Sunbeam Radiant Control Toaster

[pumper]

Just picked this up at St Vincent for $2. Only a few crumbs inside. Shines like the dickens!

 

[qsd-dan]

That's a fantastic price and it looks amazing. These have had a resurgence (deservedly so) and are collectable/popular again. Ebay prices have reflected that.

 

[rp2813]

These are great toasters, but they can be tricky with anything other than plain old white bread.  Before my '50s model got fussy about lowering -- for the second time in a few years -- I was impressed with how it knew you wanted only a little more toasting if it raised the bread too early.  Give the adjusting knob a slight turn darker and lower the bread again.  It would just brown it a bit more and raise two perfectly done slices.

 

I still have another Radiant Control model, but it's stored away in favor of one that will handle bagels and more hearty/rustic breads.  There's also an old Toastmaster stored away that I've been tempted to bring up into the kitchen lately, but I'm spoiled by my KitchenAid Pro Line with manual lift mechanism (a steal at Tuesday Mornings about 15 years ago).  Some may think it's a pain, but it's great for checking doneness without interrupting the cycle.

 

[fluidriver]

Australian Toastermatic.

Here's one I found recently at an op shop in country South Australia.

At $15 it cost more than yours, but has hardly been used, and works perfectly!

The orange ends show it is a later model, but they made them in Australia up to the 1990s, I believe.

 

[aussie-plugs]

Beautiful!

I'm guessing it's early/mid-70's. There was a lot of mission brown and burnt orange in kitchen colourings back then

 

[astorobsession]

Stunning. I have about 8. Earlier ones too. The ones with art deco motif were the rarest here. Never seen really. Seen one. great toasters and ahead of their time! Are you still doing up your washing machines too?

 

[zenithtv]

I have a gold Radiant Control that I bought at an estate sale years ago. I haven't see another one and I have owned dozens of the chrome models. Maybe it was an employee gift type item?

 

[Automatic]

Just superb. Define an employee order OR an anniversary model of sorts. Gold was never a colour. If you ever want to sell her, let me know. Well done!

 

[adam-aussie-vac]

LOL, this reminds me“and the magic of having one of them” by the way I found that with this if you cut a bagel in half like perfectly enough it’ll fit in without getting jammed or anything like that, that’s also something I found when I sliced my own bread. There’s a pretty good thickness where it doesn’t get jammed but it’s thick enough that it creates great toast

 

[zenithtv]

Yes, those toasters can be fussy to use. I mostly toast rye or wheat bread I get from the Polish grocery store, or home baked wheat bread. With odd shaped slices the bread needs to cover the sensor or the toaster will shut off right away. Different breads also toast differently, photo shows a multi grain store baked bread and a home baked wheat bread, both toasted at the same time. The multi grain bread was older and stored in the refrigerator, so it was probably a bit dried out. They work well with toaster waffles. Any really odd shaped bread goes in the General Electric toaster oven.