I have owned several 4-slice toasters (mostly Breville) because none of them was durable. The 2 most common failures were heating element and bent internal bread slice support; both were unrepairable. The Zwilling toaster seems to be built like a tank and operates smoothly. During one week of use, everything has functioned as advertised. Bread and bagels toast evenly. The toaster level buttons actually serve a useful and repeatable purpose. Be careful-I found that medium toasting levels are consistently obtained with lower heating numbers as opposed to other toasters that are capricious and arbitrary. Bread lowers and rises progressively, avoiding toast tossed into the air and premature moving parts failure. The outside of the toaster remains cool with prolonged use. The crumb tray is a delight. Now comes the big test: durability. We’ll check back over time to let you know.