclassed by a $7.50 Kmart toaster on virtually every test we conducted. Awkward.
The Bugatti Volo is available in a range of leather finishes.
So what's so bad about it?
Our experts rated it as 'Poor' for toasting evenness and cooking multigrain bread and frozen bread. It's slightly better at turning out the same coloured toast cycle after cycle and at toasting a single slice of bread, but it still only scored 55% on these tests.
Oh, and it's difficult to clean – so you'll spend all that money for a flash toaster but you'll struggle to keep it looking flash.
"The Bugatti didn't look or feel any different in terms of build quality from other generic-brand toasters we've tested," says CHOICE expert tester Adrian Lini.
"It's made in China like cheaper toasters and there were minor defects in the appearance that aren't in keeping with a high-quality, expensive designer product.
The Bugatti didn't look or feel any different in terms of build quality from other generic-brand toasters we've tested
Adrian Lini, CHOICE expert tester
"If you compare that to the Dualit and Milantoast, they're both made in their brand's country of origin (the UK and Italy respectively), which is rare these days, and all of their components are made from metal where possible."
Plus it only has a two-year warranty, which is pretty standard for most toasters, but then most toasters don't cost anywhere near this much.
If it fails after those two years, you could be left with an expensive paperweight.
If you have this much money to spend on a toaster, our experts suggest you don't spend it on this one
(Given the price, you could argue that you should receive a repair, replacement or refund under the Australian Consumer Law as a reasonable person would expect an expensive toaster to last more than two years, but you may have a battle on your hands considering that companies frequently flout consumer law.)
If you have this much money to spend on a toaster, our experts suggest you don't spend it on this one.
Check our review for the best toasters to find one that'll give you better toast for your dough.
The most expensive toaster in our test, the Dualit NewGen is designed to be repaired over and over again.
A lifetime investment: Repairable toasters
While the Bugatti Volo is more about style than substance, the makers of the Milantoast and Dualit NewGen had a firm focus on substance when they designed these two toasters.
That's not to say they lack style – but there's more to them than just a slick exterior.
What are they, and how much do they cost?
Dualit NewGen 4 Slice Toaster D4VMHA
- Warranty: 5 years
- Price: $525
Dualit NewGen 2 Slice Toaster D2VMHA AU
- Warranty: 5 years
- Price: $400
Milantoast 2 Slice Toaster AU7205
- Warranty: 5 years (parts) and 10 years (labour)
- Price: $490
At $400, this two-slice model is the 'cheaper' Dualit NewGen.
So why are they so expensive?
They're designed so that every component can be replaced or repaired.
So instead of having to chuck your toaster when the element dies or the lever stops working, you can just have the part replaced or repaired and then continue on your merry toasty way.
Both Dualit and Milantoast claim the toasters will last a lifetime, so you'll be preventing the tens of toasters you would otherwise buy over the years from ending up in landfill.
Both companies claim the toasters will last a lifetime, so you'll be preventing tens of toasters from ending up in landfill
It's the equivalent of buying good-quality clothes and repairing them rather than buying fast fashion and throwing things out when they inevitably wear out sooner than they should.
So are these toasters worth 500 bucks? It really depends on your priorities – and your budget. For many of us, a $500 toaster just isn't affordable. However, if you've got cash to burn but don't want the planet to, it might seem like a good investment in the future.
Manual toasters take some getting used to
Both the Milantoast and the Dualit use analog controls, meaning they use an old-fashioned timer dial, and when toasting is complete, you'll need to manually raise the toast out of the carriage using a lever (although this does help keep it warm).
"Getting good results with a manual toaster like this requires a lot of trial and error – and probably plenty of under or overcooked toast," says CHOICE appliance expert Kim Gilmour.
"You can get better results but you'll need to persevere. It's a learning curve."
Is the $490 Milantoast worth the money?
Spending almost $500 on a toaster is a serious investment, so how does the Milantoast stack up?
Not well, unfortunately.
Like the Bugatti, the Milantoast makes it into our hall of shame for being one of the lowest scoring toasters in our review.
With a CHOICE Expert Rating of just 54%, it only out-scored a $29 Kmart toaster by a miniscule one percentage point.
It shares the lowest toasting evenness score in our tests (20%) with a $49 Kmart Anko toaster and our experts rated it as 'Poor' for toasting multigrain bread.
But one of the most noticeable issues with this toaster was toasting consistency. To test toasting consistency, our experts run four cycles one after the other to see how well the toaster can reproduce the B4 colour pictured above.
The Milantoast produced inconsistent results in our test.
Plenty of cheap toasters aced this test, but the way the Milantoast works makes consistency an issue. It is designed to save energy by holding the heat from the first toasting cycle, which means it doesn't need to run as long for subsequent cycles.
This means that the first cycle takes significantly longer, and then you need to reduce the cooking time for the next cycles (or you could end up with burnt toast).
In our toasting consistency test this meant that in the first run, it produced undercooked toast, and then its residual heat meant that the remaining cycles produced inconsistent results.
Even using the company's suggested method, the results were still far from consistent.
Our testing method is based on real-world use, but considering the Milantoast's special design, we also tested the toaster using their suggested method, which involves reducing the toasting time for subsequent cycles.
While this produced slightly better results, the toast was still very inconsistent.
The biggest selling point of the Milantoast is that it's fully repairable.
But while its longevity certainly is a positive, it could definitely work out to be a negative: you'll be stuck with a toaster that doesn't toast well for the rest of your life.
Is the $525 Dualit NewGen worth the money?
Another repairable toaster, the Dualit NewGen can also be pulled apart and repaired. The four-slice version is $35 more than the Milantoast and the two-slice version is $400, but is it worth the extra money?
The Dualit delivered far more even and consistent results than the Milantoast.
For around the same price as the Milantoast, you'll get four toast slots with the larger model (the Milantoast only has two), a five-year warranty – and far better performance.
It did well on many of our tests, particularly on toasting evenness and consistency.
It also toasts faster. And since time is money, maybe you'll recoup some of the money you dropped on buying it?
Regardless of how good it looks on a kitchen counter, it does have some weaknesses. While it performed well in our testing overall, our experts found that it isn't great at toasting frozen bread.
Its simplicity is a big drawcard in that it makes the toaster easy to repair, but it can also be a drawback – its manual design means that you'll have to be more involved in the toasting process and our testers also noted it was "significantly difficult to clean".
That's not likely to be an issue for engaged home cooks, but if you're not a morning person you might be better off sticking with a toaster that'll do all the work for you.
Are cheap toasters any good?
Four of the five toasters recommended by our experts cost less than $100, so clearly you don't need to spend a fortune to get great results.
However, there's no guarantee that cheaper appliances will last a long time, which means you may have to replace them after a couple of years. That's a lot of toasters going into landfill!
According to our research, a regular toaster will last anywhere from two to six years, depending on how much you spend on them – higher-end toasters do tend to last longer, while cheaper ones often have a shorter lifespan.
(This is just a rough guide: even expensive toasters can fail before their time, and cheaper ones can kick on for years.)
The verdict
If you have $500 to spend on a toaster and sustainability is important to you, then the Dualit NewGen could be a good investment (we certainly recommend it over the Milantoast), whereas spending that money on the Bugatti makes no sense at all.
But while the Dualit NewGen might save you money in the long term, for some, the upfront cost will be too much.
If you have $500 to spend and sustainability is important to you, the Dualit NewGen could be a good investment
If the $500 price tag is out of reach for you, you're probably better off buying a good-quality toaster that you shouldn't need to replace too quickly.
And since you'll hopefully be toasting with it for five to six years, you'll want to make sure it works well: check our reviews to find the best toasters.
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Stock images: Getty, unless otherwise stated.
