In the past decade, we’ve found out in smart home devices how intelligent our devices actually should be. In many cases when it comes to cooking, the old ways are best, and smart features only make things difficult. The new Revolution Cooking R180 high speed smart toaster ($ 299.95) strikes the right balance and delivers really useful, tech-savvy extras without the things you don’t need in a toaster – like an internet connection.
The basics
The most striking feature of Revolution Cooking’s R180 is the large, distinctive touchscreen display. The screen replaces your typical hardware controls, including buttons and switches, and gives you visual feedback on the ongoing toasting process. This is definitely part of the “smart” of the R180’s smart Toaster Label, but the company’s ‘InstaGlo’ heating technology could better be described as the primary differentiator.
In terms of basics, this is a two-slice toaster with slots wide enough to accommodate bagels and burger buns fairly easily. There are selectable modes for bagels, sliced bread, English muffins, waffles, and toaster cookies (such as pop tarts). You can choose between three different heating modes, including “fresh”, “frozen” and “warm up”. There are seven different dark levels for tanning.
There is a standby clock display option in case the toaster is not in use, and the toaster can occasionally provide reminders to prompt you to remove and empty the crumb tray.
Design and performance
Credit: Darrell Etherington
The Revolution R180’s industrial design is good without being crazy or overly futuristic. It is basically a rectangle made of brushed stainless steel with a beveled chrome front and a large touchscreen display. The toaster undoubtedly looks great when seated on a counter, and the incline of the front is a nice touch to ensure prime visibility and access to the touchscreen controls when using it from a standing position. It’s also relatively compact and doesn’t take up too much space if you’re even concerned about counter properties.
The display is large and bright, and uses capacitive touch, making it very responsive in terms of input detection. The nice thing about the user interface is that even though it’s digital, it keeps things simple – everything you need is on one screen. A standard gear icon hides settings that allow you to do neat but unnecessary things like setting the time and choosing between an analog or digital virtual watch face for the sleep screen.
Using the R180 Smart Toaster is easy: there is no need to set up an internet connection or install an app. Just plug it in and it will start. The bread type / browning level / heating mode selection screen is displayed. Tap the picture associated with what you want to roast, or scroll left and right to reach others. Select one of the three modes and tap on the browning level that corresponds to the color you want the roasted item to be most similar to (the image above will be updated reflect that) and hit the ‘Start’ button and you’re on top of that Way to the races.
Credit: Darrell Etherington
And it’s really a race: the Revolution Toaster is faster than most. I might have expected faster, given the company’s marketing aspirations, but there’s no question that it’s faster than your average toaster. The other big claim that Revolution makes is about quality toasting as it promises not to dry out your bread and deliver better tasting end products even in difficult toasting situations like a combined defrost and brown.
Here’s the thing: I wasn’t even really aware of these claims the first time I tried the test device they sent in, and I and my partner immediately noticed that everything that was roasted in the R180 was nowhere near as dried out like in our existing Breville toaster. Yet the toasted pieces were crispy and golden at the same time. As surprising as it sounds, Revolution’s claims are borne out – the Smart Toaster really does make better-tasting toast.
Bottom line
A $ 300 two-slice toaster definitely seems like an extravaganza – and let’s be clear – but top-notch, non-smart toasters are already well beyond the limits of most home appliance budgets, and Revolution’s main claim on Superiority consists in achieving a crispy exterior as you leave the building, soft on the inside and not dried out, and with aplomb. The touchscreen almost certainly adds to the cost, but it provides a clean and easy-to-understand interface for setting the toast goals you want, and is a pretty nice looking countertop when not in use. In summary, The intelligent toaster of the revolution is just smart enough and smart where it counts, for a smart device – but expensive enough that it’s worth thinking long and hard about how much you love toasted things.