Proctor-Silex 22605

According to reviewers, the Proctor-Silex 22605 is a good, no-frills toaster, but it's not without flaws. It doesn't brown bread as evenly as more expensive toasters, reviewers say, and the exterior tends to get warm. What's more, it lacks features such as a cancel button or removable crumb tray. Despite these problems, most owners are satisfied with the basic Proctor-Silex toaster and say that it does a good job for the price. There's a darkness-control dial and a lift lever, and the slots accommodate bagels as well as sliced bread. Reviewers say the KitchenAid KMTT200 (*Est. $70) is a much more consistent, better-built toaster, but it costs more than three times as much.

We read reviews of the Proctor-Silex 22605 at Amazon.com and Epinions.com. Although this toaster has not been professionally reviewed, it has accumulated more than two dozen owner-written reviews. As you might expect, these vary widely in quality, with some reviews running to several paragraphs, while others consist of a single line. Still, unlike professional reviewers, owners can comment on a toaster's long-term reliability.