Elite Gourmet ECT1027B Review

The Elite Gourmet ECT1027B is a two-slice toaster available at a hard-to-beat price. However, it consistently fell short across the board, offering inconsistent results. The simple design doesn't boast many bells and whistles, which may be intriguing for those who take a more minimalist approach.

Bread Toasting

The Elite Gourmet ECT1027B consistently under-toasted bread slices and only managed to brown our toast on the highest settings, although parts of the toast turned out to be darker and burnt. While it demonstrated versatility in achieving various levels of toasting, from lightly crisped to golden brown and very dark toast, the colors and textures of the toast were generally uneven and less delectable than the results produced by other toasters.

Bagel Toasting

During testing, the Elite Gourmet ECT1027B produced inconsistent and unevenly toasted bagels. The lack of a bagel setting did not help our testing, and our testers had a difficult time dialing in the best settings for toasting bagels. Our trials produced bagels with more toasty centers than desired and inconsistent coverage. Some large areas remained white and undercooked while still creating a strangely crunchy texture. Additional trials with higher heat settings exhibited similar results, with uneven toasting, some slightly burned regions, and only average textures.

Frozen Waffle

For those who rely heavily on toasting frozen foods for breakfast, the Elite Gourmet ECT1027B would not be our go-to recommendation. The lack of any frozen food settings forces users to guess the ideal settings for their favorite frozen snack. With similar results to our bread toasting and bagel toasting trials, foods were inconsistently heated, and the lack of finer adjustments resulted in uncontrolled transitions from underdone to overdone and burnt foods. As far as a traditional toaster goes, this model toasts with acceptable results, but if you desire a truly delectable waffle or strudel, you may be disappointed.

Ease of Use

While our test team found the Elite Gourmet ECT1027B to generally be user-friendly, it has some obvious shortcomings. Notably, accessing the crumb tray located at the rear is inconvenient. While this model has one of the simplest interfaces of all the models we tested, with a browning dial with six settings and a cancel button, it doesn't provide users with great insight into what settings to use for foods like bagels or frozen foods. Nonetheless, the simplicity may be desirable for some users who don't care for more advanced settings or features.

Should You Buy the Elite Gourmet ECT1027B?

The Elite Gourmet ECT1027B provides an adequate level of performance for one of the smallest and cheapest models of toaster you can buy today. However, it was easily outperformed by a slightly more expensive model, making it difficult to recommend, even at its incredibly low price.

What Other Toaster Should You Consider?

If you are shopping on a more modest budget, but still care about performance, then you'll want to consider the Cuisinart CPT-122 over the Elite Gourmet ECT1027B. While it is slightly more expensive, it won't leave you disappointed every time you use your toaster. If budget is not a concern, and you want excellent performance all-around, then you'll be happy with the Smeg 2-Slice, which is one of our top recommendations for good reasons.