If you buy proper bread, you’ll know the problem. A slice off a round sourdough loaf is too long for a normal toaster. You end up with a crisp bottom half and a soft top crust poking out, or you toast it twice and turn it round halfway. On a cold morning that’s a small thing that gets annoying fast.
A long-slot toaster has one long slot instead of two short ones. Two sandwich slices sit end to end, or one big slice of sourdough lies lengthways and toasts all the way along. If that’s most of what you eat, then yes, it’s worth it.
I’ve been looking at the Russell Hobbs Luna Long Slot 2 Slice Toaster for this, a stainless steel toaster with copper trim that’s been around long enough to pick up well over a thousand reviews on Amazon UK. Here are the questions I’d want answered before buying one.
Will my bread fit?
Probably. Two standard slices sit end to end, or one long slice from a bloomer or a boule lies lengthways. Russell Hobbs lists a maximum slice thickness of 29mm. Shop-sliced thick bread is fine. A doorstep you’ve hacked off yourself might not be.
What else does it do?
- Lift and look. You can raise the bread to check it without cancelling the cycle. Sourdough browns unevenly because of its open crumb, so this gets used a lot.
- Six browning levels, plus cancel, reheat and defrost buttons. Defrost is the one you’ll use if you slice a loaf and freeze it, which is the best way to stop good bread going stale.
- 1420W. Russell Hobbs says its Fast Toasting Technology is up to 55% faster than one of its older models. That’s a comparison with its own toaster, not with everything else out there.
- Removable crumb tray and cord storage underneath. Sourdough crusts shed a lot, so the tray matters more than you’d think.
Will it fit my kitchen?
It’s long. A long-slot toaster takes up more worktop length than a squat two-slot one, so measure the gap you’ve got before you order. And it’s still only two slices at once. If four of you want toast at the same time, you’re waiting for a second round, or you need a four-slice long-slot model instead.
The other thing is reheat and defrost. They’re handy, but they won’t rescue a stale loaf. If your bread’s going hard by day three, a decent bread bin or the freezer will do more for your breakfast than any toaster button.
If you mostly eat sliced bread from a bag, a normal toaster is fine and you don’t need this. But if you’re buying sourdough or a bloomer every week, or baking your own, a long slot makes every single slice better. You’ll notice the difference every morning. And if you’re torn between this and something like a Dualit, the Luna is the more sensible buy for big slices. The Dualit is more about the look and the build than the shape of the slot.
