Tefal Avanti 4 Slice Toaster review

The Tefal Avanti is instantly recognisable, when we got the sample, we realised we knew a number of people who already have one. Its standout feature is the way the four toasting slots are tilted towards you, making them easier to access, especially when the toaster is tucked under overhead cupboards.

Our review sample is the £60 stainless steel Avanti Royal, but a classic version, made with a plastic outer casing, is also available for around £40 and is otherwise identical in function. Either way, it’s not the best-looking design with the busy front panel packed with buttons and levers.

As with most four-slice toaster, there are separate controls for each pair of slots, essentially it’s two toasters stuck together. The browning control dials are a bit loose and cheap-feeling and the buttons lack feedback, though they do illuminate when pressed, so mistakes are unlikely. You get the usual functions here, with buttons for frozen bread and reheating but no fancy single-sided bagel mode.

The additional levers in the middle provide extra lift for extracting smaller items, the limited size of the front panel presumably preventing Tefal from integrating this into the main levers as is usual. Our test toast (Hovis, thick-sliced white) protruded only 48mm normally, but this went up to a more-than-respectable 62mm when the lift lever was engaged. Factor in the easier to access slots and the Avanti is a good choice for crumpet and muffin fans alike.

At 40mm the slots are among the widest we’ve seen, so those who like to cut doorstop slices are well catered for. You will be waiting some time for your toast though, as it took two minutes and 34 seconds to toast our bread to taste – that’s at the top end of those we’ve tested to date. It used a fairly hefty 0.036kWh of power too.

The consistency of toasting was good. Both slices were evenly toasted except in one corner, which was a little pale, probably due to the angled design and the arrangement of the filaments to compensate for it. The long toasting time makes the slices slightly crisper than some of the faster models we’ve seen, it’s a matter of taste of course, but we prefer our toast slightly more moist in the middle.

Slender slots let crumbs through to the crumb tray, so crumbs can rest in the bottom and build up, needing a bit of shake to persuade them through to the tray. The tray itself isn’t deep enough for our liking, but that’s a complaint you can aim at any toaster we’ve seen.

Overall the Tefal Avanti is a decent buy in its Classic form, the design really is convenient, and those who like smaller items will love the angled slots and extra lift. There’s no bagel mode and the quality of toast is only so-so but for £40 it’s still a decent buy. The Avanti Royal suffers badly due to its higher price, for this amount there are better steel toasters to be had, you’d have to be crumpet-crazy to make the Avanti Royal a better pick.