Gadget: Tefal Toast n' Light Toaster

Toasters have largely escaped the relentless march of technological progress. Ultimately a new toaster must offer something mightily impressive to tempt a purchase.

We don't exactly upgrade our toasters like mobile phones. My slight obsession with toast has led to a fair few gadget-themed toasters gracing this page.

I started with the eco-obsessed Morphy Richards, which employed automatically closing blast doors to keep in the heat. Next up was the Tefal King Size Toaster which devoured even the fattest of crusts. This week sees the Tefal Toast n' Light step up to the challenge.

The Tefal looks like pretty much any other toaster - it has the now ubiquitous crumb tray, along with reheat and defrost technology, eight browning levels and a stop button.

It has a smooth, white plastic finish and clicks and clunks in all of the right places. It is as boringly vanilla as a toaster could possibly look - plainer than a Rich Tea biscuit. But before you nod off, let me introduce the Tefal's claim to fame, the one feature that will lead you to flick past the 9.99 toasters littering the Argos catalogue, the single unique selling point that will prompt you to consign your existing bread burner to toaster heaven - it is, drum roll please, the "Evolutive Colour Indicator".

This toaster lights up brighter than the front of a toy shop at Christmas (but sadly without the excitement).

Using the wonder of LED lights, the Tefal's whole front surface changes colour from blue (cold, bad, bread still not ready) to green (things starting to happen), to yellow (heating up) and finally to the ominous red (my fiery treat is nearly ready to pop).

I suppose it was quite pretty. However, I could think of plenty of prettier things to spend 35 on.

It lights up brighter than the front of a toy shop at Christmas

Tefal Toast n' Light Toaster34.99, www.argos.co.uk, www.tefal.co.uk

This article was first published in The Scotsman, 13 November, 2010