…is the Norpro bread slicer pictured below. I bought one of these almost exactly seven years ago, and tonight it gave up the ghost, with the tray cracking and several of the plastic guides falling off.

It doesn't get good reviews at Amazon for a few good reasons. First, the space between the guides is so wide that an 8-inch bread knife can't easily stay between the guides on both sides of the box. You need a 9-inch bread knife to slice easily with it, and 10-inch would be better. I figured that out pretty quickly, and I'd just bought cutlery for the first time, so I got an additional 9-inch bread knife and gave my 8-inch one to my sister at her request. I've never regretted it—the extra inch makes almost every kind of slicing I do with it much, much easier.

Second, the tines are a bit flimsy. Two adjacent plastic guide tines on one side broke off within the first six months I had the thing, largely because I wasn't good at slicing and kept ramming the knife into them. So, for the next six and a half years, I always had to slice from one side, and for the first slice, I had a guide on the near side but not the far side. (For every other slice, I either had two guides, or I could position the knife against one of the remaining tines—just not between two tines on that side.

And third, the wooden tray that holds the bread is even with the box, so when you cut down to complete a slice, you usually saw into the wood a little bit. My box's wooden grate got deep scores over the years.

But nonetheless, it worked, and I really liked it. I have to bake all my own bread now, so I have to slice it myself. Other guides I've seen don't include crumb catchers, and I'm such a messy person that this is a real boon for me. It's bulky and flawed and hard to keep around, but I used it for seven years and I'll miss it until I can get another one. Sigh. Maybe after Macworld Expo.

(It's also annoying that Amazon ships and sell the thing for $16, but the first link by default is always to a third-party seller who charges $24 plus $11 shipping. It's worth $16. It's not worth $35.)