We previously had a similar toaster made by Cuisinart. The motor on it finally stopped working, so it would not lower the bread down into the toaster. We love the motorized feature, and the De'Longhi was the only one we could find that had it. In comparison to the Cuisinart we had before, and I wish the De'Lohghi had wider slots for bread (not thickness of the bread, but width across). If you buy the whole grain breads by Sarah Lee, Peppridge Farm, etc, you have to put the slices in sideways because it doesn't accomodate pieces of bread that are wide (the Cuisinart had one long slot that allowed any size- it was more versatile). I do like the stainless steel to match our other appliances. I have used the warming rack to reheat cressant rolls, which works pretty well. I was surprised. It toasts frozen waffles wonderfully! We found it to be a bit pricey, but overall a nice toaster.

Slots are a bit small, but for a toaster, it rocks and looks great!

I'm very happy with my toaster. Love how easy it is to clean! Good quality and great appearance! Easy to use! I even like the tone of the ring! Would be five stars, except that I often turn the bread upside-down to finish toasting evenly.

The only other toast that can beat this one is a Champagne Toast. Love this toaster, very cool to look at and after using it every day for two months we have had nothing but perfect bagels, muffins and toast.

I purchased this toaster based primarily on a "toaster challenge" article from [...] where this item came out on top. It's definitely cool looking and easy to clean. While the outside gets warm, it doesn't get blistering hot like some models. Finally, the way the toast automatically goes down and comes back up with a polite *ding* is pretty neat in that "home of the future" way.

However, the performance doesn't live up to the price tag. Bread is consistently toasted much more on the side facing in than the side facing out. Though not as striking as the inside/outside, bread also seems to toast more toward the top than the bottom. This issue is made much more apparent when toasting english muffins, leaving the tops totally toasted and the bottoms barely brown. (No, it doesn't toast wider items like bagels, but I neither expected nor wanted it to.)

For $30 to $40 dollars I suppose I'd be satisfied but, as it sits on my counter, I think I paid for a pretty face.

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I should have returned this toaster because it just doesn't accept bagels and rolls like my old cuisinart did. I have to trim and shave until they will fit. What a chore. Something I don't feel like doing early in the morning as I'm rushing to get to work. It looks great on the counter top,though.