Casa Bugatti, started off as a cutlery  manufacturer, 90 years later they are an Italian design house producing, alongside their still flourishing cutlery lines,  a range of high end kitchen products and appliances, as you would expect these are eye-wateringly expensive, with a gold plated kettle costing  around £2000, and a simple citrus juicer about £150.

They make a 2 slice toaster too, the Bugatti VOLO, selling between £170 and £500, depending on the styling, there is also a Swarovski Crystal studded version for £2,200  you can see the Bugatti VOLO range here

We thought we would give one a go, to see if the engineering of this appliance matched  the price. Could this mega priced VOLO do what no other electric toaster can, and give us a slice as good as you get under a grill every time?

We were disappointed, like many others who splashed out on one of these and thought the high price, stylish design, over engineering  and nifty motorized toast cage meant they would get better results than with a standard £35 toaster.

As for the build quality: Do not be fooled by the name! Casa Bugatti  has nothing to do with Bugatti cars and from the performance of this toaster that’s  pretty obvious. It  is more from the style over substance  Alfa Romero school of engineering.

The VOLO is unreliable and flimsy, the electrics tend to fail, but worst of all  the crumbs build up and are impossible to get out, eventually working up behind the element wires which break far too easily.

And it only has a standard 1 year guarantee, for a £500 toaster?

What this really is, is an expensive and very stylish gadget you sit in the kitchen and only use to impress your guests with, while you have a ‘proper toaster’ hidden in the cupboard to make your breakfast toast.

If you regard it as buying a piece of art maybe the price can be justified,  as a toaster  we fail to see any  reason for paying so much for so little.