Product test

Stainless steel toaster WMF Stelio tested

4.3.2020

Translation: machine translated

Bagels, toast, rolls, waffles or a slice of dark bread simply taste best crispy and warm. A toaster is therefore part of the basic kitchen equipment in many households. I am testing a model for two slices of toast, the WMF Stelio.

Everyone defines the perfect toast differently. Some like it darker, for others it has to be as light in colour as possible. It is important to note that slices of white bread are more sensitive to toasting than wholemeal toast. In order to achieve the same degree of browning, the setting for wholemeal toast must therefore be slightly higher. The WMF Stelio is very helpful here, as it has seven browning levels.

Design and functions

The WMF Stelio has a reflective, matt silver stainless steel panelling. Fingerprints quickly appear on the smooth surface, but it can be easily cleaned with a damp cloth. The side of the toaster on which the lever for lowering the slices of bread and starting the toasting process is located is slightly rounded in contrast to the straight edge on the other side, giving the toaster its asymmetrical appearance. The underside and the buttons, on the other hand, are made of black plastic, which looks rather cheap compared to the stainless steel housing.

The shiny stainless steel housing has a high-quality look, but the base and buttons are made of plastic.

The Stelio toaster offers seven levels for the desired browning. The setting is made using a rotary control. Four additional buttons are located above this browning dial: "stop", to end the toasting process prematurely, "reheat", indicated by three vertical wavy lines, "defrost", symbolised by a star icon and "one side", a programme that only activates the toaster's inner heating plate, browning only one side of the baked goods. Blue LEDs next to the buttons indicate which function is currently active.

Included in the scope of delivery is a removable bread roll attachment. This rests loosely on the toaster when in use.

If you are using particularly small slices of toast and cannot reach them easily when removing them, you can lift the lever on the side and push them a little further out of the slots for easier removal. A crumb tray for easier cleaning is located in the lower part of the toaster. The scope of delivery also includes a stainless steel bread roll attachment.

The toaster has all the convenience functions: Stop, reheat, defrost and one-sided toasting are easily possible.

Toasting results

The first two toasting processes after unpacking were unfortunately overshadowed by a pungent odour and should therefore be carried out without bread. Fortunately, this odour had dissipated by the third run during the test, so I was finally able to insert bread on the fourth attempt.

There is a crumb tray at the bottom for easy cleaning.

The toaster is non-slip on the table thanks to four rubber feet. — There is a crumb tray at the bottom for easy cleaning.

The slots of the toaster are large enough to hold both normal toast and larger sandwich slices ("American toast"). However, Belgian waffles are too long and protrude a little. Half rolls are usually too thick for the slots. The best way to heat these is with the bun attachment, although it sits rather wobbly on the toaster. However, if you cut the underside of the bread roll quite flat, you can get them in without any problems.

The toaster offers a total of seven browning levels, with "1" only slightly warming the bread and "7" turning the toast into a piece of black coal. When testing, I found level "3" to be the best, as the toast is browned a little more. The higher numbers are more suitable for the defrost function.

You can clearly see that one half of the bread in the toaster becomes much darker than the other.

This is the back of the toast from the previous photo: it has become much lighter in colour. — You can clearly see that one half of the bread in the toaster becomes much darker than the other.

However, no matter which level you choose, the slices of bread are always very unevenly browned. The toast in the slot to the left of the lever is generally darker than the toast in the other slot. The inner side of the slice of bread within a slot is also darker than the other. In addition, the toast in the lower part becomes darker than in the upper part. This is particularly noticeable with the larger sandwich toasts. From level 3.5, clear "burn marks" become visible on the edges of the toast. However, these are all mainly visual impairments. At the end of the day, the toaster does its job and toasts slices of bread. The reheating function stood out positively during testing. The Stelio reheats bread or waffles that have already been toasted the day before without making them darker or harder on the outside.

Toast bread with the Stelio is nice and crispy, but unevenly toasted.

Conclusion

The toaster has a stylish stainless steel housing and offers all the usual convenience functions such as seven settings for the desired browning, a defrost and reheat function, a crumb tray and a removable bread roll attachment. Slices of bread get a good, but rather uneven browning. Almost nothing happens at the top edges in particular. In contrast, the reheating function for baked goods was particularly good, as waffles from the previous day, for example, become warm again, but not dark and dry.

Toasters

WMF Stelio toaster double slot toaster with bun rack

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Stefanie Enge

Autorin

techjournalistin@gmail.com

Most of the time I'm living between bits and bytes, testing alternative Android operating systems and trying to make my life smarter with Open Source technology - always with a focus on privacy and data protection. When I'm not testing cool gadgets, I'm developing video games, writing stories and playing the accordion.

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