The unsung hero of the kitchen?

The toaster. Day in, day out, week in, week out, year in, year out. It just delivers (that is of course, the kiss of death and ours will die tomorrow).

Forget the sous-vide machines. Forget the multi-purpose “thing” that sits forlorn at the back of the shelf. Forget even the mandolin. This, this is the hero of the kitchen.A lovely, simple piece of engineering. Put bread in, press down, get toast out. That’s it. No automation, no LCD screens, no wi-fi. No stress. Simple joys, eh? I’m not going to write a long, boring screed on its history, the innovation, the many variants. Nope, just off to drop a slice of sour-dough into ours and then slather on butter.