It may not be available just yet, but you can put our names on the list for the ROLLERtoaster when it hits the market. It is definitely the toaster of the future. Sleek and compact, the toaster was designed by Jaren Goh of Singapore and won a 2006 Red Dot Design Award for innovation. Goh was inspired by the change of televisions from large and bulky boxes to streamlined flat-panels which retained all the functionality of the larger unit in a much more compact product. He applied that to a common appliance,the toaster, and the ROLLERtoaster was born. Slices of bread are "fed" into one side of the machine and are rolled through, fully toasted, to the other side where your plate awaits. The only potential problem is that it doesn't look like it will be able to handle bagels easily. Then again, neither do a lot of other toasters, so perhaps it's not as big a problem as one might think.

We love toast here at Slashfood, but we think that toast is a little more fun when you can customize it. We're not referring to whether you like your toast light or dark, with butter or with Nutella, but to actually using a design for the toast itself. So far, we have see snakes on toast, pop art on toast, love notes on toast and Disney characters. None of those can top the Zuse Toast Printer, though. This wall-mounted toaster can burn - by which we mean toast - any 12x12 px image onto your toast using "a technology similar to early matrix printers," working line by line until the image has been reproduced. The toaster comes with some images already uploaded, but it sounds as though you would be able to add your own to the image inventory, too.

I have no idea what that little cube guy under the toaster is supposed to be, but I can think of at least a few designs that would make my morning toast a little more interesting.

[via SciFi Tech]

A bagel lover can spend days, even weeks, trying to find a toaster that will comfortably fit extra-wide bagel slices. With most toasters, you end up having to stuff a bagel half in a too-small slot, which inevitably results in a bagel that is burned on one side. And that's all after you contend with those plastic "bagel slicers" that squish the bagel more effectively than they cleave it. The Westinghouse ToasterSlicer both toast and slices - and it is designed specifically for bagels.

Sometimes, food is art, but in this case, art is food. This giant toaster mosaic measures 16.5x15-feet and is made of 2,500 pieces of toast. Each piece of bread was toasted to a precise color of doneness to create the depth and shading in the picture. It took the Swedish artists, as well as some friends who assisted with the toasting, several days to put together the image. The piece is not on permanent display at the Modern Art Museum of Buenos Aires, where it was one of the museum's most popular pieces when it made its debut.

Butter and jam are probably prohibited in the room with the exhibition.

[via Supersized Meals]

I always considered beans on toast to be an easy, but satisfying meal to make. I mean, you open a tin of beans, warm them up in the microwave (or on the stove, if you want to be fancy) while you toast a slice of bread and then spoon some beans onto the toast. I wasn't one for adding butter to the toast, too, but that is certainly a popular option. The point is that beans on toast is a two-component meal and it looks like two was one too many for Heinz, since they have compacted it into a pre-made frozen food, much like a bean-filled pop tart.  It's currently being tested in New Zealand and, if it enjoys success there, it will be treated to a wider release.

Somehow, I think I'll still be able to cobble together this dish on my own, but I suppose if you're really in a hurry....

Speaking of the cost effectiveness of kitchen gadgets, what do you think that your most and least used appliances/tools are? I know that I use my ice cream maker quite often, though it was voted as the least cost-effective appliance. On a near-daily basis, I use my espresso machine and my oven, and I use my toaster and blender less frequently. My stand mixer gets a good amount of use, too. I'm not going to work out the exact cost per use, but I think that these have all paid for themselves.

In terms of least used items, my waffle iron only makes occasional appearances in my kitchen, but I got such a good deal on it that it could be considered "cost effective" even if I only used it twice. My slow cooker is an appliance that I want to use more often than I actually do, as well. Fortunately, I don't think I have anything that I have never used. I'm sure that that is more indicative of the fact that I cook a lot than the potential usefulness of the gadget.

I'm willing to bet that sometimes the least used things in the kitchen are some of the least expensive, like my waffle iron. Things that were expensive tend to motivate people, myself included, to use them in an attempt to justify the cost. If it seemed like too good a deal to pass up at the time, you probably didn't buy it because you actually needed it, like that 6th unusually shaped whisk or yet another cheese grater that is now collecting dust at the back of the pantry.

How many times have you come across a neat looking gadget or seemingly useful appliance at the store and bought it, thinking that it would be useful? Maybe you rationalized your purchase by thinking , I always wanted to make my own ice cream, or perhaps even something like, the toaster on the TV show I watched last night looked just like this one and it made perfect toast! Not all kitchen gadgets are as costly, or as cost effective, as they sound. Pricegrabber.co.uk did a study of the cost-effectiveness of 30 household items, based on a survey of 1,500 UK shoppers that asked about how often they had used the items in the past year.

The least cost effective item was an ice cream maker, costing £19.48 ($35) per use! Clearly, nothing that is used only once or twice is a very cost effective item. Kitchen gadgets that were cost effective were tea kettles, averaging 5p (10¢) per use, and toasters, which ran about 18p (32¢).

This toaster seems like it could lead to problems. Sure, the first couple of days you may get a kick out of buttering toast that says:  "I Love You." But what about Day 18? What if you're not particularly happy with your lover and you have to make them a piece of toast? And what happens if you accidentally burn the toast? Perhaps your lover will get suspicious if he or she gets a piece of blackened toast that says "I Love You."  I wouldn't touch this toaster, but I'm sure someone is ordering it right now. It's about $53 via Gadgets.co.uk.

Some people like to boil their hot dogs. I never saw the point of that. A hot dog that comes out of a pot of simmering water will never have the crisp snap of a grilled hot dog, nor will it have any of the toasty grill marks. For me, the only ways to cook a hot dog are under the broiler or over a hot barbecue. After seeing this Hot Dog Toaster from Hammacher Schlemmer, I may just reconsider, though. It toasts both dog and bun in the same machine in just minutes, with settings to adjust the heat so you don't burn your buns. A toaster like this would giver a similar effect to a real grill and will definitely give you better results than you will get from a limp, boiled dog. It retails for $49.95.