We have only had dualit toasters - they are great. Agree about the kettles though, they are shite. Since we have had out new kitchen we now have a swanky boiling hot water tap, never have to boil a kettle * brags *!

Dualits are made for the catering trade (Sis has an 8-slicer!) that's why they last so long.

should warn that I love ours (which I got for our "Steel" anniversary) but DH is a bit ambivalent as

- you have to set the number of slices, if you get it wrong you get burnt or half-baked ones

- the timer is clockwork. If toaster is turned off at the wall it is possible to time your toast but not toast it.

He's not too good in the mornings...

The toast is good though!

More kettle ideas please. Ours is crap. What is the automatic kettle equivalent of a Dualit toaster? Is it one of those old Russell Hobbs ones that our mums had, that you used to burn your fingers on but that lasted for 20 years?

another vote for dualit

Crikey, they are pricey though, aren't they! Just looked on John Lewis's website...

Yep, Dualit definitely. They're very simple mechanically with no flash electronics to go wrong in 5 minutes.

love my dualit too

Another Dualit fan here, 4 slots with the sandwich toaster thingies, mmm, toasted cheese.

Zazette has it right - my Dualit toaster is old.

You can order spare elements from the manufacturer, fix it and then feel satisfied with your work all day (saddo that i am!!)

Thanks everyone! So, on the whole, Dualit for toasters are good, will investigate. Not for kettles. We recently bought a kettle for a fiver from tesco and it was the shittest thing ever, it was really flimsy and if you picked it up one handed (as I seem to do everything these days, DS wants to be at my eye level in the kitchen so he doesn't miss anything) the base came up with it and made me swear ridiculously.

Why is it though, that most things in this day and age are rubbish and don't last?

Another vote for Dualit. Ours is 5 years old and good as new, the kettle has been good too again 5 years old and fine.

Both take a battering,have been in storage and survived 3 moves too!!!

We have a dualit toaster which is fab and is now about 6 years old (a record for toasters in this house)

We had a Bosch kettle for our wedding present a couple of years ago which is still going strong <touch wood>. We had given up on electric kettles previously and switched back to an on the hob jobby as got fed up with replacing them

Oooooooooohhhhhh kitchen gadgets......<<drools>>

The Krups one is a bit annoying. You have to reaaly press hard on the button to get it to boil, and if you forget to press the 'open spout' button the tap water rebounds off and drenches you and the kitchen. From bitter experience, I can suggest this is a particularly unpopular move when you have a baby in a sling.

Oh, and congratulations!

I gave my Dualit to my mum - I hated it, she loves it.

Now I have the KitchenAid one and it's fantastic.

kettle wise, we 're about to buy a new one and it's either this Krups one or this Magimix one (although the latter is very heavy and I am a bit at the price!)

Well mine isn't doing bad cat64.

I remember reading a 'Which' survey (i know - sad aren't I? ) a year or two back, wwhich said there is no such thing as a great toaster, that is guarenteed to work. It was despairing that a simple invention that had been around for years and years had not developed into a reliable usable longlasting thing. It said you got no better for spending more than you did for a fairly cheap one, and none would last.

Congratulations!

It is traditional to get 15 toasters when one weds, I think the idea is that they last a few years then you have another one to start using. Tis terribly wasteful. In these eco-diligent times, a single toaster is far more sensible.

Get a Dualit. It will bring you years of hot and delicious action. Can you guarantee the same of your new dh?

I was only married a few months though - I could have spent far less

Dualit toasters are fab (I've had mine 10 years), kettles are rubbish. They used to basically only do toasters, which were the best in the world; then they diversified into other kitcheny gadgetry, and It All Went Horribly Wrong.

I would say dualit too - we have dh's bachelor one, bought in 1992. Still going and easy for kids to use.

I don;t have a dualit kettle though, someone else I know bought a dualit kettle and was not happy with it, also for leaking.

lol at x'd posts -talk about mixed messages

If you had asked me a few years ago I would have said Dualit but having since had a £60 Dualit kettle last less than 2 yrs before leaking and being beyond repair I now wouldn't bother.

I'm sure someone will be able to recommend something though.

Have fun spending

dualit, had mine for 15 years and it is still going strong.

I can't actually believe am posting about a toaster...but we need one, ours is crap. So's the kettle, come to think of it. And we just got married last Thursday, and have a little bit of cash, and it seems fitting to spend it on sommat housey, like a toaster. Or a kettle.

Any recommendations?