2 stars because it does toast and it looks pretty.  
It toasts wide things much better than thin things like pop-tarts.  To be clear, they toast fine but you have to balance it very carefully in the middle of the slot and then push the lever very slowly so it doesn't slip down--but then it probably will slip down when it pops up anyway.  Also, it doesn't have an over-extension on the lever so that you can take shorter items out without burning fingers.  My recommendation is to spend $10-15 more and get a better one.  I'm buying another brand shortly.           Update:  It completely died 4 few months later and I very rarely toast....maybe 10 times.  Get something else.