It’s one of Oprah’s favorite gadgets, but we won’t pick it up this Prime Day – here’s why

When Oprah loves a product, we are usually not far behind her. But there is one product she has in her kitchen that, upon reviewing, didn't quite live up to the hype – and we won't be picking it up on Prime Day. 

When we saw the Revolution InstaGLO toaster on Oprah's Favorite Things last year, we had to get a sample to test. You can read the full review here, and while isn’t so bad that it didn't make it onto our list of best toasters, there are some other options that we think perform better for the money. Our in-house reviewers urge you to consider those instead.

Here, we explain why you might want to avoid the Revolution InstaGLO toaster, and what you want to be picking up in its place. 

Why we gave the Revolution InstaGLO toaster three stars 

For such a high price (even on prime day) our reviewer Camryn Rabideau wasn't quite convinced by the uneven cooking of the high-tech touch-screen toaster. 

Camryn Rabideau

Camryn Rabideau is a freelance writer and product reviewer who has been testing small kitchen appliances (as well as other home goods) for several years. She’s tested everything from toasters to juicers to oil infusion machines. Camryn does her product testing from her small homestead in beautiful Rhode Island. When she’s not tinkering around with the latest home gadgets, she spends her time tending to her animals, working in her garden, or crafting.

Although offering a series of preprogrammed food settings, and doubling up as a panini press if you buy the added extras, the results are a little on the disappointing side – even when manually programming your desired toasting levels. Camryn was disappointed to find burnt bottoms and undercooked tops of whatever she put into the shallow toasting slots.

Its bulkier size also means it is not the best appliance for small kitchens, or if you are trying to save space. Overall, the jazzy touchscreen model looks sleek and is worthy of setting up a smart home, but it was a little too showy and not as consistent as we would have liked.

What to buy instead

When picking up some new kitchen gadgets this prime day, there are three toasters that our reviewers have deemed Amazon prime day deals worth buying – and all of them go back to the basics: 

'When it comes to toasters, going back to the basics is the safer, cheaper option at the moment,' says our Head of eCommerce, Alex David. 'Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of gadgets I love for smart homes, but when it comes to something as basic as toasting bread perhaps it is better to stick with what we know – as we have seen with our favorite toasters so far.'

Alex David

As Head of eCommerce, Alex David makes sure our readers find the right information to help them make the best purchase. After graduating from the University of Cambridge, Alex learned the tricks of the trade at the Good Housekeeping Institute, testing everything from vacuums and washing machines to dog toys to exercise bikes. He then moved to BBC Gardeners’ World Magazine, where he got into the weeds to discover the best gardening tools, machinery, and wildlife products. At a time when it can be tricky to know what's what, and when budgets are tighter than ever, helping readers to find the right products to make their lives a little easier is a genuine passion.

FAQs

Don't think that all smart kitchen gadgets are like this, however. One of our favorite air fryers, the Cosori Dual Blaze, works with an Alexa or from a smartphone, but it delivers on performance too.