Hamilton Beach 2 Slice Cool-Wall Toaster | Model# 22611 Reviews

Hamilton Beach 2-Slice Cool-Wall Toaster is a good product. There are no bells and whistles It is a basic toaster. There is a knob on the side that you can easily adjust to how light or dark you would like your toast. This toaster toast bread ,bagels or waffles very quickly and evenly. Each time I used it my results where the same. This product consistently toasted my bread products to perfection. The only thing I didn't like was that it had a strong electrical smell for the first few uses, but it quickly fades away. Overall i would recommend this toaster.

Summary: works reasonably well (but less than perfect) for "standard"-size bread. Evenness of toasting is average. Dimensions: usable slot length: 4 3/4" usable slot width:. 1 3/16" toaster length: . 10 1/4" toaster width:. . . 5 1/2" toaster height: . . 6 1/8" Pros: - Toasts at high heat, which means the bread is well-toasted on the outside while still soft on the inside. (Note: personally I like my toast "crisper", more well-toasted on the inside, but I am not typical in that regard, and that also makes the toast very crumbly.) - Darkness control is fairly firm, which means that when accidentally "bumping" the control you are not likely to change the darkness setting. Cons: - Standard-sized store bread is slightly "too tall" for the toaster. When the toaster lever is down (and the toasting in progress), the top 1/4 inch or so of the toast is still sticking out of the top of the toaster. (See picture). - Very thick bread (see slot dimensions above) will not fit in this toaster. Bread taller than a "standard" store loaf will not be toasted at the top. - Long metal sides and top of the toaster are hot to the touch when the toaster is in use and immediately after use. Note that plastic end caps (where the controls are) are cool to the touch at all times. - Toast is not easily extracted from the toaster with one hand. Two hands are typically required. (More info below.) - The evenness of toasting is average, in my opinion (see picture). First impression: the toaster is "neat and clean" looking, typical for a white toaster, and not old-fashioned looking. The weight is lighter than expected - this is not a heavy-duty kitchen appliance. Darkness control: dial, numbers range from 1 to 7. I like my toast *very* dark (a little bit of black is fine with me), and I was setting the dial to 4. As is the case with every toaster I've used, immediately toasting a second batch results in much darker toast. "Dialing back" about 3/4 on the darkness produced a properly-toasted second batch. The darkness control dial is moderately firm to turn. It does not require any notable amount of strength at all, but bumping the control is not likely to alter the setting. (I was quite pleased with this, as inexpensive toasters typically have very loose darkness control dials). The dial also has a "Cancel" setting (below 1) which causes the toast to pop up and turns off the heating elements. This is much easier than forcing the toaster lever up while toasting is in process. Toasting lever: pushes down only a very short distance. Audibly locks into place. Typically springy, it takes a very little bit of strength to push down enough to lock into place. The top of the (standard-sized) bread remains above the slot during toasting, resulting in poor toasting in that area. The metal gratings (which "grab" and center the bread when the lever is pushed down) seem to grip the bread firmly but not too firmly. Quite a good job in that regard. Toast extraction: the toast lever has very little down movement, so when the toast pops up very little of the toast is "grab-able". The toasting lever can be pushed *up* farther, raising the toast higher, and so by using two hands (one pushing the lever up, one grabbing the toast) you can easily extract the toast. Note that the lever lock is quite "strong". If you want to stop the toasting before it pops up and you do so by pushing up on the toasting lever, it does take some degree of strength and the toast is likely to pop right out of the toaster! To stop toasting early, I recommend that you use the "Cancel" feature of the Darkness control dial. It causes the toast to pop up and turns off the heating elements without causing your toast to enter Earth orbit. Evenness of toasting: (see picture) Even though in some areas burning had begun, the bread was barely toasted at all at top and sides (about 1/4 to 1/2 inch at top, 1/8 to 1/4 inch on sides). I consider the evenness of toasting to be average or typical - not bad, but not very good. I doubt people will be complaining about the toast this puts out (unless they're real nit-pickers about how evenly their toast is toasted). Of course, the "white lines" are caused by the metal grating that holds and centers the bread, and is typical of any toaster.

The good: I like the white, the toast boost which lifts the toast higher to take it out with out burning fingers, crumb tray, auto shut off and has a cancel setting if you need to change your mind about the darkness, cool touch sides are a must! The bad: For some reason items like bagels are not too wide but too tall for the slots. Seems I never get it all the way in to toast the whole piece at one time, see picture with bagel in and toaster on. Also the settings are a mystery, good one time and not the next. Basically once I put the bread, bagel etc in I dont want to leave it because I dont know if I will have to stop it from burning or start it again for more toasting. If you need a inexpensive toaster that you only use on a rare occasion then this might work fine for you. If your the kind of person who uses this every day then I would not get this one.

This is a nice toaster that stays cools and can be put away shortly after use. It toasts well and has different setting for however light or dark your prefer your toast. It doesn't take up much room if you have limited counter space, but also fits good in a cupboard! I would definetly buy this for myself or as a gift! Since it is white in color its goes with most kitchen colors.

This is a great little toaster, the walls stay cool to the touch so no accidental burns for the kids or yourself by bumping up against it. Doesn't take long for the toast to come up perfectly brown, just don't set it too high..haha. It does toast great but the higher temps will cause the toast to burn. I like not having to set it on high, I used to wait and wait for my toast on my last toaster because I had to turn it way up to get light brown toast. The toaster handles bagels, thick sliced bread, and all breakfast toaster items. It isn't too big so it doesn't take a lot of room on your valuable counter space, and that is a huge plus as there is never enough counter space. :) I would recommend this toaster to anyone, great product.

SPARK REVIEW HAMILTON BEACH (PROCTOR SILEX) TOASTER I received the toaster through the Walmart Spark Reviewer program. After removing it from the box and setting it up in our kitchen one of the first things we noticed was the exit location of the cord. The cord exits the unit from the right side near the end of the unit where the controls are. That has the cord exiting the front right side of the unit when the controls are facing us. For our situation that has the cord in a more awkward position since our outlet is to the left of where the toaster must sit. While it will fit just fine in many kitchens, in our small kitchen this design is not as convenient. Other than that small inconvenience, the toaster works well. It provides a nice range of darkness and with it adjusted to the darkest level we found that the toast was not burnt. Only cinnamon raisin bagel halves were burnt on the highest setting. (Of course we like our bread items toasted pretty dark so it wasn't a problem for us). Most bread toasted evenly on both sides. We experimented with a variety of breads including cinnamon raisin, Italian bread, frozen waffles, and thick bagel halves. When toasting the smaller slices of Italian bread, the “lift feature” that raises the bread comes in handy. While the sides of the unit get warm, we could touch it without getting burnt. However, the top of the unit does get hot and touching it should be avoided. Overall, it is a nice, simple toaster that works well and does what it is designed to do. While it would be nice if the power cord exited the back end of the unit many users will probably not find that to be an issue.

The toaster I received for free as a Spark reviewer was the basic Proctor Silex "Durable" toaster. When I contacted the Spark review program they indicated I should post the review using this link and it would be placed on the correct toaster's page. This is a good basic toaster, with wider then normal "slots" that will hold half a bagel or English muffin. It works well, but is NOT a cool-wall toaster, so you need to be sure to keep plastic bread wrappers away from the outside. The settings work as expected and the "boost" option brings the toast far enough out of the slot so you can retrieve it easily. It is a good basic toaster, but I would not pay more than $15 for it, as they are available locally for $10 or less on sale. Again if you are looking for a good basic toaster without any "bells or whistles" this is a good choice for you. You can toast bread, English muffins or bagels and they will come out as expected based on the setting you choose.

I received this Hamilton Beach 2-slice Cool-Wall White Toaster from Sparks Reviewer. It works as promised. I set the shade selector to the middle and it toasted my toast perfect just like I like. I like the fact that if I toast my mini bagels, the handle can be pushed up more after the mini bagel has toasted to be able to get the mini bagel out of the toaster without burning my fingers. The slots are wider so you can toast thicker slices of bread. Recommend this Hamilton Beach Toaster.

It's a nice little lightweight toaster. It had a "toast boost" feature that helped lift the toast higher out of the toaster, which will come in handy if the bread falls apart. The directions warned to not warm toaster pastries in it, (use a toaster oven) but if you do, always use the lowest settings, so there must be some risk of fire with the toaster pastries. But other than the warning, there's nothing complicated about using it. It has a normal dial shade selector, "0" for light toast up to "10" for dark. We like "3". It toasted evenly, and the toast was not dry, like some toasters I have owned. But I must warn you, it does get hot on the sides. This version is a Proctor Silex toaster, not the Hamilton Beach Cool Touch version. I found out later that Proctor Silex is a subsidiary company of Hamilton Beach. I'm quite happy with it. Its going to be easy to clean, and its not very big, so fits well in my little kitchen. Wide openings, so you can fit bagels in it, and maybe even english muffins, but if you do make english muffins, you will definitely use the "toast boost" feature. So, if you just need a good, little, lightweight toaster with no frills, that does what it's supposed to do well, This is it!

I got this toaster and I opened it up and I plugged it in I used it right away. I used it with raisin toast and as if anyone knows that is a hard one to toast without burning I put it on 2 and I am not kidding you again 35 seconds it popped up and it was PERFECT. I never thought much about toasters but I really did test this one out we even used waffles and you know how waffles are they get too crunchy and then they end up getting burned before they warm enough to eat I put it on 3 and a half it came back with in under a minute they popped out they were golden brown and they were perfect and I do not want too crunchy and dried out I will say that this is well worth its money and I look forward to years of great use with this. I can put in Thick pieces of toast like Texas style toast I can put in my things j bagels it that it doesn't overcook them burn them make them too crunchy so you can't eat them it does it perfect . Proctor Silex Hamilton Beach 2-slice cool wall toaster is awesome.