Swan ST70100 Toaster Review

The Swan ST70100 Toaster is available in a range of colours to suit most kitchen décors and currently available singly for £25, the 2 slice toaster and a kettle for £45 or a 4 slice toaster and kettle for £55. With my latest purchase of classy kettle this was my 'free' toaster. Now I know I could have bought them separately in chrome for £10 less, but I'd be kicking myself if I missed out on my favourite blue!

I freely admit to putting much less effort into the research for the toaster but here's what the website did actually say:

4 wide slots for toasting bagels or crumpets   (The average for any 4 slice  toaster)

Variable browning levels and high lift   (Don't they all have this?)Slide-out crumb tray  (Very common feature, but still nice to know)
Auto centring slots   (What?!)Defrost, reheat and cancel functions  (In case you thought it was a sticker on the picture?)
Indication lights   (pretty but no colour indication)

Now for what they don't tell you, the little points that make a product practical or useless. It stands at 20.3 cm high, is 27 cm wide, including the levers at the front its depth is 33 cm; which does make it a big machine. It's empty weight is 5 lbs, not great if you store your toaster in a cupboard.

The little indicator lights are the lovely bright blue and are on all the buttons so you can see at a glance if you are defrosting or reheating. The dials for 'browning' the toast have a great range from black toast to warm bread, and I did like that they are independent of each side.

The cord length from plug to base is 114 cm, plenty long enough in my opinion, despite my plugs being raised above the working surface, it seems more than ideal. Though I am a little perplexed as to why it comes from the front left of the toaster rather than the back like every other one I've had or seen.

In another deviation from my previous toasters the crumb trays are at the back of the toaster, making it easier to forget to empty them. The colour is also smoothly wrapped around the toaster. Making me wonder if it was primarily designed for breakfast bars, where an aesthetic premise is important from every angle.

So far this toaster has performed on par with expectations, but it is a toaster how wrong can they really get it. If it starts freezing food I'll update my review!

Fun facts from Swan website