Loving this panini maker so far. Ordered it for our Armt shop that is currently deployed to Afghanistan. We needed something to boost our mundane & bland menu. Contemplated a toaster oven, but then ran across this little guy and we all got excited about the possibilities. It arrived a couple of weeks ago (about a week after placing the order) and we have put it to good use. Makes excellent grilled cheese sandwiches and regular ham or turkey sandwiches go a little on the gourmet (as gourmet as we can get in Afghanistan)side when toasted on this guy. We have even grilled Spam on here and it does that with no problem. It is non-stick and a sinch to clean up even after a night of heavy grilled cheese making with some guys overdoing the cheese and it running all over the grill. There should be a protective cover over the space where the knob and the grill are because I have noticed that cheese that goes in there is hard to clean out, but a little elbow grease does the trick and I have no issues with having to grab a thin knife to knock it loose. It does require to be plugged for on and unplugged for off, but I think this is a safety feature with such devices like the Foreman grill. This product seems pretty sturdy as well and that was an issue at 1st because I did not know if the product could hold up to a bunch of rugged Army boys. We shall see if the heavy use toll makes it worthy of our money. If you are debating getting something cheap like this or something way more expensive, give this a try. It's chrome cover and sturdy handle give it a sleek look and it does not take up that much counter space.
Update May 18, 2011: Well, it has been about 4.5 months now and this little guy is still doing an excellent job in our shop. Has been used 24/7 by the guys on both of our 12hr shifts and we have had no problems yet. We love it! It has brought up moral in our shop more than I had ever hoped and made meals/snacks way more enjoyable than before. We might even give this lil guy an award before we leave in a couple of weeks! :)
I've always wanted a sandwich press but never really wanted to shell out a lot of money to get one. Enter the Sunbeam Panini Maker... at a low $24.99 at Target, I looked at the different models available and this one seemed to be just as good as the 50 and 60 dollar models. It is a little smaller than the pricer models, but there is still plenty of room to cook 2 nice size sandwiches.
I used it for the first time today and what can I say... this thing is excellent! Plugged it in and cranked it up (you can choose the heat setting). After a couple of minutes, the Ready To Cook green light came on and I threw my sandwich in. After flipping it a few times, I took it out and had a huge bite... hot, crispy and delicious. Easy to use, simple cleanupnot much more you can ask for. I will update this review if anything changes but at $25 dollars, I highly recomend this product if you're in the market for a sandwich press!
Buy Sunbeam Cksbpm5020 2-Slice Panini Maker Now
I bought this grill to replace a George Foreman grill that I returned because its Teflon started coming off after two weeks of use. I had an original George Foreman grill (the one from 10 years ago) that lasted for almost 10 years of daily use. The one I bought to replace it was nowhere near as good of quality.
So, I decided I was done with George Foreman grills and gave this one a try.
Note that while Amazon's description says "panini maker," the box actually says "panini maker and grill," and shows a picture of some meat being grilled. That's why I bought it. I don't make paninis very often, but I grill steak and/or chicken breast every day.
I had high hopes for this grill. It has a lot of awesome features, including:
variable temperature control
the top opens 180 degrees so you can use it as an open face grill if you want
the drip collection tray is a cup, rather than a thin tray like on the George Foreman grill, which makes handling it much easier
large grilling area
There are only two flaws:
I wish the ridges on the front of the grill were a little deeper. If you don't prop its feet up (it has adjustable feet) so the grease drips out, it doesn't really collect very much before it overflows
the non-stick coating began to flake off after a week of use. This is a deal-breaker. Entirely unacceptable, especially after only one week of use.
I know how to handle non-stick indoor grills: I clean them after every use, I never use metal utensils on them, etc. This was not a case of user error, so to speak.
One day I was grilling a chicken breast (as I do almost every day), and I smelled something burning. I lifted the top of the grill and the top of the chicken breast was black and completely burnt to a crisp. I thought this was odd, because it had never happened despite the 5 chicken breasts I had cooked previously on it exactly the same way. This is basically the same thing that happened with my defective George Foreman grill, too. In both cases, the bottom of the chicken breast was just fine. It seems the fault for both products lies with the top burner.
I cut the burnt part off and spent 30 minutes cleaning the grill. I already knew something funny was going on, because why would a grill which is set to a fixed temperature cook 5 chicken breasts perfectly and then burn the top of 6th one to a crisp? I didn't leave it on too long; in fact, the middle of the chicken breast was still raw.
Anyway, the next time I cooked another chicken breast on it, I noticed bits and flecks of black non-stick coating on top of the chicken breast. This was unbelievable, because I spent 20-30 minutes cleaning it after the previous use with a wet paper towel, and there was nothing left on the grill's surface; the paper towel was clean after I was done wiping it down.
I sliced off the top of the chicken breast (the part with the Teflon coating), cleaned the grill again, let it heat back up again, and then put the top back down on the chicken breast for 2 seconds. When I lifted it up, there were Teflon pieces stuck to the chicken.
Some people may be thinking "how do you know it was Teflon and it wasn't just that the chicken was burnt?"
The answer is because I had the top lowered for 2 seconds; an uncooked chicken breast cannot burn in 2 seconds.
So, this was a bummer. This grill had some awesome features and I was really looking forward to using it.
My quest continues for an indoor grill whose non-stick coating does NOT come off, or whose non-stick coating lasts for at least 10 years of daily use (like the original George Foreman grill's did, before they reduced the quality to the piece of junk version they are selling today) before wearing off so I can get my money's worth.
I am going to return this grill and try another one. I am being optimistic that I just got a defective unit. I will update this review only if the new one does not have the non-stick coating come off. Give me some time to do this. If this review has not been updated within a month of its posting date, then you can assume the quality of the replacement was poor, as well, and this grill should be avoided.
I posted a picture of one of the paper towels I used to clean it, covered in non-stick (Teflon) bits that came off. You can view them up by the product picture at the top.
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We made grilled cheese sandwiches on this panini maker and they turned out perfect! In fact, I doubt if I will ever go back to making them in a pan on the stove. Creamy cheese on the inside and toasty bread on the outside with griddle marks. Simply delicious!
But....
This machine takes too long to clean up. Some of the cheese splattered onto the front of the machine near the dial that adjusts the temperature. So it was very time consuming to get the grease and cheese off of the outside surface. Other than that, this panini maker is not only afffordable, but makes terrific panini sandwiches. I highly recommend this one by Sunbeam!
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The jaws on this don't open wide enough to grill a real panini. Sure, they'll grill a couple regular slices of bread with a couple slices of meat and cheese, but I bought it to grill a panini from the local Fred Meyers deli and is not even close. If you actually use panini bread and a reasonabl amount of fillings this grill just won't do it.