()***UPDATED REVIEW TO 2 STARS***
Changing the rating from 5 to 2 stars and going back to one of George's grills. After using this grill 20-30 times (2 3 times a week for about 10 weeks), the mechanism securing the top plate no longer functions as it should. The grill is still usable, but the plates don't align as they once did and the top half wobbles. The problem allows lots more grease to splatter which leaves an oily outline around the grill on the counter after each use.
***ORIGINAL 5 STAR REVIEW BELOW***
The quick overview is that I highly recommend Sharper Image's "Super Grill" as your best bet for this price range. Compared to similarly priced better known competitors, you'll be happy with the Super Grill's highly desirable differentiating features.
First, but not the most important, the Sharper Image grill is really pleasing aesthetically. It just looks better than any of the others we've owned over the years and we won't park it away after every use. The stainless steel finish provides a more refined look and makes it worthy of a continued presence on the counter.
However, as we all know, good looks don't guarantee superior performance. Luckily for The Sharper Image, the Super Grill kicked butt in the area of performance. Immediately noticeable was that the Sharper Image grill heated up and was ready to cook in just over two minutes. Its ugly rival always took a full 9 minutes. The temperature controls on the Super Grill are also more precise with a more pronounced increase when turning up its settings.
Another marked difference was that the Super Grill has an obviously higher maximum temperature. When grilling, a high temperature is key to browning. If the temperature isn't sufficient at first contact, burgers come out slightly grey and chicken breasts end up looking a bit yellow. The Super Grill gets hot enough to brown food to provide that all important, appetite enhancing, finished appearance often missing when grilling indoors.
A great feature sorely missing from many of its rivals is the Super Grill's ability to open up completely. Many indoor grills only allow full contact grilling where the food cooks in between upper and lower grilling surfaces.
The Super Grill's design allows it to be completely opened so that both plates are available as bottom cooking surfaces. The amount of food that can be cooked at one time is doubled by the Super Grill.
The Super Grill is for home use only, but it feels like professional grade. Compared to the almost same sized rival grill we recently decommissioned, the Super Grill is noticeably heavier and appears to be of a sturdier design. One thing we noticed when contact grilling is that the upper plate rests heavier and more securely when closed atop chicken breasts. Our last grill's top plate wobbled about a bit when closed and didn't rest heavy enough against the food to provide sufficient grill marks.
Besides the two cooking plates that make grilling marks, there is a smooth faced grill plate that can be used to cook pancakes, fry eggs, etc. The remaining two plates included with the grill are for making waffles. All plates are non-stick and dishwasher safe.
Regarding the non-stick surfaces being dishwasher safe, from experience I have to recommend hand washing. The Super Grill may very well have plates with a non-stick surface coating superior to its rivals, but I'm not taking the chance because I really want to keep this grill in operation for a long, long time.
It's been my experience that using the dishwasher to repeatedly clean non-stick coated surfaces can result in blistering and flaking. The plates from our previous grill were also marked as dishwasher safe, but over time the destruction of the coating rendered the plates almost unusable without heavy applications of spray oil, like Pam.
I have a really easy way to keep grill plates clean without subjecting them to the potential harm of automatic dish-washing. Immediately after using your grill, unplug it from the wall. Soak a paper towel and squeeze out the excess water. Quickly lay the paper towel flat on the bottom grill surface and close the top. The resulting steam loosens up most stuck bits. Once the grill has completely cooled, open it and use the paper towel to wipe the plates fully clean.
While I'm rating the Super Grill as worthy of Five Stars, it does have a couple of minor negatives. The first is grease drainage. Many of its competitors have drip pans that run the full width of the unit allowing grease to more easily drain. The Super Grill has much more attractive drip containers, but the grease is channeled to one small area from which to drain. The result is that less grease drains while cooking.
The other improvement that I would like to see is to simply include another of the flat surfaced grilling pans. Obviously,two plates are required to cook waffles and two with grill lines are needed for full contact grilling. The manufacturer probably figured (rightly) that only one plate was necessary to cook eggs and such since one wouldn't do so with the grill in the closed operating position. However, an extra flat grill plate would conveniently double the amount of space available if one was in the mood to cook up a whole mess of pancakes at once.
All in all, the minor detractions noted are minute takeaways. After having owned four previous grills by two other manufacturers, I can most assuredly state that you will realize a huge bang from your buck by buying The Sharper Image's "Super Grill."
Now.. Who else is hungry? Happy grilling!
The unit cooks great....I found it to cook evenly on both sides.Love the interchangable plates.But the instruction booklet is more about covering the Sharper Image for legal liabilities than it is actual instructions for the user.I did not even know it had an articulating hinge until I discovered it on my own by looking at the pictures on the box and on the web.The booklet said nothing about it.That's why it only gets 4 stars.However, I would recommend purchase of this product.Another qwirk is that the unit only comes with one flat interchangable plate.So if you want to cook eggs or pancakes on both sides with the unit flat in the wide open position, you can only cook those items on one flat side the other side will be a raised grill plate.Don't know who came up with that brilliant idea....not a cook!
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My wife was wanting a waffle iron, but I wanted something more.As a kid, we had one that was a waffle iron/griddle.It could be used as a waffle iron (of course) or could be opened all the way, the plates flipped and the other side was a smooth grill plate.We always used it for pancakes.I was looking for something similar.After looking at several others, I found this at a local chain store.
Upon first inspection, I had a problem with was the instruction booklet.Though the English is decent, it doesn't tell you much.The only thing it is good for is the legal stuff and to show you how to change the cooking plates.As far as giving instruction about how to cook with it, you can discern just about as much by looking at the controls.Because the instructions don't give any clue as to where to put the controls for different kinds of meats, sandwiches or whatever it is that you're wanting to cook, it's all guess work.I've only had it for a couple weeks, so I haven't used it enough to know where to set it.The plates fit loosely.I don't know if it actually makes any difference, if not, it just looks sloppy.Finally, as a waffle iron/grill, it doesn't heat evenly.The top plate does not get as hot as the bottom, therefore the bottom of the waffle gets brown before the top.I have yet to use it as a griddle, so I don't know how well the Left side controls work.
So far I must rate this product as OK.It does what it says it will do (as far as I have used it) but as with a lot of more modern products, the workmanship is sloppy and is indicative of being a product of overseas manufacture.
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()Don't let my title fool you, I really like this grill press.
I've cooked several meals in it since we got it and used all of the grill plates except for the waffle plates which we plan to use this week.
First of all it's nice looking. I really like stainless steel appliances so this fits.
It's very simple, while I read the manual before I did anything, my wife figured it out on her own and with the exception of one minor hang up she was able to make her Panini without any hassle.
The 3 knobs on the front are for heating the grill press while it's opened and closed, the knob in the middle determines which way you'll be using the press (again, opened or closed) and the 2 on the sides are the heat controls, one for opened and one for closed. That's it.
Getting the plates on and off is pretty easy, they do seem to get caught at the edge when trying to take them off so a little wiggle is required, I'm sure with time I'll figure it out though, I wouldn't dismiss user error on this one.
Getting it to lean back flat is controlled by a little lever on the handle, very easy to use.
But here's the little annoyance, when you're cooking something that is too thick to let the press close in the normal position the top plate needs to swivel, which it can do but not with out pushing it forward a bit to disengage it from the handle. There is no button or lever for this just a small amount of effort to push it forward a bit at the top.
The problem is that by the time you realize you need to do that the grill is probably already hot. And while the handle stays perfectly cool, the plate (inside and out) does not! In fact the outside top of the grill gets pretty darn hot.
So the solution is to disengage it before you start heating or to use a spoon or something to push it forward, I guess a hot pad would work too.
Again it's a minor annoyance but it seemed like with such a well thought out little grill press this would be a no brainer.
The plates are non stick, so they clean up easy but can't be soaked or put in the dishwasher. They do come with a little plastic scraper that works ok but doesn't really seem to fit in the grooves correctly (my second annoyance). I just let it cool down and hit it with a wet sponge and then paper towel.
So far nothing has gotten stuck despite the fact that I've had cheese burn to the surface. Once it was cooled the cheese came right off.
As I mentioned I've cooked several meals on it and definitely come to some conclusions.
In a kitchen it is pointless to use the griddle part of this grill press. If you have a large skillet this press is no substitute. It's small and the edges are annoying when trying to use a spatula.
I cooked up eggs and ham on it for breakfast one morning and while it did an excellent job I really prefer my big skillet so I probably wont be using it for pancakes or eggs anymore. If you were somewhere that you didn't have a stove or a proper skillet and had thought to bring this along it would be a great travel tool. Thought it only comes with one griddle plate. The grill plate side worked great for cooking up ham and the grooves would also be perfect for bacon and getting rid of the grease.
The "drip trays" if that's what you wanna call them are basically plastic measuring cups, not a big deal since they work but make sure the grill is turned so they're facing away from you while you cook. They look like they'd be really easy to knock over.
Where this press shines is grilling meat and my favorite, Panini's!
I've probably made about 10 panini's in this thing since I got it, they come out perfect. Bread is crispy and browned and the insides are gooey and hot... man... so good. They also cook up fast since you're hitting em from both sides so you'll want to be careful, I set it to 2 for mine and start checking as soon as I hear the butter sizzle. You get nice grill marks too.
I imagine the waffles are going to come out pretty good as well but I'll update this review as soon as we test it.
The only other thing I feel I should mention is the size.
It's not a monstrosity or anything but if you live in a small apartment or have limited counter space you may think twice about this model. It's big enough to monopolize some counter space or a good chunk of your cabinet space when you're not using it. It's about 14" wide and a little over a foot deep, which means when it's open it's over 2 feet long. Also the handle can't be folded down for storage so it's gunna stick up about 8".
Again, it's not huge, but it's not compact either.
I also worry about storing the plates so I kept the cardboard sleeves they came in to try and keep them from getting scratched. Woulda been nice if the sleeves were designed to stay closed so you could use them for storing vertically. The backs are unfinished steel so if you laid them against the non-stick surface on the fronts of the other plates... well your plates would get ruined pretty quick.
I guess it goes without saying that you should only use wood or nylon utensils with non-stick appliances but.. well.. there, I've said it.
So to recap
PRO'S
Looks nice
Easy to use
Easy to clean
Non stick surfaces work really well
Cooks evenly and well.
Handle stays perfectly cool
Works as a waffle iron, grill, grill press and a griddle
CONS
Disengaging the top plate needs to be done ahead of time and by hand
Grill scraper doesn't really work
Drip trays "cups" are kinda cheap and could easily be knocked over if you aren't careful
Griddle option seems kinda pointless in a kitchien
Big, takes up a lot of counter/cabinet space
Stacking the stored plates will scratch them so you'll need to keep the cardboard sleeves or find some of your own.
All in all the pro's heavily outweigh the cons for me, I really like this press and the rest of my nit picks seem like things that Sharper Image can probably iron out with little effort in their next model. But for now this one is great and we are happy to have it in our home.
[UPDATE]
I promised an update so here it is;
Since we got the press I've made hamburgers and waffles on it and it worked out great. The waffles are awesome and the non-stick was nice. They popped right out and on the couple of occasions where they stuck we just nudged them with a spatula and they came loose without an issue. I recommend setting it a bit hot, like 2.5 or maybe even 3 so you get the crispy outsides before the insides start to dry out too much. It took a few tries but we got them fluffy in the middle with a nice golden crisp on the outside. Excellent waffles!
I guess one thing I'll note is that while making burgers the grease didn't run out as easily or quickly as I'd hoped. This could totally be my counter top, it may lean back a bit, but the grease pooled up closer to the back of the plate when it should have run out the front and into the drip cup. I ended up having to lift the unit a bit and guide the grease to the front with my spatula. Kind of a pain but again, I don't know that I can blame the press here. Still, it's something to keep an eye on if you get one.
Regardless making burgers in a press was pretty sweet! Cooked just right, nice and flat, good grill marks. Everyone involved was happy.
Even after burgers cleaning was simple, hot water and a sponge, done.
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()I don't have any other grills in this price range to compare this to, but there are several design flaws in this product that, if I had known about them before hand, would have led me to a different product.I hope they will help you make an informed decision.
Pros: (Most of which are in the features)
1. Very attractive with a brushed steel top and a powdered steel base.
2. Interchangeable plates (2x grill, 2x waffle, 1x griddle?)
3. Can be used as a Paninni press.
4. Can be used completely open, or closed.
Cons:
1. Uneven heating: According to the instructions the top plate should heat to a lower temperature than the bottom.Repeated tests using an infrared thermometer indicated that the top plate would get about 50 degrees hotter than the bottom plate.Heat was also much greater around the edges of the plates than in the center, with a difference of close to 40 degrees between the edges and the center.
2. Low Hi heat setting: The high heat for the open grill or griddle is only 370 degrees, which is really low for grilling.
3. Dial for the closed grill is labeled Min, 1-3 and Max, instead ofnumbers instead of degree markers, meaning that you cannot easily tell what temperature your cooking at.Moreover, the min setting maintained heats of around ~110 degrees which is insufficent for cooking or even for heating.
4.No indication as to the correct setting for waffles etc: Usually on something like this the instructions will tell you, use 3 for waffles, and max for steaks.Or, set it to 2 for thin fish etc.Nothing like that here.
5.Poorly designed drip control: On my unit the grease from cooking meat never actually traveled to the drip channel, instead bubbling out the front.Moreover, on the griddle setting large liquid batches were difficult to contain, frequently running towards the channel.
6. Only one griddle plate: Really? why? I just don't get why they only included 1 plate, you can't even buy a second one.
7. No replacement plates available: As with all nonstick products this grill will only last (safely) as long as the non-stick coating lasts.Normally when something has interchangable plates you would expect to be able to replace a damaged plate, but there doesn't seem to be anyplace to buy additional plates.I searched extensively for a source, and didn't find anything.If somebody does know please post it in the comments.Otherwise, make sure not to scratch anything.
8. No indication as to whether or not this product is dishwasher safe:I searched the whole manual, it doesn't say. And, since you can't replace damaged plates... you better not risk it.
9. Provided scraper doesn't fit the grill gaps:I tried to use the provided scraper to clean the grill but the gaps aren't wide enough so the tines don't come close to scraping in between the groves on the grill.Essentially this piece is useless.
10.The brushed steel of the lid shows every greasy smudge that comes in contact with it: In the scheme of things, not really a problem.
All in all, I just felt like this grill felt short.The combination of inconsistent cooking temperatures, and annoyance with cleaning procedures/fear over scratches, means that I rarely use this.I find that I'm much more likely to turn on the oven, or use the toaster oven than I am to grill on this guy.I do occasionally use it as a Panini press, but otherwise, I really don't use it.In short if you need a tabletop grill, I would recommend looking elsewhere.
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I received this pan for Christmas 2011. I have the larger pan, and loved it, and was so excited to receive another one. I love the way the copper fusion cooks, and the enamel cleans beautifully, with minimal effort. I've used it almost every day for 10 months, and thoroughly enjoye cooking with it.
