To think toasters are annoying and impossible to clean properly?

[MixedFamily]

How do you toast your bread? My old toaster just died and am considering not replacing it as I find it so difficult to keep up with the cleaning, even if removing the trays, shaking upside down etc, crumbs will always stay in.
We do eat a fair amount of toasted bread but was thinking maybe the oven or just a hot pan will do?

Our toaster died and we used a panini press temporarily. Butter the bread first for reallt crispy toast! Much easier to clean, and we got the one with different 'plates' used for making waffles, griddle lines etc

Toasters are so annoying. Bit of an overkill but Agas make the best toasts.

You clean your toaster? I clear the tray every now and then and very occasionally (like every 6 months maybe) shake it upside down but that's about it!

Same! What else is necessary? It’s not as if toasted crumbs are going to be harbouring lethal bacteria, is it?

People on MN LOVE cleaning.

Shake it once every 6 months. No food poisoning here.

My SMEG toaster is a PITA. I pull the tray out and empty the evident crumbs every time we use it, but even when you turn it upside down and hear the other, larger crumbs rattling about inside, they still don't come out and a horrible burning smell often ensues. Bad design.

I don’t think I’ve ever cleaned my toaster. I’ve had it since the nineties and it’s still going strong (Dualit).

My grill died and I haven't fixed it yet. Bought a toaster to tide us over. Hate it. Hate hate hate it.

Who cleans a toaster. What is there to clean about it?

We have a ninja combi oven now anyway and that does toast

Actually I only do it because am scared of attracting mice🤪

If mice can get in, they will find something to eat whether you clean your toaster or not. I actually did have mice, and they did go in the toaster crumb tray. So I can confirm that it's possible to deep clean a dualit toaster.

Our toaster never had a crumb tray, not sure what this is. I never cleaned it anyway. Wiped the outside. From time to time.....

I clean my toaster once a week, and do top up wipes every other day. I find them a lot easier to keep clean than the microwave.

How^^ does one clean a toaster?
Other than taking the crumb tray out and shaking the toaster over the bin, and giving the outside a wipe down every year once in a while, what else is there to do?

Totally agree with ManuelCanova. Sorry, that’s probably not that helpful. But they are the best at toasting, straight on the simmering plate, and any crumbs burn off without messing up your surfaces. I was lucky enough to move to a house that already had one, I’m not sure I would have purchased one solely for the purpose of toasting 😂.

Golly!
I um........ tip mine upside down and empty the crumb tray a few times a year....... (mostly when its 2am and Im annoyed cos Im awake and downstairs having decided that boiling the kettle for a hotwater bottle is the only option if Im going to get to sleep)
I dont think Ive ever wiped a toaster tbh........ not unless theres something obviously sticky etc on it. Toasters dont in my experience need frequent attention.
Why would a toaster need cleaning several times a week?

Amazed there isn't some sort of stiff little brush you could do the insides with. In the Lakeland catalogue.

realises business opportunities with toothbrush manufacturers and writes to Deborah Meaden

I'm with you OP - I have a toaster that I don't even use and it gives me the rage. My parents use it when they stay with me and I find crumbs everywhere for months afterwards 🤬

Someone once told me they found a mouse in their toaster. It jumped out when they switched it on!

I saw the aftermath of a house fire caused by one in my neighbourhood growing up. The crumbs caught on fire 🔥 when a kid was making toast home alone. Did not have a happy ending as the kid had been locked inside while mum went to work.

I clean my toaster once a week, and do top up wipes every other day. I find them a lot easier to keep clean than the microwave.

What are you wiping exactly...?

The outside.

I have found my toaster hating tribe! When I am a widowed empty nester I am going to bin my the toaster and then ban bread from my house entirely.

We grill our bread as it tastes better for us but don't really bother cleaning the toaster if I'm being honest. We'll give it a bit of a wipe for the crumbs every now and then

I love my toaster. I’ve asked my DD to make me a talking one just like on Red Dwarf.