Morphy Richards Signature Black 4-Slice Toaster Review: ‘ Perfect for toasting all bread types’

The Morphy Richards Signature Black 4-Slice Toaster is the ideal toaster for larger families who all want a slice of toast in the morning. Although it’s called a 4-slice toaster, it is also an excellent toaster for toasting larger slices of bread such as sourdough or artisan bread which don’t tend to fit into smaller toasters.

With a very stylish and sleek design, it comes in a range of different colours depending on your kitchen. It’s also simple and straightforward to use with seven different browning settings depending on what you’re toasting and how brown you like your bread. It also allows you to defrost bread quickly or toast straight from frozen.

Testing the Morphy Richards Signature Black 4-Slice Toaster

It was fair to say that 10 years on from buying my first 2-slice toaster for university, it was on its last legs. Bread had got caught in the wires inside and over the years, these wires had started to get tangled in my slice of bread making for a rather dangerous removal of each slice.

When it comes to kitchen appliances, Morphy Richards is a well known brand we know and love. While they stock a wide range of different toasters, it was the Morphy Richards Signature Black 4-Slice Toaster that sounded like just what I needed.

Having the capacity to toast four slices at the same time was a must now I wasn’t living alone, as it meant we could actually eat warm toast together without one of us having to wait for the other’s toast to cook. Although many 4-slice toasters come with four separate compartments for each individual slice, this toaster came with two longer slots where you can easily fit four standard cut slices of bread.

What I loved most about this longer slot design was that it could easily fit larger slices of bread in. For example, before if I decided to treat myself to a large loaf from the local farm shop, I would need to cut the slice in half in order for it to fit in the toaster. This feature is also great if you like to make your own bread, as we know the loafs can be a lot larger than we first anticipate.

Another feature I liked was how deep the toaster is. In the past, i’ve found the very top part of the bread sticks out of the toaster, but I haven’t found that once with this one, and it produces an evenly toasted slice on both sides after every use.

The only downside I found to the slot slice was for thicker slices, for example, panini or ciabatta bread that has more of a rise on it. It’s rare that I would ever need to toast this as i’d normally just put it in my toastie maker, however, the ability to easily toast panini bread is something it says it can do on the website.

How brown you like your toast is a very personal thing, so it’s great that the Morphy Richards Signature Black 4-Slice Toaster offers seven different types of toasting. My personal favourite was the third setting but I did like that I could increase this easily for things like crumpets which I like a little more toasted. With so many settings, it does take a little bit of trial and error to find the right setting for you with this toaster.

I would however have preferred the sliding setting to be a bit more difficult to move as there were several times I had accidentally moved the slider to a more intense browning setting without realising which then spoilt my toast. I noticed that if I was cleaning the kitchen side, and caught it with the cloth, the slide would very easily move so it’s something to be mindful of when moving around the toaster, particularly if you have young children about who may like to play with the settings.

As with most toasters, this one comes with a crumb tray for easy toaster cleaning. The tray is easily removable and I’ve not found any issues with bread getting stuck or difficulties with removing the tray meaning maintenance is very easy.

We went for the black design as that fit best with our other kitchen appliances. In terms of its overall appearance, it’s nothing special compared to other more stylish toaster models that really give the wow factor. Personally for me, I was more bothered about getting a well toasted slice than how it looked on my countertop, so this wasn’t a major issue for me.

Final verdict

Overall, this toaster was very easy to use compared to others I have tried in the past. It’s customisable settings were brilliant, despite moving with a little too much ease, and it is very user friendly. The biggest selling point however is the longer slots compared to individual slots. This wasn’t something I’d have looked out for in a toaster prior to getting this one, but it’s an absolute game-changer when it comes to larger slices of toast and I couldn’t recommend this feature enough.

Lorna White is a Senior Digital Writer at Yours.co.uk. She was previously a writer at Yours Magazine writing features and news stories before joining the digital team. Lorna loves the great British countryside and likes to spend her spare time out and about in her home of Nottinghamshire walking her Border Collies, Pippin and Maggie.