After reading all the reviews I decided to purchase this toaster. The problem I had with it was once I pressed the lever down it would not stay down longer than 37 seconds before it would pop up again. I had to push it down 3 times to get it toasted. Not sure if this toaster was defective but it should not take 3 cycles to get the bread toasted. The heating elements are too far away to toast regular bread...it looked liked the inside heating element was hotter than the other & therefore the bread on one side was darker than the other. The wide slots are better for toasting bagels than regular bread. I returned it & purchased a cheaper toater but have the same problem with the heating elements & one side being darker than the other. At least with the new one the lever stays down longer. Looks like they're all made that way to accomodate bagels.