I've been in love with my trusted George Foreman grill for the last twelve years. Eventually, it started to die. I tried replacing it with one of their new evolve grills, and was really disappointed with the quality decline. So that one was returned, and I purchased the Cuisinart Griddler instead. There are some things the Cuisinart does better, and some things I prefer about the George.
Cuisinart Pros: 1. The basic grilling/griddling, the Cuisinart wins hands down. It gets much hotter and more even than the George does. Leaves those pretty grill marks, too, whereas the George was too cool and steams food in its own juices rather than high heat grilling.
2. Love the reversible plates.
3. It passed the waffle test (with the extra purchase of the waffle plates). I got beautiful, golden brown, and crispy waffles, whereas the returned George yeilded hair burnt/half raw, unevenly cooked waffles.
4. I like the internal drip tray. No more losing the darned thing or tying to fish a renegade drip tray from the forsaken depths of a cabinet.
5. Makes great, fast bacon!
6. Looks good enough to earn counter space.
7. It's quite large! Thus may seem like a con to some, but I love it. Big enough to grill meat and veggies together.
Cuisinart Cons (or things George does better): 1. The lack of accessory plates makes me very sad. I used the deep dish casserole tray and the omelette/snack plates all the time on my old George. The omelette tray was perfect for ten minute cupcakes, including mixing and baking. And the deep dish tray made awesome casseroles with crispy crust and tender insides, with no need to hear you the oven, and they cooked way faster. Lasagna in half an hour, instead of 90 minutes.
2. I don't like the hinge. The Cuisinart doesn't have a true floating hinge like the George. Instead, it's just a normal hinge placed on a diagonal axis. To accommodate the thickness of your food, you have to actually touch the screaming hot lid (hopefully you were smart enough to put on an oven mitt first), and push it until it "snaps" and can move freely. Because of the horizontal axis of that hinge, the entire lid assembly slides backwards to to provide any vertical rise. You actually lose cooking space because Cuisinart couldn't master a simple oval shaped hinge that would allow the lid to move freely up and down.
3. I detest the lack of a handle, or cool-touch plastic piece, on the top, center of the lid. You HAVE to touch it here, after the Griddler has been preheated, to sandwich your food properly, so there should be an easy means to do so.
4. I wish the drip tray were larger. When doing greasy things like bacon, it can overflow.
I would recommend this to a friend!
Written by a customer while visiting cuisinart.com
I owned one that had the waffle grids with it, it never drained and the grids were harder to clean and the coating started to wear off. Called your cus.serv. line, girl told me could do nothing, through the websites, they told me to return it back to bed bth & beyond, even though I had had it for some time. Was very dissatifed, so I purchased a geo forman, well, that went back, horrible. Well, I said, nothing here that appeals to me, so I purchased another cusinart, but with no waffle grids. It drains perfectly and cooks a fine burger. I am glad I decided to go with another one.
I would recommend this to a friend!
Written by a customer while visiting cuisinart.com
We love waffles and I read an article noting that Cuisinart added Belgian Waffle grates to the Griddler product - Genius idea!! Now I can make the waffles and eat them at the same time with my husband instead of constantly popping back & forth to the waffle iron. The waffles are crispy and always done right. THANK YOU!!
I would recommend this to a friend!
Written by a customer while visiting cuisinart.com
I bought the griddler about a month ago and love love love it! Panini's are now my favorite quick dinner! I liked it so much that I bought the waffle plates a couple weeks later and had waffles for breakfast! Love all the features, it grills veggies great too!
I would recommend this to a friend!
Written by a customer while visiting cuisinart.com
I live in a small apartment and grills are not allowed. The Griddler satisfies my need to grill and works perfectly, cleans up easily. I was initially concerned about splatter but thus far that is not an issue.
I would recommend this to a friend!
Written by a customer while visiting cuisinart.com