Keep Your Carbs Fresh with These Best Bread Boxes

How We Tested

After extensive online research, we chose 18 bread boxes to purchase and test. Testers used the bread boxes in their home kitchens over the course of 3 to 4 weeks, using them to store at least three separate bread items. These included not only whole and sliced loaves but also baked goods like pastries, bagels, tortillas, and crackers. Testers checked in on the freshness of the items after 3 and 7 days, making note of staleness and the presence of any mold. We also rated each bread box's design and noted any special features, strengths, and weaknesses. After all other testing was finished, we revealed the retail prices for each bread box and rated their value for the money.

Others We Tested

• Brabantia Fall Front Bread Box: This model is as sturdy and well-designed as Brabantia's roll-top one above, and it's roughly the same price and size. They're both great bread boxes; we just prefer the slightly more space-efficient roll-up opening to this one's hinged door.
• Buddeez Bread Buddy Bread Box: Designed to fit a loaf of sliced sandwich bread, this box cleverly uses the bread's own plastic bag as a one-slice-at-a-time dispenser. It's fun, inxepensive, and did keep bread fresher, but it's shaped to fit only the square slices of mass-market bread. You can't use it with round loaves, wide loaves, extra-large loaves, or anything that's not pre-sliced.
• Klee Large Bamboo Bread Box: This roll-top bamboo model is an absolute classic bread box design, and we like its not-too-big, not-too-small size. However, it showed up with a fatal flaw: One of the bamboo slats was bent, preventing the door from opening and closing without a lot of careful jamming and adjusting. Many customer reviews mention the same problem, so we're worried this isn't a one-time manufacturing glitch.
  

What to Look for in a Bread Box

Size & Capacity

A bread box, by design, takes up counter space, so its size is probably the most important consideration. A bigger model can hold more bread at once, but it's also going to take up more space. If your family goes through a ton of bread and baked goods, a huge bread box can help keep more bread fresh longer, saving trips to the grocery store. But for a smaller household that only uses a loaf or two a week, a smaller bread box is just fine, and can save valuable room in a tight kitchen.

Bread boxes also come in different shapes, which can fit more or less bread into the same footprint. You can stack items in a taller box, but be sure you measure the height of your cabinets to make sure it fits. Some boxes also have a flat top you can use to hold cans, spices, produce, or other items, while ones with a curved top cannot.

Material

Bread boxes come in lots of different materials: metal, ceramic, and various types of wood are all common. Our testing did not find that any particular material works better than any other at keeping bread fresh, so this is purely an aesthetic choice. Do you want a rustic vintage-styled box to match your farmhouse decor or a stark white minimalist one for your modernist kitchen? There are options available for basically any style.

Lid Design

The bread box is a pretty simple item: It's a box, to put bread in. Besides size and material, the main design feature that distinguishes one from another is how the opening works. A hinged door opens and closes securely, and offers easy access to the entire interior, but it needs extra space for the door to open up. Lids that roll or fold up like a garage door are popular for bread boxes as they don't need extra room to open the door. However, these have a lot of moving parts that can get bent or damaged as you use the bread box. The simplest bread box lid just lifts off the top like the lid of a cookie jar; some models in this style have a wooden lid that can even double as a cutting board.

The most important consideration with a bread box lid is that it doesn't make an airtight seal. You want air to be able to circulate and regulate the humidity around your baked goods to keep them fresh.

FAQs

How does a bread box work?

A bread box keeps baked goods from getting stale or moldy by regulating humidity. The lid traps some moist air to keep bread from drying out and turning into a rock, but it also allows enough circulation that moisture won't build up too much and cause mold.

Using the plastic bag a loaf of bread comes in for storage can help maintain freshness, but it traps moisture and can make the bread mold earlier. And the refrigerator will ward off mold, but it's a bad choice in general for baked goods, as the cold temperature and dry air inside accelerate staling and harm flavor.

A bread box isn't magic and won't ward off staling or mold forever, but it can keep baked goods fresh for several days or even a week longer than other storage methods.

How do you store bread in a bread box?

Just put it in the box and close the lid! If the bread came in a plastic sleeve, remove it. Plastic interferes with air circulation and encourages mold to grow. If your bread is fresh-baked, make sure it has cooled completely before moving it to the box to prevent steam from condensing inside and hastening spoilage.

How do you clean a bread box?

A bread box is unlikely to get very dirty, but it will build up crumbs in the bottom and corners. The first step in cleaning is to dump out what crumbs you can into the sink or trash can. After this, a quick wipe with a damp sponge should take care of anything else. If glazed or frosted pastries leave behind sticky spots, you may need to put a drop or two of dish soap on the sponge, too. After cleaning, make sure you wipe out any liquid and leave the box open until it dries completely, as trapped moisture can lead to mold or mildew. You should definitely not put a bread box in the dishwasher unless your model specifically says this is safe.

For wooden bread boxes, it's especially important to dry everything thoroughly and quickly after washing; wet wood can warp. It's also helpful to rub a wooden box with mineral oil occasionally, which will keep the wood soft and supple as well as shiny.

Why Trust The Spruce Eats?

Carrie Honaker is a food writer who loves a crusty loaf of bread. As a restaurateur and avid home cook, she has baked thousands of loaves of bread and knows the importance of storing it in the proper container to ensure freshness. Her work has appeared in many publications, including Bon Appetit, Allrecipes, and Wine Enthusiast.

The Spruce Eats commerce writer Jason Horn updated this roundup with additional testing data. He's been writing about food and drinks for almost 20 years and is also a near-weekly home bread baker. His standard recipe is white bread with a generous spoonful of sesame seeds added for a little flavor and soft texture.