Nostalgia Pop-Up 2 Hot Dog and Bun Toaster

There are plenty of ways to make a hot dog at home, most of them involving a pan, a grill or the sort of microwave compromise nobody needs to discuss aloud. The Nostalgia Pop-Up 2 Hot Dog and Bun Toaster declines all that sensible flexibility and instead appoints itself head of a very small, very specific department. We have a soft spot for an appliance that identifies one faintly absurd domestic irritation and pursues it with total administrative focus. Here, that irritation is the sad division between a cooked link and a bun left to fend for itself. This is a hot dog and bun toaster: the name has the confidence of a product designed by someone who has seen enough lukewarm rolls and will not be taking questions. The useful bit is that the listing does not confine its ambitions to one kind of link. Chicken, turkey and veggie links are named alongside sausages and brats, making it less of a shrine to a single barbecue staple and more of a compact tribute to things best eaten in a bun. Mini tongs are included too, which is both practical and wonderfully over-formal for lunch. Still, this is not the appliance for a kitchen trying to become calmer, leaner or more adult. It is an object for the person who sees empty worktop space and thinks, correctly or otherwise, that it could be doing more for hot dogs. Our verdict: needless in the strictest sense, yet far too specific to dismiss without a grin.