Are Dualit toasters worth their price?

[Whitney168]

Need to buy a new toaster. In the past have bought everything from dirt cheap to moderately expensive. All seem to need you to flip the toast round to get anything approaching even on both sides.

Are the expensive Dualits worth the price? Am tempted to just bite the bullet and go for one.

I have a 4-slice Dualit. It’s about 10 years old. It started off fine but now I do have to turn the toast around to get it done.
But that’s as long as I have ever managed to keep a toaster so I am ok with it.

We've had ours 14 or maybe even 15 years, it has had one set of replacement elements in that time, which you can buy online. There's no mechanism to go wrong, just elements and a timer. Recently got the toaster cages for making toasties, should have got those years ago!

I've used them in several houses where I've worked as a nanny and I've never been that impressed - there always seems to be a lot of rearranging to make sure that the toast is evenly cooked. I wouldn't say it makes any better toast than my £20 breville toaster that I use at home, although mine doesn't get daily, family use.

I think they are worth it as they are repairable as PP said so feel less likely to be disposable. We bought our off ebay - one new element and a polish and it looked new

I have a 2 slice which takes Warburtons toast loaf slices with no need to turn etc. It’s 10 years old and works perfectly so, for me, it’s been worth the money.

Ours is nearly 15 years old and works fine. I've also got one in a holiday let - we decided it was worth paying extra for as ours has lasted so well. As pp said, not too many mechanisms to go wrong.

@comeundone

We've had ours 14 or maybe even 15 years, it has had one set of replacement elements in that time, which you can buy online. There's no mechanism to go wrong, just elements and a timer. Recently got the toaster cages for making toasties, should have got those years ago!

I can't work out from Dualit site whether you actually need a different toaster for sarnies, or just the cages. What happens when your cheese melts out LOL?

@Quickchangeartiste

I have a 4-slice Dualit. It’s about 10 years old. It started off fine but now I do have to turn the toast around to get it done. But that’s as long as I have ever managed to keep a toaster so I am ok with it.

So presumably this is where you're meant to replace the elements and it keeps going?

In a hospital I used to work in we had this 8 slice Dualit toaster and it made the best toast.

I’ve got a 4 slice one and it’s great, cost about £80.

They are the longest lasting toasters as there is very little to go wrong.
The elements can be replaced easily, the pop up mechanism is very simple and the timer is mechanical.

Make sure you buy the expensive old fashioned looking curvy one. The ‘architect’ range doesn’t have those features.

We've had ours for 18 years I love it. My folks had theirs for over twenty years! So yes I'd say they are worth it.

Had one for 25 years and is going in for an element replacement next week. It had repair yonks ago for I don't know what. The factory sends it back to the person who made it.

By the by, I found one on a nature strip and cleaned it up, but will have the elements replaced just in case.

Ours is 22 years old and could do with one of the elements replacing, other than that it works fine.

Had ours about 10 years and still fine. They are a classic item, go on for years and can be fixed. I hope I haven’t jinxed ours now.

Replacing the elements couldn’t be easier. You don’t need to understand anything about electronics. So long as you can operate a screwdriver you are ok.

mine is 16 years old, still going strong although I'm expecting it to need a new element soon

I think it depends on how much you like toast for whether it's worth it. Personally I wouldn't spend that much on a toaster because I don't have toast often enough to be worth it. If the choice for me was £200 or do without, then I'd just use the grill when I wanted toast. But I would spend that on a rice cooker, because I eat rice several times a week and having perfect rice at the touch of a button makes a huge difference to me. Other people wouldn't spend that if they are happy using a pan.

Ours has lasted aes. We have a 2 slice one and we got it when we moved into the home before this one - so it is about 17-18 years old.

Only thing wrong with it is that a little,bit of the silver coating at the back has started to peel a little, but in terms of toasting bread - perfect.

Yep. Agree with PP. We’ve had our 4 slice one for 15 years. We’ve replaced an element, and a knob that got damaged on a house move. It’s brilliant that they’re repairable.

I didn't even know elements etc could be changed on them.
At the moment it still toasts perfectly, but good to know in the future!

Ours is about 20 years old, used most days, still in perfect working order, it's the sort with a lever and a timer, not the pop-up type. Takes a while to get used to how long to set it for for different items. The baskets are great for things like crumpets and teacakes as well as toasties.

I must have bought a dud then, as I took mine back for a refund.

Ten years and going strong here!

One half of mine stopped working. I called them and they were pretty rude and wouldn't do anything. So I resolved not to buy dualit again.

Not sure how long we've had ours - at least 10 years- but with x4 hungry (now teen) DC it gets a lot of use and is going fine. I bought it because it is easy to get repaired if it goes wrong so yes, it is worth it.