The Toaster Man

This past weekend, Alison and I were at the Grayslake Antique Market where we met Rick Rhodes and his amazing collection of Toasters. Rick is the self-titled Midwest Toaster Authority! He has an amazing collection. You have never seen chrome so shiny.

Rick gave us both a great lesson and history on some classic models. The Toast-o-Lator was particularily fascinating as it "walks" toast through from one side and drops it out the other--perfectly browned. Rick has a loaf of bread handy in his booth and gladly plugs in any model you may want to see and pops in some bread. In just a few minutes... toast! Alison has been searching for a "new" toaster and looked over many different models. After narrowing down her choices, she ultimately chose the Pop-Down model seen here:

Isn't it fabulous! You put toast in on top and it comes out below perfectly browned as you can see in the photo. Rick's toaster obsession began after reading an article in the newspaper about an old toaster and deciding that an old toaster would be a great gift for a retiring brother-in-law. Well, as we antique lovers all know, one toaster turned into ten, which then turned into twenty and so on, and now he is the Midwest Toaster Authority! If you or any one you know is looking for a toaster contact Rick. He will be glad to help you out!

Rick and Alison