"Toasters" redirects here. For other uses see Toaster (disambiguation).
A toaster is a small, electric kitchen appliance designed to toast bread, an act also known as 'making toast.' Prior to the development of the electric toaster, bread was sometimes toasted by placing it in a metal frame and holding it over a fire.
Modern toasters are typically one of two varieties. First are pop-up toasters, in which bread is inserted vertically into slots (generally only large enough to admit a single slice of bread) on the top of the toaster. A lever on the side of the toaster is depressed, activating the toaster, and when the toast is done, the toaster turns off and the toast pops up out of the slots. The heating elements of a pop-up toaster are oriented vertically, parallel to the bread.
Second are toaster ovens, which are electric ovens with a door on one side and a tray within. To toast bread with a toaster oven, one lays down slices of bread horizontally on the tray, closes the door, and activates the toaster, usually by means of a lever. When the toast is done, the toaster turns off, but the door must be opened manually. Toaster ovens are capable of performing most of the functions of ordinary ovens, but on a much smaller scale.
Toasters are usually freestanding, counter-top appliances, although some toaster ovens may be hung beneath cabinets.
If toast is stuck in a toaster (which is more likely to happen with a pop-up toaster) it is highly recommended that one does not attempt to free it by inserting metal objects such as knives, due to the risk of electric shock.
A typical modern 2-slice toaster operates on anywhere between 600 and 1200 W and makes toast in 1 to 3 minutes. A 1000-watt toaster running for 2 minutes uses 1000×120 watt-seconds = 120 kJ (.05 kWh).
Rough calculations for the energy required to toast a slice of bread: A slice of bread weighs about 32 g or about 1 oz and has about 35% water. The ambient temperature is 25 °C or 77 °F. The specific heat for dry bread is about the same as water, which is 1 cal/(g °C) (small calories, not food calories) or 4.2 J/(g °C). Reducing the average water content to 10% by heating the bread to 100 °C → 28 kJ.