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Toast is now an acceptable meal no matter the time of day. You can eat it for breakfast (good morning, avocado toast), lunch, dinner (hello, endless opportunities) or even dessert. Yes, dessert toast is officially a thing.
There’s actually science behind our boundless adoration for the crispier version of plain bread. As bread toasts, it goes through what’s called the Maillard reaction, a chemical process that makes food more flavorful. This occurs when a reaction takes place involving the sugars in bread, producing hundreds of new flavor compounds. Furanones, one of the compounds, creates a caramel-type flavor that, mixed with the warmth of the bread, makes toast more comforting and appealing.
Toast lovers who are also tech fanatics might fall head over heels for the Revolution InstaGlo R180 Toaster. This stainless-steel appliance claims to be the first touch-screen toaster that features smart technology to perform that most rudimentary of all cooking steps. With all that power under the hood, you’d probably expect a high price tag, and you’d be correct.
The toaster lists at $300 on Amazon, but that’s a good bit cheaper than the $350 it’s listed at from Revolution Cooking’s online store. It does come with a lot of bells and whistles. For starters, buyers claim it works twice as fast as a regular toaster, while the brand itself says it’s 35% faster than leading premium toasters.
With more than 60 different heating algorithms, the InstaGlo R180 is highly customizable to render your bread (or Pop Tart or frozen waffle, which each have dedicated settings) any level of toasty-ness you prefer. The touch-screen toaster uses unique metal coils to allow for evenly distributed heat and ramps up and cools down quickly. The extra-wide slots also allow room for bigger items like bagels or English muffins.
Another unique feature is the 10-second countdown clock that lets you have the butter ready to slather the moment your toast pops out. Many Amazon customers claim it toasts perfectly every time. (One woman also likes how jealous it makes her friends when they see the sleek touch screen.)
With more than 1,700 reviews so far, averaging 4.4 stars out of five, it’s got plenty of fans. One reviewer liked how she can toast frozen bread and English muffins without drying them out. And this reviewer says he finds himself toasting even when he’s not hungry because it’s “fun to use and really easy to calibrate the fine details.”
This might be the only touch-screen toaster line on the market, but if you’re fine trading a vertical toaster for a toaster oven, we recommend looking at the Tovala Gen 2 Smart Steam Large Countertop Wi-Fi Oven. This sharp convection and toaster oven comes in black and stainless steel and has five cooking modes. It’s also smartphone-controlled, letting you get that preheating started before you even get out of bed. It also comes with a library of chef-developed recipes and uses Tovala IQ to steam, bake and broil food.
If you’re looking for more recommendations, check out our sister site, Don’t Waste Your Money, where they’ve used tested methodology to round up lists of the best toasters and best convection toaster ovens on the market.
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