Black & Decker 2-Slice Toaster

I slid this brushed-steel two-slicer onto my counter and immediately appreciated how little space it claimed. At roughly a foot wide and just over nine inches tall and deep, the Black & Decker toaster fits cleanly beside a coffee maker without crowding prep space. It’s a straightforward appliance with a familiar layout, but after several weeks of daily use, a handful of small touches—plus a couple of caveats—stood out.

Design and setup

The look is classic: a stainless front with black trim, two slots, a central browning dial, and a simple lever. The extra-wide, self-adjusting slots are the headline hardware feature. They ease thicker breads and bagels in without pinching and do a decent job centering slices so they brown more evenly. The footprint is compact, and the unit is light enough to stash in a cabinet between uses if you’re in a small kitchen or dorm.

Setup is essentially plug-and-toast. Like most new toasters, it ships with a bit of factory odor; running a couple of cycles empty on a mid shade knocked it out quickly. The cord exits from the back at a sensible angle so it doesn’t fight your backsplash.

Controls and features

This is a minimalist toaster in a good way. The seven-position shade selector provides meaningful steps—1 barely kisses the bread, 7 moves into crunchy territory. Dedicated bagel and reheat buttons sit within easy thumb reach, and there’s a cancel button to pop your items up mid-cycle. The buttons illuminate when active, so it’s easy to see the current mode at a glance.

• Bagel mode energizes the inner elements more aggressively to toast the cut side while warming the outer. It works as intended and is the mode I use for English muffins, too.
• Reheat runs a short, gentle cycle to warm without further crisping. It’s perfect for reviving toast that’s gone cold while you were frying eggs.

The lever has a small extra lift at the end of its travel, which helps retrieve shorter items like English muffins. It’s not a dramatic “high-lift” feel, but it beats fishing with a fork.

Toasting performance

If you buy a toaster to make toast quickly and predictably, this one delivers solid results for the price. On standard white sandwich bread, shade 3 produced a light gold, 4–5 yielded that golden-brown sweet spot, and 6–7 pushed into deep crunch suitable for hearty whole-grain slices. Typical cycles ran between about 70 seconds and just over two minutes depending on shade and bread type.

Browning is generally even, with a couple of qualifiers:

• Center bands: On wider slices, I noticed a slightly paler strip near the middle on one slot, likely where element spacing breaks. It’s minor, but toast nerds will see it. Swapping to the other slot or bumping the shade a click usually evens it out.
• Top edge: With taller, rustic slices, the very top can peek out of the slot and remain paler. A quick flip-and-30-second reheat (or a short second cycle) evens the color without over-drying the rest.

For day-to-day bread, frozen waffles, and toaster pastries, the heat curve is predictable, which is more important than chasing laboratory-perfect browning.

Bagels and thick slices

The extra-wide, self-centering slots are the right choice here. Regular supermarket bagels slide in without scraping, and bagel mode nails the balance: a crisp, caramelized cut face and a warm, chewy back. Thick-cut sourdough and Texas toast also fit comfortably.

Depth is average, not endless. Oversized, bakery-style slices may stick out a bit, which is normal at this price. If the top edge shows, I run bagel mode for the first cycle (even on bread) and then tap reheat for 15–30 seconds to finish the rim without darkening the rest.

Frozen items and reheat

There isn’t a gimmicky preset here; you’ve got shade control, bagel mode, and reheat—and that’s enough. I had the best results approaching frozen foods with a two-step approach:

• Frozen waffles: Shade 4 on a normal cycle, then reheat for 20–30 seconds to drive off cold without extra browning.
• Frozen bagels: Bagel mode on shade 4–5. If the interior is still cool, a short reheat finishes it cleanly.
• Toaster pastries: Shade 2–3 without bagel mode. The reheat button is handy if the filling needs a bit more warmth but the crust is already there.

This flexibility is why I prefer a simple control scheme—one or two short taps get you exactly where you want to be.

Speed and consistency

Heat-up is quick for a budget toaster. From cold, a mid-shade cycle finishes in roughly a minute and a half. Back-to-back cycles don’t drift wildly hotter, which keeps second slices from scorching—nice if you’re feeding a couple of people. Consistency between the two slots is respectable; the left slot ran fractionally hotter in my testing, so I used it for denser breads.

Noise is minimal—just a soft relay click and a gentle pop-up at the end of a cycle. There’s no beep, which I appreciate in a quiet morning kitchen.

Cleaning and maintenance

The slide-out crumb tray at the rear is easy to pull and dump. It’s large enough to catch most of what falls, and a quick brush of the slots with a pastry brush keeps stragglers from charring. Wipe the stainless face with a damp microfiber cloth and it stays presentable; the black trim hides fingerprints well.

A couple of care tips that helped:

• Empty the crumb tray weekly to prevent smoky odors and reduce fire risk.
• Let it cool before you move it—residual heat sticks around for a few minutes.
• Avoid smashing thick breads down into the slots. The self-centering guides are springy but not indestructible.

Build quality and safety notes

The overall build matches its budget billing. The stainless front panel feels rigid, and the chassis sits flat without rocking. The plastic lever and trim are functional but a bit light; the lever has a touch of side-to-side play. Used normally, it’s fine, but I’d avoid pressing the lever at an angle or dropping the toaster while cleaning—this is not a tank.

Element alignment is decent, and the housing warms but never became untouchably hot in my use. As with any toaster, I give it a quick once-over out of the box to ensure there are no cracks in the housing and that the lever returns smoothly. If something looks off, exchange it rather than trying to fix it at home.

Who it’s for

• Small kitchens, dorms, offices: Compact, simple, and quick.
• Bagel and English muffin fans: Bagel mode works, and the extra lift helps retrieve shorter items.
• Budget buyers who value straightforward controls over smart features.

Who should look elsewhere:

• Perfectionists chasing dead-even browning across every bread shape. This gets close, but not artisan-bakery precise.
• Heavy, high-volume households that hammer a toaster multiple times a morning. The lever and trim feel more “light-duty.”

Recommendation

I recommend this Black & Decker toaster for anyone who wants an affordable, compact two-slice toaster that nails the basics and adds genuinely useful bagel and reheat modes. It heats quickly, the seven-step shade dial is predictable, and the extra-wide, self-centering slots handle the breads most people actually toast. You give up a bit in refinement—slot depth is average, and browning uniformity isn’t flawless—but the results are consistent and easy to dial in. If you prioritize bulletproof construction or need commercial-grade evenness, step up in price. For everyday toast, bagels, waffles, and pastries at a friendly cost, this little toaster earns a spot on the counter.