10 best toastie makers for snack-filled movie nights

If referring to a toastie maker as "hench" is wrong, we don’t want to be right. Just look at it. A feat of sandwich maker engineering, this Vonshef model can make four toasties at a time. That’s double the toastie power!

On average, it delivered 92% of browning coverage across the bread in just six minutes and 27 seconds. We like those odds.

Aside from being able to ramp up your toastie-making capacity – here's to eating four XXL tuna melts while watching at least 12 solid hours of Disney Plus — the maker's deep cooking plates allowed for plenty of fillings with minimal cheese spillage.

The casing did become hot to the touch while in use, so watch your fingers.

You don't have to splash out to enjoy a delicious ham and cheese toastie. This budget option speedily whips up crisp toasties that are evenly cooked throughout, all without breaking the bank.

We did find that the top plates pushed our sandwich edges out, and these then didn't cook, but you can get around this by trimming away the crusts. It's a simple model, but it does the basics well.

After a toastie maker you can tuck away but don't want to compromise on how much filling you can cram in? This would be a wise buy. It's slim for a deep-fill model.

We were impressed that the outside remained cool while it heated up inside. But when we took the temperatures of our toasties, one was a white-hot 99°C, so don't tuck in immediately!

They were cooked well, though, and the sandwiches fit nicely in the plates, too. There was a little bit of spilt filling, but overall, it's a good option that won't take up too much room if you're sharing kitchen space.

This investment buy proves you should never underestimate the humble toastie maker. It has three different heat settings and comes with two sets of cooking plates: one for our beloved toasties and the other for grilling fish and steak. That's right: steak in a toastie maker. We're living in the future.

Despite its versatility, it was still simple to use, and the high heat setting is ideal for anyone who enjoys a proper crunch.

A warning for panini enthusiasts, though: Ours sadly spilt out of the front of the machine. But all in all, if you've got the cash to spend, this is an impressive piece of kit with several perks, including the accompanying creative recipe book.

This slick sandwich toaster is supposed to have the deepest plates in Breville's range, and we rated the results: full, well-melted cheese toasties with no filling lost due to leaky edges.

It's a compact design with removable, dishwasher-safe plates, but when you first use it there may be a slight plastic smell. This disappeared for us by the time we'd finished cooking our first lot of sandwiches, and the instructions do warn of it, so we wouldn't let it put you off. The other thing to watch is the casing, which reached over 80°C in our tests.

This is the one to go for if you want a true multi-tasking snack maker. It comes with a range of plates so you can make waffles and paninis as well as a cheese toastie.

We found the instructions were detailed too, so it was no problem getting to grips with the different functions. Plus, there's a top selection of recipes as a nice added bonus.

Its versatility does come with a downside: It's a hefty bit of kitchen kit, so you'll need enough cupboard space to store it. Its performance on the speed front was mixed too, pre-heating quickly but cooking fairly slowly. The casing also got hot, and the seal wasn't as effective as we'd have liked. That said, removable plates meant clean-up was a breeze.

This deep-fill model makes delicious, evenly cooked toasties — the perfect shade of gold, crunchy on the outside and melty on the inside.

Cooking time let it down a tad, though. It took seven and a half minutes in our testing, while its instructions claimed it should take two to four. Watch out near the handle, too, as it got very hot during cooking.

That said, it sealed our sarnies well, and the results were worth waiting for.

This is a true steal and a reliable machine to boot. Its instructions claim it toasts a sandwich in two to four minutes, and it proved this in testing. Ours were ready in a rapid four minutes, making it one to reach for if you're often in a hurry.

It's compact and boasts built-in cable storage, ideal for flatshares or students. Some of our filling leaked during cooking, though, and the toasting wasn't even on the outside of the sandwiches. But the filling temperatures were, which is arguably more important.

The casing also got hot — reaching 77°C — but overall, we think this is a bargain worth adding to your basket.