Kenwood Turbo TCM300CR 2-Slice Toaster- Cream

The Kenwood Turbo TCM300CR 2-slice toaster has big wide deep slots, capable of toasting thick slices of bread, toastie sandwich bags, crumpets, slimmer/halved muffins, and bread-machine bread. It is also clever enough in how it controls the heat delivery in each mode to satisfy most techies.Results on fresh wholemeal bread about 12mm thick are quick and evenly browned, usually not in less than 60 seconds, more typically 80 seconds with the dial set at 3, but this is still fast enough for us.The dial is stiff enough not to be easily knocked to a wrong setting. The pretty lights give us an indication of how long we need to wait before the toast is done.Toast from frozen works as one might expect, with consistent good results.Reheat gives just enough heat for half a minute; just enough to warm through, not so much as to over-toast, excellent.Cancel is prompt.The slot size is 14.5cm long, by 12.2cm high by 3.4cm wide, with spring loaded guides to centre the slice when the lever is pressed down. I folded up a piece of paper to make a box this size and it fitted exactly. So many other toasters have silly small slots; too narrow, or not tall enough or long enough. This one is excellent for all the various ‘healthy’ breads we toast, certainly better than anything else we’ve tried currently on the market.The lever latch is the sensible one with the extra action at the bottom so the solenoid only holds the latch closed and does not have to work against the eject spring. Years ago I walked around JL rejecting toaster after toaster because of the simple short-lived single action system which usually burns out the solenoid, often a day after the guarantee runs out. This was because we had had three Russell Hobbs all fail the same way under warranty, and JL said pick any other toaster and a TT950 from Kenwood was the solution.The toasting cycle is very clever with high heat to begin with (2.35KW), then this drops to two thirds (1.55KW), then half (1.17KW) then a third (0.81KW). But it is even cleverer than that because the fan works at key points in the cycle and the power transitions are not sudden but mixed to average out the average rate of power being reduced such that the heat around the toast remains almost constant instead of building up ever hotter as in a simple toaster. The result? Much more even toasting across the bread product by keeping the peak temperature down.Beware: don't stop and immediately restart the cycle because that very high boost at the beginning might well carbonise partly toasted bread! Instead, use the gentle reheat function which is excellent at finishing off slightly under-toasted and still warm bread.This TCM300CR is not quite as ergonomic as our old Kenwood TT950 long slot toaster, which also had a flip-up warming rack. We only stopped using that because after many years it forgot how to count the time and the timer board was no longer available as a spare.Cleaning is fiddly with too many pretty features on the outside, it may look stylish but it is a pain when something sticky has splashed on to it. The crumb drawer is easy.It is vastly better than I was expecting, especially after trying several other toasters in recent months, all of which fell short in some way. A happy customer.

I was expecting better, as it was a Which best buy, but even on the maximum setting it does not sufficiently brown my toast. This means I have to give it a second go and if I forget to watch it I end up with burnt toast. I have decided to scrap it after less than a year and buy a new toaster.

Oh dear what a disaster. Nice toaster, very fast and could fit my home cooked loaf in - just. However the heating elements in the first one died within a week and the second one wasn't much better. Some of the heating wires broke within a week so only part of the bread was toasted. And no -- i'm not heavy-handed or careless. I note Kenwood has ceased production - I suppose made in China. Thank goodness for Amazon with their easy and painless no-quibble returns. Paying for Prime is worth it.

We had a Dualit toaster but it was disappointing in that one set of elements started failing and are not replaceable so we thought about upgrading to the more expensive Dualit ehich is repairable. Studied which toasters and saw this one which came out top so went for it. It's actually brilliant, smooth and stylish, certainly efficient and produces really good toast. It's easy to adjust and the visual display on the timer is very useful. Very happy to recommend it as effective and efficient for making toast

This is the most ludicrous toaster I have ever used!Regardless of the setting, the bread is barely browned when it ejects your toast! If you have the gall to pop it down again to try and get the desired effect, you'd better have lightening fast reactions as before you know it you have two inedible slabs of carbon!I have given it one star purely as it is designed to look like a toaster, very clever!Update: Requested refund on 02/07/20 due to toaster causing power outage. Still awaiting response from the seller on 07/07/20 - I don't have any confidence that this will be resolved. Very disappointed.

This had a good review in Which magazine but now that I have had it awhile it is like all toasters - seems to cook well on one side and not on the other so I have to flip the bread around and then often end up burning it. It might be because I have to eat gluten free bread and that may not toast as well as normal bread. Nice and quick though and very easy to keep clean so overall not too bad.

It does what it says- toast in 60 seconds. For a gluten free bread I use it on 3. For brioche and softer bread set it for 2,5 so it won’t be burnt.Even a thicker slice of bread fits in easily. It looks stylish next to my matching kettle from Kenwood.Thank you x

It`s a good toaster. Only four stars because if anything it`s too hot!It seems to take any thickness of bread but I scored it only one star for "Sheerness" because I have no idea =what it means do you?