To help us provide you with free impartial advice, we may earn a commission if you buy through links on our site. Learn more

De’Longhi Icona Vintage Toaster review

Our Rating :
Price when reviewed : £65
inc VAT

A good range of features from a good-looking toaster, but it could do with more lift from its levers

Specifications

Number of slots: 4, Reheat mode: Yes, Defrost mode: Yes, Bagel mode: Yes, Muffin rack?: No 

In terms of looks the De’Longhi Icona scored highly with us, we liked its curved lines and our ‘Vintage’ model comes in numerous colours with brown controls. It was remarkably fingerprint resistant too and cool to the touch after toasting. Standard and Vintage models total six colours, so you should find something you like, though internally they’re all identical. From £45 they’re not expensive either, though our model costs around £65. Unsurprisingly, there’s a matching coffee machine from the Italian manufacturer.

See all our top pick toasters for 2016 here

The pleasing exterior is matched by a full range of controls. There are twin browning controls, with round knobs, which are stiff enough that they shouldn’t be knocked accidentally. The indicator dials (curiously marked as Toast Colour) are tucked behind little windows, we think this is to match the pressure and temperature dials on the company’s coffee machines. As well as the usual cancel, defrost and reheat controls, the Icona has a bagel mode – so you can just toast the insides, leaving the tops appropriately doughy. All the buttons have simple indicator lights next to them.

De'Longhi Icona Toaster

The slots are long at 140mm, easily swallowing typical sliced bread sidewise and so toasting the whole slice without it poking from the top. They’re not very deep, just 107mm from the bottom to where the filaments stop, but that’s not an issue as long as you can lie the bread down. It can be tricky to get out bread toasted this way, or other smaller items, as there’s quite a lip between the top of the filaments and the actual top. The levers provide a rather pitiful extra 10mm of lift, which means that muffins, crumpets and bagels can be hard to retrieve.

De'Longhi Icona Toaster

At two minutes and 21 seconds this is a pretty typical toaster, while its power use of 0.33 is just above average given the speed (faster toasters tend to use more power). The toast is good, nicely balanced from side-to-side and it has attractive stripes. we did find the very ends were a little under toasted (we lay our bread down to get the best effect) but it’s still a good overall result.

The De’Longhi Icona isn’t very quick and it’s not great for smaller items. However, it looks great, is well priced in its non-Vintage form, has a bagel mode, is cool-to-touch and produces fairly consistent toast. It’s a good buy if you want something more stylish than the practical-looking Philips Toaster, though that device has the edge when it comes to even toasting.  Buy Now from Amazon

Details

Number of slots4
Browning controls2
Reheat modeYes
Defrost modeYes
Bagel modeYes
Size (WxDxH)300x340x205mm
TOASTING
Toast lift height50mm
Additional lift height?60mm
Slot width33mm
Slot length140mm
Slot depth115mm
Crumb trayRear
Muffin rack?No
Cool to touch?Yes
Other featuresN/A
Buying
WarrantyOne-year RTB
Price£65
Supplierwww.johnlewis.com
Detailswww.delonghi.com
Part CodeCTOV 4003.BK

Read more

Reviews