DeLonghi Eccletica CTY4003.G (Grey)

This toaster is replacing a Braun single slice long slot toaster. The Delonghi is a nice looking unit to my eye, sort of modern/vintage hybrid. On testing the first thing I noticed was the weight ,it seemed light , but it came in at 2.83KG which is close to specs. It can tip forward so be aware that it is a possibility when pressing the levers.

It was nice to see that Delonghi have gotten rid of the previous levers which had a fault with the stuck on cap detaching , this one has solid piece levers.

The unit is stainless steel with a high gloss finish , looks really premium, but feels like plastic , and only gets warm on the sides ,however the top I recorded at over 68C so this will burn you, keep your young kids away from this.

It is 1800W total , so thats 900W per bank of two slots.

I timed my first slice of toast set on three at 2.20 min and with both elements operating it ran out at 2.42min .

I have to say, having two seperate elements makes a lot of sense in power saving and setting up one side to toast maybe crumpets .

I tried bumping the browning setting to 3.5 but this produced burnt toast, I then knocked it back to three and got a fairly even result, much better than my first attempt, so I reckon if the elements are warm than you will get better results.

I ended up going to the 4.5 to 5 setting for crumpets and will reserve the right-side slots just for crumpets, as for raisin toast, I have a couple of loaves in my freezer but will test them.

Raisin Toast ( One Loaf later)

Not quite what I expected with the slices burning on all settings. I tried going back to one but it seemed to make no difference (see phots) Probably this warrants a call to Delonghi and I will let you know what transpires An Ai generated email arrives suggesting to use the deforst button and the reheat button as you can see from the photos on defrost the toast was burnt worse and the reheat button produced nothing.

Be aware that the browning dials do not make a clicking sound when you adjust so it can be a bit vague.

I would say the adjustment is very sensitive and responds to small increments, , You will probably never use some of the lower setting and maybe the extreme top setting, but it will depend on the density of your bread, maybe sour dough will be up there with the crumpet setting.

I really do wish some manufacturer could come up with a better idea than using these elements, they have been around for a hundred years and yet we still use them, Ok I know Breville have this new system but no way will I pay $400.00 to see if it works any better.

I can remember sitting with my great grand mother near an open fire with toast on a toasting fork and that worked just fine, ahhh those were the days .

As you can see from the photos the toast sits nice and deep in the elements and it had no problem taking standard size bread with room to spare.

This does not come with a crumpet/bagel setting.

The two crumb trays are to the back of the toaster.

All in all a very nice looking toaster no better and no worse than a more expensive toaster ,but then again should you have to jump through hoops to get a toaster to toast ?

I am sorry to say that this toaster is a no buy and if Delonghi replace it I expect the same again as other reviews have pointed out this is probably a design flaw. The warranty is for one year.