Russell Hobbs Brooklyn 4 Slice Toaster RHT94

Bought the matching toaster and kettle set because I liked the simple design and they were in a reasonable price range. Unfortunately, I've had problems with the toaster. It looks great but doesn't always toast evenly and I'm about to return my second one because after 8 months a fault has developed and it trips the electrical circuit in the… Read more

house. The first one lasted 8 months, and now the second one has done the same thing, again at 8 months.

I'll be getting a different brand of toaster, that doesn't match my kettle now.

Great if you are toasting more than 1 slice – One of the key factors to consider is how evenly and consistently the toaster toasts bread. Does it provide consistent results across different types of bread and toasting settings? 1 piece of bread, 2 pieces of bread, 3 pieces of bread, and 4 pieces of bread were used to test the toaster. One piece of bread properly toasts on one side while… Read more

burning the other side. Defiantly not even. Please refer to photos. The bread is toasted to perfection on both sides in two, three, and four slices. For that reason, this toaster is not for you if you are toasting a single piece of bread however if you are always toasting more you will get way more consistency.

My kids found the controls hard to press down and not as user-friendly like our other toaster? In saying that it isn't difficult just took them time to get use to pressing down a little harder. It's easy to adjust settings to achieve the desired level of toasting.

The removable crumb tray is easy to pull out and clean. The outside surfaces are also easy to clean.

The toaster is stylish looking.

This toaster feels sturdy and well-made.

The inability to toast one single slice of bread is why I only awarded this three stars.

A pretty, easy to use toaster (with excellent crumb drawers) – Having just recently been asked to provide a review for 'Brooklyn's' sister toaster, 'Addison', I felt inclined to share a more positive experience with the Russell Hobbs 4 slice toaster. The short and curly of it is that this is an excellent toaster that is: 1. appealing to the eye with its silver, copper and black features. 2. Has large dials… Read more

and buttons that are easy to read and to use 3. 2 x crumb drawers that pop out individually at the back of the toaster allowing you to clean easily. 4. It's light making it easy to move in and out of the cupboard as needed. 5. It's been serving our family toast every single day for about 3 years without fault and it's still going.

We toast bread from frozen daily so the defrost feature is essential for us. It consistently toasts evenly regardless of bread type and pops high enough to get the toast out without burning oneself. The high raise feature of the toaster is handy for smaller foods like crumpets.

My only critique would be the groove that goes around the rim of the toaster as it catches crumbs and is difficult to clean. The toaster could do without this unnecessary addition.

I highly recommend it.

Good-looking, reliable, money-saving gem – I said to a friend last week that it is hard to write a review about a toaster. You put bread in the top, you wait a while, and it comes out brown and a bit warm and crunchy. Some toasters do it using elements or timers or lifters that work a bit differently, but nothing has really changed in perhaps 50 years. I had also been a bit of a toaster… Read more

snob for the last decade, only opting for the posh Dualit toasters with their “ye olde world” charm and replaceable parts list that can come to me straight from the motherland. It's better for the environment after all, if I can keep my 20 year old toaster and replace its elements and timer every 10 years with parts costing roughly half the price of a brand new toaster. So when my copper-based Russell Hobbs toaster and kettle came straight from the supplier to my front door, and I unboxed them, uncoiled the cables and set them on the dining table for my wife to admire when she came home, I was quite surprised with what happened next. The double-the-price Breville glass kettle went into the cupboard next to the posh toaster that only comes out when in use, and the new Russell Hobbs toaster and kettle set now live on the bench. I didn't see that coming, but OK. It might surprise you that toasting originally came about as a means of preserving bread. You see, by removing some of the moisture content, bread becomes more resistant to mould. So any bread that was about 2 days old could be sliced and toasted to make it last another 5 days. But now we have freezers and semi air-tight containers that can achieve the same kind of success. This is where the Russell Hobbs toaster design fits straight into your kitchen effortlessly. Once you retrieve a rigid loaf of Helga's from the freezer, and separate the appropriate number of slices using a garden spade or meat cleaver, there is a button on the front of the toaster that says Defrost. If you press this button at the commencement of a round, it will wave an internal magic wand and deliver your toast to you just as brown as you normally have it when the bread is fresh. And a good starting number, for new buyers, is three. Turn that dial to 3 out of the box and you'll get a slice of bread that's not too light and not too dark. But a word of caution to all you raisin toast and brioche lovers – the high sugar and fat levels in this bread makes it go brown really quickly, so start on a lower number or get ready to swoosh a tea towel past the smoke detector for a few minutes. The Reheat button is also a bit snazzy. If you got a bit distracted packing lunches, rubber-necking past the TV, or putting that cable, banana, or thermos into your bag and the toast got cold, just drop it back into the toaster (sans butter, marmalade or other toppings) and give it a bit of a jooj and you'll be back on track with warm toast again. Also works great with pastries that fit, small croissants, banana bread, and oldish Danishes that might be a bit chewy. Drop them in, push the button, and it's like they're straight out of the oven. The high lift feature is sneaky-handy. You know when you have the warm butter ready next to the maple syrup and the toaster pops the crumpets up but they're still too low to grab… ugh! Well, now you don't need to reach for the wooden tongs – you just manually lift the toast push-down levers and the crumpets come up an extra few centimeters. But keep in mind these levers are a bit temperamental. They require a firm push down, and if the cord isn't plugged into the wall and the power switched on, the levers won't stay depressed. A handy means of knowing you're experiencing a black-out, but the lights will also be off, and the microwave will also not be showing you the time. :) For the penny pinchers, the toaster runs on 2 separate channels so you can toast 2 slices or 4 and they have independent settings. So on the left you can cook 2 slices of Helga's Pumpkin Seed and Grain on darkness setting of 3 and on the right you can do 2 crumpets on the highest setting. Each channel will eject when the cycle is finished. It's like having 2 toasters built into 1 box. If you're only cooking 2 slices of bread you also only use the power of 2 slots instead of 4, saving you a bit of money each time. I love the crumb trays. They are a push-in-push-out design accessible from the back of the toaster. Press on the word that says Push and each tray will pop out for you to grab and empty before slotting it back into place. Tip the trays upside down over an empty sink and knock them a couple of times on the side of the sink and you're good to go. What we found needing attention was a gutter around the top of the toaster that tended to get crumbs stuck in it. The toaster also doesn't give an indication of how much time is left to wait before the toast is ready. Is setting number 3 a wait time of 3 minutes? On the Dualit, the timer works its way back to zero and then the toast is ready, so as you are skating along the kitchen tiles at 6am, you can see how much time is left at each passing glance. If you have little people in the house, they copy what you do when you're not around, so make sure you have good habits and you verbalise what you're doing. You might say something like “stay calm, unplug the toaster, wait for an adult, never use metal things in a toaster, only wood". It's also helpful to blacken a couple of slices of toast so they can experience smoke, the smell, the smoke alarms going off and watching you stay calm, unplug the toaster, and calmly say “that didn't go well, did it". If you liked this review, please click the Helpful Button.

Does what a toaster should do - reliable toast! – Extremely happy with this toaster. I’m always not sure whether to get the 2 or 4 toasters and change this often when getting a new toaster but I’m glad I got the 4 toaster this time. It has seperate controls for both sides and a few usable buttons. There is no unnecessary bells and whistles which I love. It is stylish and elegant with the brass… Read more

features. The stainless steel can smudge a little but it’s no big deal. I love the crumb tray and it’s easy and quick to use. It stores easily and plugs in easily. Now to the toasting. Really happy that it browns evenly and I hope this feature stays consistent. The number one function in my opinion of a toaster is that it browns evenly and yet so many purchases I’ve made with toasters not browning evening is high. It also doesn’t dry out the bread and make it hard. Win win. It’s affordable yet you get the style of something more pricey. I really recommend this toaster.

An Excellent Choice for Any Family – Reviewed as part of the Ambassador Program on the strict understanding that I remain unbiased. We have used this toaster for a good couple of weeks and we are very satisfied with it. It is marketed with several features listed. I will address each one: 1. Split Carriages for 2 or 4-Slice Toasting. I mark this 9/10. It's a bordering… Read more

essential feature for any family, and it works well enough.

2. A 2 year Warranty. 10/10

That's nice to have.

3. Extra Wide Slots. 10/10

It does indeed take standard-thickness bread as well as thick raisin bread.

4. High Lift. Easily 10/10

A very nice touch that works great. No more fishing around for smaller items such as crumpets is a real plus point. Please see the picture of a smaller slice of bread raised.

5. Defrost Function. 8/10

Works well enough. It's not something I will likely use much as I have long since been used to just lessening or extending the time manually, but it's a feature I am sure some will appreciate.

6. Reheat Function. 9/10

I have used this and I will continue to. More than once I have burned too many slices forgetting to turn off a toaster on time. I consider this a handy feature.

7. Soft Touch Accents. I mark this 7/10.

Nothing is greatly reassuring if you are looking for a Germanic feeling build quality. However, nothing feels cheap either.

In addition to the above features listed by the manufacturer, I have created my own categories for this review.

Evenness of Toasting. I mark this 8/10.

In the real world, this toaster performs as well as any I can remember.

Away from my reviewing people just consumed their toast and thought no more of it, so that's good I think.

I think it best just to look at the pictures and judge yourself. In my opinion, it's an excellent showing, but short of perfection in a world where I don't think perfection exists and something I soon forgot about when I stopped looking for it.

Speed and Efficiency. 10/10

This is excellent. Slices pop up in about the time two large mugs of water are boiled in the Russel Hobbs Kettle (RHK92COP).

Conclusion

I was asked to review this product alongside a Russel Hobbs Kettle (RHK92COP). Please refer to my separate full review for that, but suffice it to say I think they complement each other well.

Things are very competitive at this price point but I think this option merits serious consideration. It seems to represent good value, whilst also making great toast in a family-ready solution.

Perfect toaster! – This is a great toaster - particularly for a family. You can use both sides at the same time (4 pieces) without any issues. It looks fantastic and I really like how it looks with the matching kettle. I've never had to use the heat setting above 3.5 for normal toast. It toasts fruit toast better on a lower 2.5 setting. The reheat function is… Read more

great - it heats without further toasting. I haven't had a need to use the defrost option - I use frozen bread and it cooks fine without using defrost. I've used the reheat option for defrosting my frozen bread for sandwiches and it works really well. I haven't had any issues with the toast being toasted only on one side - a welcome change from my previous toaster! It's easy to clean too. Highly recommended!!

It toasts. $100 worth of toasting, that is for you to decide – Reading my own review below I realised that I may have overdone it ever so slightly - length wise. Hence here is the TL;DR version. The Good: - It does its job toasting bread ok. - The crumb trays have a very nice push and pop-out opening system. - The buttons are easy to operate and the turn buttons have a nice clicky feeling to them. The… Read more

Not-So Good: - The High Lift system that is supposed to make it easy to remove toasted bread from the slots definitely does not lift high enough. Higher, way higher please. - Any bread that is not completely flat can easily gets caught on a horizontal wire/bar that sits a few cm below the top inside the bread slots (see Photo). - The stainless steel parts double up as a finger print collection device. - $100+ (it is after all just a toaster).

And some minor annoyances: - The faux copper buttons do not match the colour of the supposedly 'matching' Brooklyn Kettle. - Neither does the blue light surrounding the buttons match the blue LED light of the kettle. - The stainless steel parts double up as a finger print collection device. - Push down buttons to lower the bread slices do not line up 100% when not in use. ______________________

Here I am, grappling with the existential crisis of reviewing a Toaster and Kettle combination. This review is for the toaster part, a toaster, mind you, with an RRP of over $100. This baby better be really good, that is all I am thinking.

But ok, I move my $25 eBay toaster aside and replace it with this piece of ... art. After all, according to russelhobbs.com, this toaster "with copper accents brings an element of warmth". And the "hint of copper can add a relaxed rustic feel" and "adds a balance of modernity". And it "creates a fusion of design trends that blend together perfectly".

I just love it when marketing people get a task to sell something unremarkable, like a toaster. The task of selling toasters must rank alongside receiving socks on Christmas morning in a symphony of mundanity. Does it get any less exciting?

That's when terms like "rustic feel" and "fusion of design trends" exit their natural environment of art galleries and chardonnay sipper's hippie cafes only to enter a kitchen appliance web site. Russell Hobbs, meet The Onion - a cosmic collision of satire and fake copper buttons. As I peruse russelhobbs.com, I half-expect my toaster to break into interpretive dance while reciting Nietzsche.

Having said all that, I did actually try it out over the past weeks and I asked the rest of the family to assist. I convened a council of toaster-testers, ages spanning from rebellious teen to seasoned sage. Even Tillie the dog cocked an eyebrow, though her vote was disqualified due to species bias.

So here we go. What's important for a toaster? Well, it needs to toast bread. White bread, dark bread, frozen bread, fresh bread, thick bread, thin bread, bread with seeds and without and so on. You get the gist, I do not have to do much more of my admittedly poor Bubba Shrimp and Forrest Gump impression.

Does this toaster do that? Yes it does. I have not tried the defrost function and neither have any of the co-reviewers, so let's for the sake of ease here assume that the defrost function works.

What else is there? According to the Russel Hobbs website, one of the key features is the "High Lift" that results in, allow me to quote, "No more burning your fingers or needing to use some tongs to get your toast out". Sounds great, 5 stars for copy writing skills, but 1 star for the engineering side of this feature. What can I say, it is just simply not true, the lift of the High Lift is not high at all.

How high is high enough, one could of course ask. Let's put some numbers down. The little lifters the toasts sit on lift all the way to 7 cm below the top of the toaster. Probably high enough for a standard piece of bread, but you are out of luck the moment you are talking non-Wonderbread style delicacies like Luneberger Sunflower Rye rolls (you need to try those btw), a snuggly curled up butter croissants or whatever else a chic designer bakery fitting this artfully designed appliance may sell. What makes things worse is that the guiding wire grid inside the toast slots has a horizontal (!) wire running across approximately 4/5 up from the bottom. Anything inside a toaster that is horizontal and near the bread slot is almost by definition going to interfere with the vertical movement of the bread. That horizontal bar is in the perfect spot for your curly croissant to get caught on.

Back to the drawing board, guys. The good news is you don't have to rewrite the description of the "High Lift" system at all. In fact you can take it as a goal for what you are trying to achieve.

The toaster has removable trays at the bottom that catch crumbs, pretty much like any other toaster I have ever seen. These trays however have the neatest opening mechanism I have come across. Press on the flush handle and they pop out. Very nice. The trays catch about 50% of the crumbs, the other 40 percent you get out by taking the toaster over to your sink and shaking it in all directions, mixing up upside down and right side up shakes. The last 10% remain inside, only to be heard but never to be seen again. One of those mysteries. Pretty much like with every other toaster I have ever seen.

The dials that determine the toasting intensity (meaning time until pop) are nice and smooth and have a re-assuring click. Not sure what it assures me of, but I thought that sounded smart for a review like this.

There are buttons for "cancel", "reheat" and "defrost" modes that neatly light up when pressed. Well ok. I thought I mention that.

What about the looks, the feeling when the "metallic aspect adds a balance of modernity" to your kitchen?

You may have figured by now that looks don't do much for me, but that does not mean that they are not important to others. Some of those others even are members of the aforementioned co-reviewer team living with me. They did appreciate the supposed design improvement over the designer and nameless previous toaster. They did however also point a few design intricacies out to me that I would argue need to be mentioned:

- The "copper chrome accents" (which definitely are not copper by the way) do in fact not match the colour of its matching copper counterparts on the Brooklyn Kettle, which I was also asked to review.

- the aforementioned lights around the buttons are a totally different shade of blue than the blue LED that lights up the inside of the "matching kettle".

- The stainless steel parts collect finger prints. I thought we had solved that fingerprints on appliances issue a few decades ago.

- A little beef of mine is that the two push down handles that sit prominently centre stage on the toaster front face, do not 100% line up when not in use. The right one is ever so slightly higher than the left one. I don't think this is an anomaly of my very model, it is in fact even visible on the official website (or maybe only I can see it - have a look).

Now those points, if you ask me, are a bit ironic, considering that looks and design really are the only thing that set expensive toasters apart from less expensive ones. If your thing is looks, if you are targeting the people who appreciate art and design and value optical impressions, for whom design forms the pièce de résistance, the crescendo of kitchen culture, then you better get that part right. Otherwise you are just selling an expensive toaster. One that, oh my gosh, does not match my kettle.

It toasts and looks great doing it – A genuinely nice looking piece of kit which goes nice with the kettle of the same colour scheme. Much like with the kettle we used to have we bought the Breville toaster so I assume that the tech in that has changed also because it toasts so much quicker. We used mainly white sandwich bread and white sour-dough and it always came out evenly… Read more

toasted. It was easy to get out and never stuck or got jammed.

Also like the kettle, it looks great. I really like the colour combo.

An all around great product and welcome replacement for our old one.

Top-Deck of Toasters. Why did I give it this name ??? – I can only describe this toaster's results by describing what Cadbury's Top-Deck chocolate looks like—Creamy-white on one side and chocolate brown on the other. I had to go back to my old toaster and put this one back in its box. It simply can't cook toast evenly. You'll get it half of it right if you purchase this toaster as part of a Russell… Read more

Hobbs Toaster/Kettle package. The toaster might be a good purchase if you want something that looks half-decent on the bench-top but you may as well buy a vase with flowers. Like most of us, we would shed our hard-earned cash on an appliance if it carried out the function it was built for, and in this case, a toaster that cooks evenly. Or did I just receive a defective toaster? I'll let you judge that. Check-out my results!

When changing from my Breville 'long-toast' option to something that can only fit regular-size supermarket bread, I then had to say goodbye to my favourite bakery loaves—Ciabattas, Sourdoughs, Viennas, etc. My wife and daughter would have to give up their Crumpet option, or would they? If you knew the hot side and the more relaxed side, it may have a Crumpet feature that's not documented anywhere. Ha ha. Verdict: 1 1/2 Stars. Drop the defrost function and add a crumpet function. Something useful.

Pros - It looks great on the benchtop - Allows for two different cooking settings. (my daughter likes her bread slightly coloured which is annoying for the rest of the family if you forget to check the setting.)

Cons - Cooks toast unevenly. (really bad) - Cooking increments aren't fine enough. - No Crumpet Option - No time remaining feature - It is not possible to fit long/large slices of bread - Rather bulky 'square'. Would be better lengthwise. (Ok, if you have the space.)

A quality toaster producing great results, while looking fabulous! – Unpacking this new toaster our immediate thoughts were that as with the matching Russell Hobbs kettle from their “Brooklyn” range, the copper accent against the matt black finish on this toaster is very tasteful and stylish, and the overall design is just superb, it’s an outstanding looking appliance that you wouldn’t mind leaving out on the bench… Read more

permanently for ease of use. Needless to say we’ve had very positive comments from visiting friends on its looks.

The toaster is a good size without being overly large or heavy, with generously large slots so thick raisin toast is no problem, and the controls are all laid out and spaced nicely. The construction also is solid with no flimsiness at all, which is good as we are in the habit of flipping the toaster upside down over the sink to thump out any errant crumbs not picked up in the crumb trays. Upon first use we did get a bit of a plastic smell which dissipated after a short while, so you’d want to run through a couple of dummy toasting’s to ensure no lingering smell.

Our old toaster used to burn one side when the other was done to the level wanted, so we were very pleasantly surprised that even when toasting 4 slices at once, that all sides browned quite evenly. The spring mechanism works great, and allows you to lift the toast high enough to easily remove them without issue. Toasting time is also quite fast, compared to our old toaster the elements reached temperature quite quickly. One thing we didn't think anything of at the time was the "reheat" function, this as it turns out is extremely useful if you get distracted while toasting letting it go cold, so you can get it up to temperature again without burning the toast, or even just heat something up from the fridge.

The only possible negative I could give, which is really more of an observation than a negative, is that the rear crumb trays are a little small and flimsy feeling. They do appear adequate and seem to catch most of the crumbs, but I couldn’t help feeling a single larger tray, or even just taller sides, would be better.

This is a really nice appliance that performs as it should, and if we had to replace it for any reason we’d most likely be happy to buy the same model again. Especially also as the design really is outstanding.

A capable toaster that does everything I need – Toasters were supposed to be a simple kitchen appliance tasked with one very simple job - toast a bread. The Rusell Hobbs Brooklyn 4 Slice Toaster, as the name suggests, can toast 4 slices of bread simultaneously. If you have a typical Aussie family with Mum, Dad and two kids, then everyone can be served all at once, or so the theory goes.… Read more

However, be aware of the greatly increased footprint!

This toaster, being priced on the more premium side of the scale also has additional features:

An all-metal body finished in an eclectic mixture of polished stainless steel, painted black side panels and accentuated copper tone control buttons, should fit well with most kitchen décor. The metal body feels solid to the touch but the sides are a tad too hot to touch whilst the toaster is on (ie a potential burn hazard for young kids). The browning control rotates with satisfying clicks. I also thought the inclusion of the push-to-release bread crumb collection tray somewhat fancy. Cheaper models will not include this!

There is a LED ring-light which surrounds the 'Cancel' button to indicate when the toaster is on and that is nice. The light also highlights the option to cancel the toasting, which is intuitive and instantaneously understandable, even after the instruction manual is long gone.

A wide-mouth high-lift carriage that allow you to raise the bread higher (if the item being toasted is short) is also a welcome inclusion. However, this toaster is 4x1 in arrangement, this is aesthetically pleasing but that means longer items, such as a croissant (halved), hot dog bun, or a home-made piece of bread cannot fit inside the standard bread size slot, unlike my older el-cheapo cool-to-touch plastic long-slot toaster.

Additionally, this toaster also feature a 'Reheat' function to reheat toasted bread, and a 'Defrost' function to automatically adjust the toasting duration of frozen bread, without the need to manually turning the level of brown-ness at the knob. Clever!

Thankfully, the appliance is also pretty good at toasting bread, its main function. In my test, the white bread was crisp and fairly evenly browned with no burnt spots. Your mileage with Multi-grain bread may be slightly different. I will admit that shopping for a toaster does not exactly fill me with wanton desire, so I have an indifferent attitude to this toaster, considering the wide range of options out there. At the end of the day, it is often what it is packaged with this toaster that may clinch the deal for you and for that it is the kettle (Russell Hobbs Brooklyn RHK92COP), which I also reviewed recently. I hope you will find one that suits your lifestyle. I gave it 4 stars, mainly for inability to toast long bread.

This has been an ambassador review, with my thanks to Product Review and Russell Hobbs who provided me with this kettle and toaster set, free to use and review.

Looks good – Honest review for toaster. The Russel Hobbs 4 slice toaster is perfect for families. The advantage of having 2 seperate slots gives one the advantage of whether you opt for 2 pieces of toast or 4. The Copper trimming brings forth the bling. Beautiful colour as shown in photos. Also shown is the result of Muffin being toasted @ level 4.5… Read more

setting. The easy push crumb trays are accessible, so there is no excuse for overloading overcooked crumbs. Does have feature of Hi Lift, for ease of removing your toasted items. There are times when items are small in size ie: muffins. Good indication of buttons lit showing status. Easy to keep clean, using a damp cloth.

There are some negative issues for me. In my case, it could be quality control but the leavers are not even. This too is shown in photos. My concern is over long period of time, will the leaver drop further. Will it last its 2 yr warranty? Another negative, but this is not just on Russell Hobbs. Depending on situation of your toaster, the logo is located to the side. When spending so much money, you would like the brand to show. Moot point, but it would be nice. Again as seen in photos, you can’t see brand.

This toaster is a daily friend at the breakfast table – My family loves bread and a loaf of bread is always available at the breakfast table. Coming from a family of 4 with some additional visitors on weekends, this toaster has been a life saver. It heats up way faster than our old toaster and makes serving toast to multiple people so much quicker (so that there isn’t such a long wait time from the… Read more

first 4 pieces to the second 4 pieces because of how fast it toasts).

The toast itself is more evenly spread across the bread - there didn’t appear to be any hot spots or cold spots on the machine which was really nice. Our old one always had certain hot spots so we’d have to take the toast out half way and flip it to try and get a more even toast.

It also lets you push the levers up more for smaller pieces of bread, which is super useful because some family members like eating burgen bread which always has smaller slices than other brands of bread.