Is this the smartest toaster ever made?

Sage Appliances Eye Q 870 Auto four-slice toaster
Price: £349.95
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We’ve been toasting bread for centuries, we’ve had toasters to help us for at least 100 years, and yet we persist in burning the toast. I did so last week, announcing, “I burned the toast!” while chucking blackened slices in the food-waste bin. To stop this happening, the Eye Q toaster introduces guardrails that are so conceptually ingenious that I laughed out loud when I read about them. But they work brilliantly.

First, some truths. Bread toasts on an exponential curve, with browning happening rapidly towards the end of the toasting. That’s why we get caught out. Secondly, the traditional toaster timer is our enemy. Mine presents me with a scale from one to six that could mean anything. It doesn’t have a clue whether I’ve put brioche or sourdough in the slot; it’s going to heat them for four toaster time units and leave me to deal with underdone slices or charred remains. The Eye Q, however, dispenses with the timer in favour of, and I quote, “differential reflectance spectroscopy”: sensors “look” at the bread during toasting and stop proceedings when it’s your favourite shade of brown.

Readers will be aware that some bread starts off brown already, but Sage has thought of that: the Eye Q measures the change in brownness rather than absolute brownness, so wholemeal and white slices will emerge identically toasted. You’ve still got to pick your favourite setting on a numbered scale (one to seven), but said scale is a little more meaningful now that it’s pegged to shades of brown rather than a mysterious internal clock. The design is well thought out: there are two optical sensors rather than one (in case one of them happens to focus on a rogue raisin, ruining the calculations) and they’re not directed at the middle of the toasting area (in case of bagels).

It’s not the main selling point, but the slices automatically descend and rise at a gloriously leisurely pace, like commuters on an escalator. Oh, and there’s an override function to turn the Eye Q into a dumb toaster if you want to. But you won’t.

Let it drip

Fellow Series 1 Espresso Machine
Price: From £1,299.95
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This machine is the first of its kind by Fellow, a San Francisco-based brand known for its elegantly designed grinders, presses and pour-over kettles. It’s a beautiful addition to that range, with a low profile (around 28cm high and 44cm deep), gleaming chrome group head and a circular screen controlled via a click wheel, although the machine can also be operated via the Fellow app. Armed with this and a grinder (not included) excellent espressos are just a button-push away, while the steam wand performs exceptionally well, even in the hands of non-baristas like myself. Conversely, coffee nerds who enjoy tweaking ratios, pressures and infusion durations can do so via the extensive settings menu.

Foam party

Smeg Mini Milk Frother
Price: From £99.95
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Smeg makes a larger milk frother with a stainless-steel jug and a variety of frothing options, but this newer, much smaller unit is excellent for one-cup, no-fuss operation, and can handle both dairy and non-dairy milk. It has three settings – hot foam, hot milk and cold foam – cycled through with a single button. Hot means around 70C, and foam means a texture that’s surprisingly voluminous and thick, staying that way in the mug. Flat-white enthusiasts may find it a little over-textured, but I’d deem it a genuine treat. Hot-chocolate drinks can be mixed within the machine – ditto milkshakes on the cold-foam setting. The 1950s Smeg aesthetic is reassuringly familiar and it comes in a range of eight colours.

Grilling in the name

Drew&Cole 5 Minute CleverChef Deluxe
Price: £49.99
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Contrary to the name, this is not a sophisticated piece of equipment – no timer, no display, not even an on-off switch – but it will deliver breakfast treats (waffles, fried eggs, bacon, omelettes) without recourse to pans and stoves, and it’s pleasingly dinky, taking up no more than 35cm x15cm on a worktop. It comes with three pairs of plates – grill, omelette and waffle – which clip in and swap out. Plug it into the mains and it’ll start to heat up, a green light illuminating when it’s ready. Brush some oil or butter on the plates if you like (they’re non-stick), pour in the mixture or pop in the items, close the lid and wait. You’ll know it’s ready by the traditional method, ie lifting the lid up and having a look.

Main squeeze

Fridja F2800 Open Whole Fruit juicer
Price: £199.99
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The gargantuan hopper on this juicer urges you to lob in un-chopped fruit for pulverising. The assembled unit stands at an imposing 45cm high – hopper, auger, bowl and base locking together neatly – and there’s a simple on-off-reverse switch located, rather curiously, around the back. It does its job slowly, quietly and thoroughly, with dry pulp emerging from the side outlet and smooth juice from the non-drip tap. The quality of its output is, of course, dependent on what you put in, but besides fresh fruit it can also handle frozen berries and soaked almonds or cashews for nut milk. Cleaning juicers is never a laugh, but this one’s better than most, with an “easy clean” filter so you can swiftly rinse off any lingering contents.

@rhodri