The toaster is typically a small electric kitchen appliance designed to toast multiple types of bread products. A typical modern two-slice toaster draws from 600 to 1200 watts and makes toast in 1 to 3 minutes. There are also non-electrical toasters that can be used to toast bread products over an open fire or flame.   

The first electric bread toaster was created by Alan MacMasters in Edinburgh, Scotland.[2] In 1893, Crompton, Stephen J. Cook & Company of the UK marketed an electric, iron-wired toasting appliance called the Eclipse. Early attempts at producing electrical appliances using iron wiring were unsuccessful, because the wiring was easily melted and a serious fire hazard. Meanwhile electricity was not readily available, and when it was, mostly only at night.

By the middle of the 20th century, some high-end U.S. toasters featured automatic toast lowering and raising, with no levers to operate — simply dropping the slices into the machine commenced the toasting procedure. A notable example was the Sunbeam T-20, T-35 and T-50 models (identical except for details such as control positioning) made from the late 1940s through the 1960s, which used the mechanically multiplied thermal expansion of the resistance wire in the center element assembly to lower the bread; the inserted slice of bread tripped a lever to switch on the power which immediately caused the heating element to begin expanding thus lowering the bread. When the toast was done, as determined by a small bimetallic sensor actuated by the heat passing through the toast, the heaters were shut off and the pull-down mechanism returned to its room-temperature position, slowly raising the finished toast. This sensing of the heat passing through the toast, meant that regardless of the color of the bread (white or wholemeal) and the initial temperature of the bread (even frozen), the bread would always be toasted to the same degree. If a piece of toast was re-inserted into the toaster, it would only be reheated.

There are in fact two possible methods of adjusting the heat that is applied to toast. The first is the method most commonly observed in modern toasters, namely that of fixed distance and either variable time or a heat sensor. The second, less often seen, is to vary the distance of the heaters from the toast, with or without other features. Although a sensor will accurately measure the temperature of the toast-slice's surface with both methods, the outcomes are by no means the same. When heaters are closer to the toast, the surface is crisp and darkened quickly, leaving a softer internal texture at the time when the temperature sensor asserts its readiness. Many enjoy toast made like this. With increased heater distance, the inside of the toast is dried out more by the time that the surface is deemed ready. Perhaps owing to the increased complexity, variable heater distance is rarely found.

Usually, there are some function-keys on the toaster:

1.Cancel, reheat and defrost button

2.Variable electronic timing control

3.Self-centering guide

4.Slide out crumb tray easy to clean

5.Cord storage