Black+Decker TR3500SD Review

The Black+Decker TR3500SD has all the functions you need in a toaster: backlit buttons, bagel and defrost modes, and quick heating elements. The one place it falls short is its trap door style crumb tray, which can be a bit of a pain to empty. Overall, the Black+Decker TR3500SD did quite well in our testing but fell a bit short of the performances exhibited by the best products we tested.

Performance Comparison

Bread Toasting Quality

Bread toasting is likely the most essential aspect of performance for most people, and the Black+Decker TR3500SD did quite well in our testing. This result was above average and just a bit behind the top scorers.

The TR3500SD was able to get nice, even crispiness across the entire face of the bread, resulting in a delightfully crunchy toast. However, each piece also had some seemingly random hot spots that were crunchier than the rest. This irregularity didn't affect the taste too much, but it wasn't quite as impressive as the toast that some of the best models could produce.

Ease of Use

Black+Decker nailed the interface but fumbled a bit on the crumb tray, resulting in average ease of use performance. We felt that this flaw made it harder to clean. As crumbs tend to pile up quickly, it is better to have a toaster where one can easily slide the crumb tray out for quick dumping and cleaning.

The shade knob and buttons on this machine feel solid and supple. Buttons are conveniently backlit and make it clear which mode is selected. Our only complaint is the crumb tray, which uses a less than ideal hinged trapdoor design. It requires lifting the entire toaster to remove crumbs rather than just sliding out.

Bagel Toasting Quality

We were pleasantly surprised with the TR3500SD's bagel toasting performance. The backsides of bagels made with this machine were slightly warm but still soft and gooey, just the way they should be. The front side was toasted well with no burned spots, but one side tended to be much darker. We'd put these bagels on the right side of acceptable, but certainly short of incredible.

Defrosting Quality

The TR3500SD again performed quite well in our frozen food testing, putting it just behind the top models.

The defrost function worked quite well, thawing all of the frozen pastries all the way through before actually toasting them. Like its toasting performance, it did produce random hotspots in frozen pastries, leaving some bites much crunchier than others. It did a bit better with frozen waffles, getting most of the ridges just a bit brown and leaving the pockets on the fluffier side.

Should You Buy the TR3500SD?

Overall, the TR3500SD is quite good for a toaster with a list price that is easy on the wallet. This model provides great performance given its low price, but we do not recommend it as there are better-performing toasters that are also affordable.

What Other Toaster Should You Consider?

If all you need is a great piece of toast and price is an issue, the Cuisinart CPT-122 creates impressive toast and does a better job while remaining cost-effective. It even makes better bagels, but it is harder to clean and use than the TR3500SD.