A conveyor toaster includes a conveyor assembly with a bracket and a conveyor belt. The conveyor belt rotates about first and second gears. A drive motor operates to move the conveyor belt about the first and second gears. A platen is configured to be heated and is positioned relative to the conveyor belt. A mounting bracket is connected to the bracket of the conveyor assembly. Movement of the mounting bracket changes the positon of the conveyor assembly relative to the platen.

An infrared toaster and a method of toasting use a support configured to hold a food product relative to an infrared source. A light source and a camera are arranged relative to the support to illuminate the food product and capture digital images of the food product. A processor receives and analyzes successive images from the camera. The processor operates the IR source to achieve a predetermined toasting level of the food product. The processor operates the IR source to terminate operation directing IR energy when the predetermined toasting level is reached.

A food toasting device for selectively heating occupied toasting slots includes a housing. A plurality of walls, which are coupled to the housing, define a plurality of chambers. A plurality of slots is positioned in a top of the housing. A power module is coupled to the housing. Each of a plurality of heating elements is selectively couplable to the power module and is positioned on a respective opposing side of an associated chamber. Each of a plurality of lifts is coupled to the housing and positioned in an associated chamber. The lifts are spring loaded and are configured to operate independently. Each slot is configured to insert a food item, such as a piece of bread, into an associated chamber. The lift is configured to lower the food item into the associated chamber. The heating elements are configured to toast the food item.

In a method for establishing a degree of browning of food to be cooked in a cooking chamber of a household cooking appliance, a reference image is captured by a camera of the household cooking appliance, which camera is directed into the cooking chamber. A first measurement image is captured at a first brightness of a light source of the household cooking appliance, and a second measurement image is captured at a second brightness of the light source. A difference image is generated from the first measurement image and the second measurement image, and the difference image is compared with the reference image.

A toaster comprising: a body configured to hold toastable foodstuff; one or more heating elements mounted to the body and configured to heat foodstuff held by the body; one or more acoustic sensors mounted to the body and configured to: pick up one or more sounds produced by the foodstuff when the foodstuff is heated by the heating elements; and generate an audio signal based on the sounds; and a controller configured to control the heating elements based at least in part on the audio signal generated by the acoustic sensors.

A toaster includes a rack within a toasting chamber. A lid is movable with the rack to selectively occlude an opening to the toasting chamber. A heating element within the toasting chamber is operable to direct IR energy to the bread product on the rack. An image capture device operates to acquire image data of the bread product on the rack. A controller receives the image data. The controller processor analyzes successive image data received from the image capture device. Based upon the analysis of the image data, the controller operates the heating element to achieve a predetermined toasting level of the bread product and then turn off the heating element.

A toaster comprising: a body configured to hold toastable foodstuff; one or more heating elements mounted to the body and configured to heat foodstuff held by the body; one or more acoustic sensors mounted to the body and configured to: pick up one or more sounds produced by the foodstuff when the foodstuff is heated by the heating elements; and generate an audio signal based on the sounds; and a controller configured to control the heating elements based at least in part on the audio signal generated by the acoustic sensors.

A toaster comprising: a body configured to hold toastable foodstuff; one or more heating elements mounted to the body and configured to heat foodstuff held by the body; one or more acoustic sensors mounted to the body and configured to: pick up one or more sounds produced by the foodstuff when the foodstuff is heated by the heating elements; and generate an audio signal based on the sounds; and a controller configured to control the heating elements based at least in part on the audio signal generated by the acoustic sensors.

A toaster heating assembly (55A, 55B) including: a frame (60); a panel (65) at least partly supported by the frame (60); a spacer (80) mounted to the panel (65); and an elongate heating element (93) having a plurality of spaced apart elongate heating element portions (95) supported by the spacer (80), so that the spacer (80) is located between the plurality of heating element portions (95) and the panel (65) to provide a gap (94) between the plurality of heating element portions (95) and the panel (65).