The humble toaster is a kitchen staple that’s remained largely unchanged for decades. Pop in some bread, press down a lever and you’ve got yourself a golden, crispy slice in just a few minutes. What else do you need? But since the smart home has become the standard for many, even the simplest appliances have been given a high-tech makeover – and sometimes where it’s not warranted. And yes, that includes the best toasters.
Haier is the latest brand to take a perfectly functioning, analogue device and give it a tech injection in the form of an LCD screen and internet connectivity with its all-new I-Master Series 7 Wi-Fi Glass Toaster.
Packed with innovative features like a transparent viewing window to watch your bread get charred in real time, a companion app, and even a memory function to save your preferred settings, this has to be one of the smartest toasters I’ve ever had the pleasure of inserting my sourdough into.
But do these smarts actually improve the toaster’s overall performance, or is it just a gimmick that only serves to overcomplicate things? I’ve been testing Haier’s cunning appliance for the past few weeks – using it for everything from standard toast to bagels and waffles – to find out.
Haier I-Master Series 7 Toaster review: price and availability
The Haier I-Master Series 7 Wi-Fi Glass Toaster is available to buy now with an RRP of £159 / $202 / AU$324. However, at the time of writing, it could be found on the official Haier webstore for a discounted price of £129 / $164 / AU$262. Whether this is a special launch offering or it’s a price point that’s here to stay is anyone’s guess.
At this price, it’s probably one of the market’s more expensive toasters, which generally range from £40 to £70 for a decent model. However, it’s still cheaper than some high-end, four-slot offerings from brands like Dualit and Smeg, which prioritise style and build quality over fancy features like app connectivity and see-through sides.
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Haier I-Master Series 7 Toaster review: design and build
The Haier I-Master Series 7 is easily one of the most stylish toasters you’ll have ever laid eyes on. With a minimal matte grey metal and black finish alongside a sleek LED interface, everything about it just screams premium. If it’s high-end aesthetics you’re after, you get that here in spades, as it looks like something straight out of a designer kitchen. It’s certainly a good fit for those who prioritise looks when it comes to their appliances.
The standout feature is, of course, the transparent glass window. This see-through side allows you to keep an eye on your toast, meaning no more guesswork or mid-cycle popping to check the level of browning. It also means it’s much less likely you’ll experience that disappointment when that extra 30 seconds of toasting resulted in a total black out that you end up trying to scrape off into the bin before dashing off to work.
It’s for these reasons that it’s a surprisingly handy addition – especially if, like me, you’re super picky about how well done your toast is (the same colour as my tea, a deep golden brown, in case you were wondering).
(Image credit: Lee Bell)
However, the biggest drawback is the toaster’s single-slot design. While it’s long enough to accommodate one large piece of sourdough or two small square slices or bagels side by side, it does limit the number of items you can toast at once. When making breakfast for multiple people, for example, I won’t hold back in saying it was a massive pain in the neck. But more about that later.
Another aspect that might divide opinion is the motorised lift mechanism. Instead of the classic spring-loaded pop-up, this toaster lowers and raises the bread slowly and smoothly, which feels super premium and impressive. While undeniably cool, it does make the operation feel a little sluggish – especially when you’re in a rush.
Nevertheless, the toaster’s build quality is top-notch, feeling very solid overall, and the LED dial with LED interface is a nice touch, working intuitively for the most part. It’s very difficult to fault how the toaster looks, but does its performance match up? Let’s see.
(Image credit: Lee Bell)
Haier I-Master Series 7 Toaster review: performance
Not only does the Haier I-Master Series 7 look the part, but it comes packed with features that should make it the toaster of your dreams. It sports 12 presets, covering everything from standard toast and bagels to waffles and even pizza slices, giving you full control over your bread-charring preferences. These generally work well, and it’s great that each come with seven toasting levels to choose from, meaning you have plenty of flexibility to get your bread just how you like it.
As I mentioned earlier, one of the toaster’s biggest selling points is the glass viewing window, which lets you see your toast gradually turning golden brown. This is most definitely the star feature, and I did find that I was less prone to burning toast since I was able to keep an eye on it. In theory, that should mean you’ll never burn your bread again – but in practice, you do still have to be vigilant. And while Haier claims the design prevents burning, I found that small crumbs can still fall onto the heating elements, occasionally causing a bit of smoke as well as some staining on the glass. The good news is that the glass panels are removable and dishwasher safe, which makes clean-up a doddle.
(Image credit: Lee Bell)
While it looks sleek and modern, the dial for selecting presets and toasting levels can feel unnecessarily long-winded. Perhaps I’m just painfully impatient, but scrolling through multiple options just to make a quick slice of toast became tedious after a while, especially when toasting multiple slices in a row. A simple button press would have got the job done faster. The memory function is a nice touch, though. If you find a setting you love, you can save it and easily access it again later, which is ideal if you find yourself cooking the same thing day after day.
Another gripe that feels a bit “tech for tech’s sake” (a recurring theme here) is the toaster’s motorised lift. Yes, it adds a fun, futuristic edge to the mundane act of toasting bread, but once the novelty has worn off and you realise how much slower this is than a standard pop-up toaster, I’m confident you’ll join me in how frustratingly inefficient it is – particularly when you’re in a rush to eat.
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And last and probably also least is the toaster’s WiFi connectivity, which probably feels the most redundant out of the lot. You can technically control the toaster remotely, but unless you enjoy pressing buttons on an app rather than on the toaster itself, it doesn’t really add anything of value. In fact, it probably just makes a very simple task more complicated. Unfortunately, there’s no option in the app to make the toaster climb into the cupboard and put your bread into its slot while you’re still in bed. Now that’s a truly smart feature I’d like to see!
Regardless of its faults, the toaster is excellent at doing its main job of making bread into toast. Everything I threw into it came out very well cooked, toasted evenly and with a great crisp to it – just how toast should be. You can’t fault the end result, it’s just the getting there that can prove problematic.
(Image credit: Lee Bell)
Haier I-Master Series 7 Toaster review: verdict
The Haier I-Master Series 7 Wi-Fi Glass Toaster is a gorgeous bit of kitchen tech that delivers on some of its promises. The glass window not only looks super cool but it’s genuinely useful, and the precise toasting settings will appeal to those who take their bread snacks seriously.
However, for all its high-tech flair, it doesn’t necessarily make toasting any more efficient. The slow operation, fiddly dial control and single-slot design mean it won’t be for everyone – especially those who need to churn out multiple slices quickly. Still, it does its job of toasting bread very well, and that’s the main thing.
At £129, it’s not outrageously expensive for what it offers, but it’s certainly a luxury rather than a necessity. If you love smart kitchen gadgets and enjoy showing them off even more, then look no further. But if you simply want a stylish toaster that does the job without much fuss, then you might want to look elsewhere – a good old-fashioned toaster at half the price will likely do you just fine.
