It toasts, just not altogether reliably. The temp dial is wonky, not very trustworthy. Let's say you're making four pieces of toast, all the same bread. The first two in... probably too light, so you push it down again and probably get a pretty dark pair. Put the next two pieces in and even without resetting the dial... wow, that's dark! So, what's with that?
I got his a few weeks ago and it is working great. It's simple and attractive. However, my last one only worked great for a couple of years. then I used it just toasting one side of the bread for several more years. I decided to try again, so hopefully this one lasts longer.