1 stars

I bought the Foreman XLfamily grill w/ timer as a thank-you gift for a friend we visited for a few days. She thanked me and never mentioned it again.

I went back to her home some time later, and it was not on her counter -- and asked her about it. fortunately, she is a good friend and told me, as she removed it from her garage:

1) it is hard to clean, and when you use the scraper on it, the teflon comes off.
2) the temperature on the upper plate and the lower plate is different. The upper plate is much cooler than the lower plate, and foods cook unevenly.
3)after grilling a steak and a few sandwiches on it, she decided it was not worth the effort and took it to the garage. We are both experienced cooks.

I asked her if I could have it, and she gave it to me -- and the same things happened to me. I wouldn't use it if it was given to me!

I did some comparison shopping with other grills on the internet, but really found no helpful information. I finally asked the American Test Kitchen, who reviews kitchen products, and their recommendation was "the Griddler" from Cuisinart. It has thermostatic heating for two removable sets of plates (ridged grill plates and flat griddle plates)which are evenly heated and dishwasher-friendly.

It can be used closed as a grill or to toast sandwiches or can be used as an open grill/griddle. The grill surfaces (16WX12D) are larger than Formans (12WX9D). Unlike Forman's, it does NOT have a timer, so I use my kitchen timer. The price is about twice the price as Forman's unless you find it on sale. It is available from any store that sells Cuisinart products.

One thermostat sets the temperature when you use it as a closed grill/griddle. A second thermostat sets the temperature when you use it as an open grill/griddle.

I bought one and loved it. Half the time, if you are grilling sandwiches, it cleans up with simply a paper towel. Otherwise, I put the plates in the dishwasher. My husband loves it, and has brought his bar-b-que talents inside, which is nice in 120-degree summers we have in Arizona. It will last forever if it is like other Cuisinart products. We use at least once a day, and frequently two to three times a day.

I sent one to my friend, after I had tested it, and she is still turning handsprings! What a joyous end for a journey that began in disaster!

4 stars

This grill works great for cooking meats. The amount of fat that drips into the pan is disgusting! I must say, I'm glad my family isn't eating that! However, it is very difficult to clean because you aren't supposed to wash it. And although it has a floating hinge, cooking sandwiches or burritos or any of the other things the recipe book suggests (other than meat, of course)is difficult because they fall apart somewhat.

5 stars

I love my Lean Mean Fat-Reducing Grilling Machine. It got me through the hard times, my awful years in college. I wasn't supposed to have anything with an exposed heating element in my dorm room, but those losers never found out. They never got to experience the joy of a perfectly-seared piece of steak, a cooked-to-perfection patty of ground chuck, or a fantastically juicy breast of free-range organic chicken. This thing cooks better than Emeril Lagasse, Paula Deen, and Rachael Ray combined. If you told me I could bring just one thing with me to a deserted island, it would be this. And a generator to power it, of course. Buy the George Foreman Grill. Sure, Muhammad Ali beat him...but that dude can't cook burgers. Foreman can. Buy his grill...BEFORE IT BUYS YOU.

2 stars

I bought this for my fiance for Christmas a couple years ago. It pretty much bad. Hard to clean, no real temperature control... It now lives in our small kitchen appliance grave site with the bread maker.

5 stars

I highly recommend this grill. Not only is it extremely easy to use (there's not even an on/off switch, you have to unplug it to switch it off), it does what you expect it to do extremely well. I use it often instead of a frying pan to make food leaner. It is, as grills go, easy to clean, and even though the scrapers that come with it look flimsy, they do the job.