Google Home Build Is a Love Letter to a Beautiful Toaster

Most of us nerds tend to have a particular fascination with some obscure or unique product, piece of fiction, or bit of memorabilia. For some, it’s an iconic childhood toy like a Virtual Boy or a Lite Brite. For others, it’s an action figure figure that represents a favorite movie franchise. For Peter Kent, it’s a toaster.

But, we’re not talking about just any toaster here, we’re talking about a classic Dualit toaster. Dualit toasters are a bit of a pop culture touchstone in the UK, and they hold a special place in Kent’s heart. Unfortunately, his didn’t actually work very well, and it was replaced with a more modern model.

The Dualit had been sitting in Kent’s basement for years, and when he decided to build his own Google Home, he knew he had the perfect enclosure. The first step was the remove the actual toasting functionality. Then he added a Raspberry Pi 3 loaded up with the Google Assistant SDK, along with the necessary accessories like a microphone.

Kent also wanted the toaster to work as an internet radio, so he used a cheap mini amplifier and speakers to boost the volume. A little bit of cutting was required on the Dualit to add ports and an OLED screen, but overall the aesthetic of the toaster was left unmarred. Tying it all together is a simple matter of following the standard Google Assistant instructions, and the result is a beautiful Google Home with a bit of history.