A shiny little toaster from Hamilton Beach (pictures)

The Hamilton Beach Classic Chrome 2-Slice Toaster is classic in every sense of the word. Click through to take a spin with this stalwart kitchen counter mainstay.

Toasters haven't changed much over the past 100 years or so. The Classic Chrome is no exception, with the same toasting mechanism as you're likely used to.

The Classic Chrome offers nine doneness settings on its smooth-turning shade selector.

You can also click it over into bagel mode, which will only toast the insides of your bagel. Defrost mode is meant for frozen things like Eggo waffles, while the reheat function will give things a quick blast of rejuvenating heat.

You'll want to be sure to empty the crumb tray fairly regularly.

The Classic Chrome definitely gets hot when you toast with it -- it is a toaster, after all. Still, the body of the appliance didn't get hot enough to keep me from taking this picture.

Here's what you get on low, medium and high settings. It overtoasts a little bit on medium, but not badly, and everything comes out more or less evenly toasted.

Frozen waffles came out just fine using the defrost preset.

The bagel preset worked as well, though it didn't cook the two halves evenly.

At just $30, this is a bargain-priced toaster that delivers dependable, if unexciting, results. Read our full review for all of the toasty insights.