Breville's VVT296: the radio toaster

The Gadget Show  Wednesday 09 March 2011

The breakfast gadget that's music to your ears

Breakfast is one of those time-honoured traditions that hasn’t changed too much over the years. And neither has the kit involved – pick yourself up a basic toaster and kettle and you’re already most of the way there.

So kudos to Breville for trying to modernise the theme by introducing the VVT296, a standard two-slice toaster that also comes with an AM/FM radio built in. All for a not unreasonable £45.

Toasting options are nothing out of the ordinary – you have the usual knob for controlling how dark you want the toast to come out, and the option of selecting bread thickness, and that’s about it.

As for the radio side of things, the single speaker and the controls are all located on the side of the toaster, with those controls comprising tuning and volume knobs, as well as mode and preset select buttons.

To complete the deal we’d love to see the VVT296 partnered by a kettle incorporating a small LCD telly to complete the deal, but then again a watched kettle never boils…