Cuisinart CPT-720 2-Slice Digital with MemorySet Review

Performance Comparison

Bread Toasting Quality

Our first test metric evaluated one of the most important toaster qualities, how well it can toast a slice of bread on low heat, medium heat, and high heat settings. Unfortunately, the Cuisinart CPT-720 did not do well on our tests and scored below average, based on the performance of all other models tested.

On a low setting, this model seemed to produce toast on a higher heat than other models, while its medium setting produced toast that looked more in line with what you'd expect from a low setting. A high heat setting produced toast that was more of what we'd expect from a medium setting. All in all, this model produced inconsistent and generally underwhelming toast.

Ease of Use

While the Cuisinart CPT-720 toaster may be average regarding its toast-making abilities, its ease of use and interface is where it shines. In particular, with a digital LCD interface and the ability to save a preferred setting.

The CPT-720 has a crumb tray with access on the back of the toaster, and while the location isn't ideal, it's easy enough to remove and replace. There is a selector for seven types of bread: white, grain, bagel, sweet, waffles, English muffin & gluten-free. The model also incorporates plus and minus buttons to control the shade of toasting with seven heat settings.

A digital screen displays selections and a countdown timer once the lever is depressed and the toasting cycle begins.

A nicety of the CPT-720 is that it incorporates a fairly simple but useful 'Memory' button to reload your favorite setting. You simply hit the memory button as soon as you turn the toaster on and it will load the previous setting.

Bagel Toasting Quality

The bagel toasting performance of the Cuisinart CPT-720 2-Slice earned it a below-average score and placed it rather squarely in the back half of the models we tested.

Across all of the tests we performed, finished bagels were only lightly crisped, with one side of the bagel more done than the other, and the heat was completely uneven. We never achieved a uniform gold or golden brown color.

Frozen Food/Defrosting Quality

Across our frozen foods metric, a challenge for many toasters, the Cuisinart CPT-720 2-Slice exhibited average and irregular performance compared to its peers.

Between waffles, frozen bread, and strudels, the CPT-720 did the most disappointing job preparing waffles. The results were waffles with one crispy and evenly golden brown side and an opposite side that was squishy, undercooked, and under-toasted.

This model makes up for its dismal performance on frozen waffles, which were fully cooked and crispy. Frozen bread ended up toasted with a dark gold coloring and generally received even heat for a consistent toasty crunch overall. Although, a couple of cooler, less toasted spots kept the Cuisinart from scoring even better.

Finally, on our last frozen food test, the strudel, this toaster yielded good results. It produced a flaky pastry with a warm center, but after experimenting with some heat settings produced nearly perfect strudels.

Should You Buy the Cuisinart CPT-720 2-Slice?

The Cuisinart CPT-720 2-Slice may have some interesting features, but nothing that can overlook its less-than-average performance in almost every other critical test metric. Because there are a number of great models that performed much better in our tests and are more affordable, we can't recommend this model.

What Other Toaster Should You Consider?