First built in the 1950s, this English icon is still made the same way today, all by hand and not a circuit board in sight!! I have had my Dualit for years and have all the original elements. Its enduring style has enormous appeal among consumers in the UK and in thirty export markets. In toaster terms, the Dualit stands apart from the crowd as a truly British, robust design classic that is a million miles away from the bland looks of many other toasters. That's because the Classic Vario toaster is based on a commercial design and is built to last.

Each Dualit toaster is assembled by hand, much as it always was. The assembler's individual mark will be found on the base plate. In an age in which so much becomes obsolete overnight, the Dualit toaster is built without compromise.

Manually operated and designed for heavy-duty use, each Dualit toaster is a blend of the simple and highly sophisticated. On the one hand, the toasters retain the stay-warm mechanical ejector they've always had. On the other, the patented ProHeat element uses a radical new heat pattern, encapsulated in a specially developed, high performance material, giving it a unique, protective layer.

That means that your Dualit will always make great toast: crispy on the outside yet soft on the inside - and it stays warm until you're ready to eat. Top chef and toast addict Gordon Ramsay calls his six-slot Dualit a "wonderful great beast". No better accolade for the product that is as much a part of British life as toast itself.