Gadget Girl Falls For A Toaster

I know, I know.....you're probably thinking, how could she possibly write about a toaster? Be happy - I could be writing a post about my recent bout with norovirus. I'll save you all the incredibly nasty details of my 24 hours of living in the bathroom. But let's just say the engineer in me was trying to solve the age old problem of how to get explosive stuff simultaneously emanating from opposite ends in the toilet. Enough...I don't want to relive that again. Plus, it ruined my race plans for the weekend which puts me in a doubly foul mood.

But the toaster! OMG! I love bread and I love gadgets and now I'm in love with my early birthday present that combines both. With the kitchen remodel pretty much done, we're replacing some of the small appliances. S gave me my birthday present last week (I think she felt sorry for me and besides, since the only thing I could eat was toast, it was put to good use.) A Breville Smart Toaster.

I just love the UI on this thing. Simple, easy to use, intelligent, and gives me the same kind of happiness that using my iPhone does. It's sort of like what I think my the experience designer on my most recently cancelled project (yes, I should get over it by now but I'm still somewhat bitter about it) would have come up with. In fact, I want all the UI's for the products I work on from now on to reflect the same simplicity, power and usability that this damn toaster does.

It has 5 buttons, a slider and a progress bar(!) The buttons for Bagel and Defrost are useful but no big whoop. But the "A Bit More" and "Lift and Look" are genius - just want I want. The "A Bit More" button does what you'd expect - after your toast is done, hit that button and the bread automatically lowers for additional toasting time (not a whole additional cycle, just a bit more). The "Lift and Look" button raises the bread while toasting, doesn't cancel or reset the cycle and allows you to see how things are progressing and cancel the toasting cycle if it's done. And my favorite is the LED panel under the slider (which controls the browning level). It counts down the time remaining in the cycle. A toaster with a progress bar. How cool is that? And it beeps when it's done.

And, oh yeah, it does its basic function (toasts) very well, too. I'm baking another loaf tonight so I have more delicious toaster material. :)