Customer Reviews

Cuisinart GG-2 Grill & Griddle

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I got this grill/griddle as a gift and absolutely love it! My family has started to grow bigger and I wanted something bigger than a skillet for pancakes, grilled sandwiches, grilled hot dogs and hamburgers in winter, etc... and it does a great job. The only reason I gave it a 4 was because when you pour eggs on for scrambled eggs, they start to go down the drain and you need to quickly, just barely lift that side up so you don't lose it all. Other than that, I love it!!

I had originally intended to buy the Griddler by Cuisinart, however when I went back to the BX to purchase it after Christmas, I found that they were sold out. After being informed that they would not be getting any more Griddlers in, I decided to purchase the Grill & Griddle. I made a great decision in buying this grill.

I have used the grill side to make hamburgers, steak, chicken, fish, grilled veggies and sandwiches with great success. Even though this grill does not come with a hinged lid like the Griddler, making grilled cheeses and paninis is no problem. When making your sandwich, simply place a brick wrapped in foil on top of the sandwich while it's cooking. Voila! Perfectly pressed sammy. The real star for me though, is this little beauty makes a mean breakfast! It cooks pancakes, bacon, sausage and eggs to perfection on the griddle side. I could never get eggs or bacon to cook evenly on my crummy electric range but the job is a snap for Grill & Griddle.

The appliance itself is a sleek design with brushed stainless accents and it looks nice in my kitchen so I have no problem leaving it out on the counter top. It does have a fairly large footprint (24.5" x 12") so this may be something to consider if you have a smaller kitchen or limited storage space.

Because grill/griddle plate is coated with a non-stick surface you must take care not to use metal utensils as they may damage the coating. You can't put the cooking plate in the dishwasher but it is simple to clean. Use the provided scraper to scrape off any large food particles, sponge it off in the sink with a non-abrasive sponge and dishwashing liquid, rinse and dry. The drip pan and scraper are the only parts which are dishwasher safe.

As others have mentioned, the power cord is very short, about 33". This is a safety feature which prevents the cord from being tripped on or caught on an arm and sending hot grill and grease plummeting to the floor. The short cord is no problem for me but it may be something you want to take in consideration based on your kitchen layout.

One word of caution about this appliance- If you clean the drip pan by hand, please be very careful when doing so. There is a very sharp metal ridge around the perimeter of the drip pan and I took a sizeable chunk of flesh out of my pinky finger while cleaning. A painful lesson I hope I can help others to avoid.

Overall, this is a great appliance and I forsee using it regulary for many years into the future.

Received this as a gift. Works great! Steaks cook up perfectly; not quite like char-broiled but darn close. Pancakes are a breeze. Brats need to be covered by a pot lid while cooking lest they burn and take forever to thoroughly cook.
The unit heats evenly and quickly. It's also solidly built.
Clean-up is easy with the non-stick cooking surfaces, but the immersible cooking plate can be unwieldy to handle; it might just be too heavy for frail individuals.
Darn glad I have it as I use it all the time.

ADDENDUM 11/9/08:
In the time I've owned this appliance, roughly since the time of my original review, the heating probe has had to be replaced four times! Apparently there's a plastic ring inside the compartment that melts at high temperatures and causes the temperature adjusting knob to loosen, become inoperable, and eventually fall off. Cruisinart customer service has been very good in sending out free replacement units quickly with just a toll-free phone call. I still use the appliance because it does its job so well; I'm just hesitant to use it as often and at as high a temperature as before.

ADDENDUM 3/13/10:
Well, the dial on the heating probe broke yet again. This time, however, Cuisinart is insisting on charging $25 for a replacement, apparently based on the three-year warranty. Uh-uh! I've downgraded my rating accordingly from four stars to two. This appliance is not worth only three years of good, yet "interruptible" service, followed by intermittent additional $25 expenses. The customer service rep even suggested it might be worth buying an entirely new appliance. This is quite the shame as I loved using this item; it's otherwise a sturdy piece of hardware.

We purchased this grill after getting sick of pan frying everything and buying a cheap mini-BBQ that was less than satisfying.

A quick review of some of the Pros and Cons we've found with the grill:

Pros:
Quick to heat up
Quality non-stick coating (coating on other grills could be scratched off with just a fingernail)
Pretty even disribution of heat
Maintains temperature well
Large enough for full family meals

Cons:
Only a single sided grill (It's definately not a replacement for something like a BBQ. You have to significantly extend cooking times compared to a covered grill)
Non-stick coating can make cleanup difficult. (Food bits wipe right off, but most kitchen sinks and utencils are metal so you need to be quite carefull you don't scratch the coating)
Short power cord (2ft or so)

If you're looking at purchasing an indoor grill I highly recomend this one. Before you do though, I advise you to think carefully about what it is you want the grill to do. I like this grill over certain smaller celebrity endorsed grills because of it's larger size and better qaulity;however, it's only a single sided grill. Double sided grills don't have the versatility this grill does, but they substantially decrease cooking times.

The griddle side has all of the same pros and cons as the grill side so I won't go over them again.

As far as Griddle/Grill combo's goes, this one is top of the heap from what I could find. In my searching I only came accross 2 other combo grills and both were of unacceptable quality.

I spent a lot of time looking for a grill that I can cook on. I do heavy bbq'ing including burgers, vegies, French-toast, and Korean bbq (kal-bi) so I wanted to make sure I get a nice grill. This grill is awesome! Heats up very quickly and cooks very very well. The grill is quite big so it's hard to find a place to store it, but since I use pretty often, it is not a big problem. I usually put it on top of the fridge in the kitchen and it's fine. Both grill and griddle work well, but be careful not to scratch the surface. More than anything, this grill/griddle is very easy to clean, just use hot/warm, water and some liquid soap and all done. I am hoping this grill will last long since I used my last one for over 5 years. By the way, I found this grill at Macy's for $120ish, so this is a very good buy at Amazon.

I purchased the Cuisinart GG-2 grill and griddle to use this summer on my condo balcony. A spritz of liquid smoke and you'd think my steaks were roasted over a mesquite grill in Texas! With the embedded heating elements, and maximum wattage, this is a solid, sturdy appliance I look forward to using forever. An heirloom. The totally adjustable heat control and easy-clean design makes the GG-2 perfect for a bachlorette like me or a huge family too busy to do pots and pans. After using the griddle for eggs and sausage, I literally just wiped the surface clean. The steak yummies came off with a little push from a sponge -- I just put the surface in my sink, brushed off the crumbs, and voila - no muss, no fuss. I'm so smart for buying this item!

I've had this griddle/grill for 6 months. I am sorely disappointed in the non-stick covering. I hand wash after each usage, only use plastic utensils and store it so it doesn't come in contact with any sharp objects, but still the non-stick covering is coming off. I bought this to replace a cheap griddle that was scratched but we at least got 3-4 years of usage before that happened. For the money I spent on this, ($99 at the time I bought) I expected better quality.

Also, the design of this item makes it a pain to clean. The grease pan is too small and because the grease falls thru the slots down a few inches into the grease pan, not all the grease lands in the pan. Some lands in the plastic base. Which would not be a problem except the base has 4 plastic rectangle walls around it and they are too small to get your dishrag or sponge into. The rubber feet pieces will leave marks on your counter. Luckily, it comes of my counters easily, but when we took this on vacation, they did not come off easily from the vacation home's counters. The electric plug part has broken already. The plastic knob to turn the unit on has broken off. If I could do it over again, I would not buy this product.

The pros - excellent heat distribution, and large cooking area.

This is the 2nd one I've owned, it works great, food tastes great, grills well etc.

But they have a very obvious design flaw because the unit constantly breaks, the temperature probe that plugs into the power and into the grill constantly breaks. I gave up on my original one and bought a new one, I just used it 2 days ago for the first time. I went to use it again tonight, and it's already dead! Now I have to call Cuisinart and go through the warranty process, it's so new the card I mailed in won't even be there yet.

If you do any googling of this product you will find the same problem over and over, why doesn't Cuisinart fix
this problem?

This grill is great. It holds the temperature rock steady, it is easy to clean and the surface heats evenly without hot or cold spots. I have cooked hamburgers, chicken breast and even meat loaf on it. I love to blacken fish, but it does cause more smoke than I want in the house. Now I can do it on the patio with no trouble. I knew I could get a cheaper grill, but I am glad I did not.

The Cuisinart GG-2 Grill & Griddle cooks very evenly. Pancakes come out identically cooked, no matter where you place them on the griddle.

It's pretty easy to clean as the cord/thermostat assembly detaches, the grill/griddle unit lifts off the base and there is a removeable drip tray. You can't put the grill/griddle unit in the dishwasher, but it cleans easily in the sink. There are some places around the handles that are hard to reach and could be a problem if you spill some batter or cooking oil. The grill/griddle unit is heavy and large, so it's a bit clumsy to maneauver in a small sink.

The GG-2 is a large appliance, so it takes a lot of storage space when not in use.