How we measure

Three axes, recorded separately

A toaster slot has three dimensions and each one fails differently.

Length

The long axis of the opening, front to back on most machines. This is the number the category is named after. Our threshold for calling something a long slot toaster is ten inches, because below that you cannot lay two slices of standard sandwich bread side by side, which is the main practical reason the shape exists. Toasters are sold as “extra long” at six and a half inches. That phrase has no agreed definition and we do not treat it as one.

Width

The short axis of the opening. This is what a bagel or a thick-cut sourdough slice fails on, and it is the axis most often missing from a specification sheet entirely. A slot can be eleven inches long and still refuse a bagel.

Depth

How far down the slot goes. Five inches is the working minimum. Below that, a tall slice off a round loaf stands proud of the opening and comes out with a pale untoasted band across the top. Depth is the axis buyers consider least and complain about most.

Two classes of source, never mixed

Every row in the index is labelled with the kind of evidence behind it.

Measured means an independent tester put a rule inside the slot and published the figure. These are the strongest records we hold and they are attributed by name and linked.

Published means the manufacturer or a retailer states the figure and nobody independent has checked it. This is not an accusation of dishonesty. Manufacturer figures are often taken at the widest point of the opening, while an independent measurement is usually taken where bread actually has to pass, and those two numbers are not always the same.

Where we hold a reader-supplied measurement we label it as such. It is weaker evidence than an independent test and stronger than nothing.

What a blank means

A blank means no source we can cite has published that number. It does not mean the axis is small, or average, or unimportant. We do not infer a missing axis from the body dimensions, from a photograph, or from a similar model in the same range. Several well-known machines appear in our index with only one of three axes on record, and the count of how many axes we hold is shown on every model page so you can see the strength of the record at a glance.

Prices

Any price shown is the figure recorded on the date given, not a live price. Toaster pricing moves constantly and a stale number presented as current is worse than no number. Check the retailer.

When we get it wrong

Send the correction to info@siteplotmedia.com. If a published figure changes, the model page records that it changed and when. We would rather carry a visible correction than a quiet edit.