Best Toasters Under $50
These highly rated appliances prove you can get a perfect slice (or full batch) without a spendy price tag
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Consumer Reports currently rates 100 toasters in a range of prices from as low as $9 to as much as $300. But if you’re looking for a toaster that does its fundamental job and does it well, our rigorous testing suggests that $50, or even less, is all you need.
In our evaluations, we compare slices of bread toasted in each model against an industry-standard toast color chart established by the Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers. While set to medium, each toaster is judged on how well it makes a single slice of toast, as well as a full batch—two or four slices depending on the model. All of the models in this roundup excel in our color range and full batch tests.
We also consider convenience factors in our assessment, including how easy it is to use each toaster, how much effort is needed to clean it, and how long it takes to get your toast to that optimal golden-brown shade. A toaster should also be easy to use, efficient, and help you get toast on the table (even if it’s a dorm room study desk) expeditiously.
CR members can visit our toaster ratings page for the full breakdown of all the toasters we test and read on for a quick take on the best performers under $50—ordered by Overall Score.
Best Toasters Under $50
The Beautiful by Drew Barrymore 19039 aces all our tests, nabbing the second spot in our overall toaster ratings (behind the more expensive Breville A Bit More BTA720XL 2-Slice). This model excels at our color-range, full batch, and one-slice tests. What’s more, this two-slice standout is fairly easy to clean and use.
This affordable Cuisinart CPT-122 delivers an overall solid performance and comes with cord storage as well as defrost and reheat settings—features you don’t always see on more budget-friendly models. It turns out a perfectly browned piece of toast in our full batch and one-slice tests, and does so rather quickly. You can also expect cleaning to be fairly easy.
This Dash Clear View DVTS501GY 2-Slice delivers an overall solid performance—earning excellent scores for color range and ease of cleaning. It also turns out a perfectly browned slice of toast (and full batch of slices) in our tests. Finally, it earns a very good score for toasting time, meaning it turns out slices rather quickly.
If tailored settings are your thing, the Chefman Smart Touch RJ31-SS-T 2-Slice is your match. It has fixed presets for regular bread and bagels, and a defrost setting. It even has cord storage and a cancel button. When it comes to toast, this model performs excellently in our full batch and very well in our one-slice tests, and the toasting time is pretty quick. It is worth mentioning that it is average when it comes to cleaning, so you can expect to get a few trapped crumbs stuck in the toaster.
Toasters haven’t changed much over the last century and this budget-friendly Hamilton Beach is proof of that. While it’s about as basic a model as you can get, it delivers top-tier toast. It’s the cheapest toaster in this roundup, coming in at under $30, and it excels in nearly all of our tests. Despite its rudimentary design, it does have a cancel button for when you need to stop the toasting process in its tracks and wide enough slots to fit bagels.
How CR Tests Toasters
Our test engineers toast hundreds of slices of bread to find the best and worst two-slice and four-slice models, scoring every slice against an industry-standard toast color chart established by the Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers, which has nine colors, ranging from very light to burnt.
While set to medium, each toaster is judged on how well it makes a single slice of toast as well as a full batch—two or four slices—depending on the model. The best of these models deliver an evenly browned medium toast that matches the shade on the toast color chart.
In addition to the tests that help you determine the quality of your toast, we consider convenience factors, including how easy it is to use each toaster and how much effort is needed to clean it. We also evaluate how long it takes to get your toast to that standard golden-brown shade. It turns out most toasters do pretty well on that test, says Kenneth Sutton, CR’s test engineer who oversees toasters. He says results are very similar across the board, with each model typically delivering a batch within a reasonable amount of time or quicker (1.5 to 3 minutes for two slices).
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