Compare Toasters in New Zealand at Canstar Blue. Sunbeam, Breville, Russell Hobbs, Smeg, Living & Co and Anko were compared on Overall Satisfaction, Performance, Design, Durability, Ease of Cleaning, Ease of Use, Features & Functionality and Value for Money.
See our Ratings Methodology.
Sunbeam’s toasters are rated the No.1 choice for Kiwi kitchens.
Our review compares toaster brands for customer satisfaction, so you can discover what other Kiwis think about our compared toaster brands before you go ahead and make a purchase. Think of it like asking hundreds of your closest friends and family which toaster brand they think is best!
Canstar Blue surveyed 796 Kiwis who had bought a toaster in the past three years and asked for their feedback on the toaster they bought.
Respondents rate their satisfaction with their toaster brands from zero to ten, where zero is extremely dissatisfied and ten is extremely satisfied. Brand satisfaction was rated by respondents on the following criteria:
The winning brand is the one that receives the highest Overall Satisfaction rating once all the scores from the Overall Satisfaction criteria are combined and averaged.
Brands must have received at least 30 responses to be included, so not all brands available in the market have been compared in this survey. The brands rated in this survey are listed below in order of best overall satisfaction.
Find more information on our Most Satisfied Customer methodology.
Let us toast Sunbeam, the winner of Canstar’s inaugural Toasters Award. Sunbeam wins on the back of a great set of ratings from its customers. Across our eight award ratings categories, it achieves six 5-Star ratings, the same number of 5-Star scores that the other toaster brands in our ratings earn between them. And for Design and Ease of Cleaning, Sunbeam earns great 4-Star ratings.
Sunbeam’s range of toasters encompasses 13 models, including its striking new Radiance four-slice model, which pairs with a matching kettle.
Other toasters in Sunbeam’s range include its basic Rise Up 2- and 4-Slice toasters, its Simply Shine and stylish Arise and Alinea models, plus the Sunbeam New York and Kyoto City 4-slice toasters.
Sunbeam’s range includes toasters that offer multiple browning settings and the Quickcheck feature, which allows you to check the browning process without ending the toasting cycle.
Breville is no stranger to Canstar Blue’s awards, and is the current recipient of our Best Air Fryers and Best Microwave Ovens awards.
On our Toasters Award table it places second, with a sweeping set of 4-Star ratings across all categories, including for Performance, Value for Money and Overall Satisfaction.
Breville is a global brand that was established in Sydney in 1932. In NZ, it retails 13 stylish 2- and 4-slice toasters. Breville’s toasters offer innovative features that include:
Russell Hobbs places third on our awards table, and its customers award it an equal mix of 4- and top 5-Star ratings. It earns 5-Star ratings for: Design, Ease of Cleaning, Features & Functionality and Performance.
Founded in England in 1952, Russell Hobbs makes a range of kitchen staples, including 15 toasters, encompassing:
Nine 2-slice toasters: available in a range of stylish colours and designs, all toasters feature multiple browning settings and longer or wider slots to hold a range of bakery products. Russell Hobbs’s top-of-the-range attentive toaster features touch-screen controls and Colour Sense technology that ensures perfect browning every time, plus it remembers your previously used setting.
Six 4-slice toasters: models include the Brooklyn and Addison toasters, and the Stone Textured model, which has a look-and-lift feature so you can check the browning process without stopping grilling.
Smeg earns it best customer rating, 5 Stars, for Design, which is understandable given the brand’s emphasis on its products’ trendy styling. It achieves 4-Star ratings for Durability, Ease of Cleaning and Performance, plus 3-Star ratings across all other categories, including for Overall Satisfaction.
Smeg is a premium appliance brand that has built a reputation for delivering great style as well as performance. Its appliances are designed and built in Italy.
Smeg offers three types of toasters: conventional two- and four-slot models, plus a four-slice toaster with two extra-long slots that can each accommodate two slices of bread at the same time.
All models feature the same 1950s-inspired design, and come in a range of colours, including pastel shades.
Living & Co earns predominantly 3-Star ratings. However, it’s worth noting that a 3-Star rating is by no means a measure of dissatisfaction. Rather it’s a score that indicates that consumers are happy with their toaster brand’s performance.
Given Living & Co’s focus on delivering budget-friendly appliances, it’s not surprising that it earns its best rating, a top 5-Star award, for Value for Money.
Distributed by The Warehouse, Living & Co produces a range of affordable toasters, all $55 or under. Living & Co’s toaster models feature 2- and 4-slice models, plus a four-slice toaster with two extra-long slots. The toasters come in a range of colours and styles, including stainless-steel models.
Rounding out our awards table, Anko earns 3-Stars across six of our eight ratings categories. It achieves its highest marks, 4 Stars, for Ease of Use and Value for Money.
Anko is Kmart’s house brand that delivers affordable products and appliances. It retails 14 kettle models in a range of stylish designs, all priced under $50.
The range encompasses 2- and 4-slice toasters in various colours and designs, including one with a window in the side, so you can keep tabs on your toast as it grills, soft-touch silicon 4-slice models, plus a four-slice toaster with two extra-long slots.
A toaster is an essential part of a family kitchen, and an appliance that gets daily use in most homes. Toasters also have only one function, to grill bread, so it can be very frustrating if a toaster fails to live up to its name! Dealing with uneven or burnt toast is a frustrating way to start the day.
Therefore, it’s unsurprising that the majority (29%) of Kiwi toast-lovers we spoke to for our research said that performance is the most important factor when it comes to rating their toasters.
Value for Money and Features & Functionality are tied in second place, each the top concern for a fifth (20%) of our survey respondents.
Here’s the full rundown of what the Kiwis in our survey said were the main things they considered when rating their toaster picks:
Bruce Pitchers is Canstar NZ’s Content Manager. An experienced finance reporter, he has three decades’ experience as a journalist and has worked for major media companies in Australia, the UK and NZ, including ACP, Are Media, Bauer Media Group, Fairfax, Pacific Magazines, News Corp and TVNZ. As a freelancer, he has worked for The Australian Financial Review, the NZ Financial Markets Authority and major banks and investment companies on both sides of the Tasman.
In his role at Canstar, he has been a regular commentator in the NZ media, including on the Driven, Stuff and One Roof websites, the NZ Herald, Radio NZ, and Newstalk ZB.
Away from Canstar, Bruce creates puzzles for magazines and newspapers, including Woman’s Day and New Idea. He is also the co-author of the murder-mystery puzzle book 5 Minute Murder.
Bought a cheap toaster: 42%
Have a 4-slice toaster: 41%
Bought toaster to fit kitchen design: 38%
Canstar Blue surveyed 2503 New Zealand consumers across a range of categories to measure and track customer satisfaction, via ISO 26362 accredited research panels managed by Qualtrics. The outcomes reported are the results from respondents who had purchased and used a blender in the past three months. In this case, 796 New Zealanders.
Brands must have received at least 30 responses to be included. Results are comparative and it should be noted that brands receiving three stars have still achieved a satisfaction measure of at least six out of 10. Not all brands available in the market have been compared in this survey. The ratings table is first sorted by star ratings and then by mean overall satisfaction. A rated brand may receive a ‘N/A’ (Not Applicable) rating if it does not receive the minimum number of responses for that criterion.
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