Customer Reviews

Factory-Reconditioned Cuisinart GR-4 Griddler

5 star:		(46)
4 star:		(22)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

I bought the Griddler in February of 2005 and have taken care to ensure it lasts. The Griddler is heavy and sturdily constructed. It heats up quickly, and cleans up even faster. We have used it for panini, grilling meat, and toasting burger buns. The unit can be used either as a panini/grill press with the floating top or opened up to use as a griddle.

The base of the unit heats up and maintains temperature better than the top. This creates uneven toasting of the Panini or other items. It's not so much of a problem using as a griddle, since one side will simply cook faster than the other.

After a year the nonstick surface has started pealing off of the grill plates. I have never used metal on the nonstick surface and have taken great care to preserve the finish. Perhaps it is in the design or a fate of nonstick coated products in general, but the now I will have to take care not to get pieces of the nonstick surface in my food.

The Griddler comes with interchangeable dishwasher safe griddle and grill plates with a lock and release system that is intuitive to use. The plates easily release with the press of a button for cleaning. To place the plates back on the Griddler, one simply rests the plates in the groves located towards the rear or bottom and snaps the front or top into place. The plates don't consistently stay attached in the top section like they once did. It's very annoying trying to reposition a hot plate back into place.

On the surface, the Griddler has the looks and design to be a great product. Cuisinart has some bugs to work out to attain even heating and plates that last. If I were to buy a new panini press, I would not look to Cuisinart again. As a matter of fact, I now enjoy using a Breville 800GRXL Indoor Barbeque and Grill instead.

PROS:
Heavy and sturdily construction
Heats up and cleans quickly

CONS:
Non-stick surface does not last
Uneven heating

This is the fourth countertop grill I've purchased- which says something about the quality of most consumer grills- and I was hoping it woul;d be the best, given the price. It does look substantial, and it is in some ways- but not all.

On the plus side, the grill and griddle plates are indeed substantial. They take a while to heat up- much longer than the grills I've had in the past- and they hold their heat well. You can put a piece of frozen meat on the grill and it won't cool down. That's a big plus when you're cooking preformed hamburgers, as many like to do. And the grill plates remove from the unit for cleaning- a very big plus, in my book.

It's large enough to cook two large sandwiches, or four (or more) small burgers, at once. You can do enough chicken breasts or thighs for a family of four. High points there.

What troubles me are some of the details. The switches look substantial, but they're really quite flimsy, and I think a possible failure point. The power cord is really minimal, and you have to be carefull not to let it near the cook top, as it could melt and short in an instant. I think this is a rather serious flaw. And like most table-top griddles, the provision for collecting excess grease and water is nothing more than a pair of plastic cups.

As for the dual-purpose design- yes, you can open the grill up and use it as a griddle, but why would you want to? It's much easier, and much less messy, to cook your pancakes and bacon on the kitchen range. This "feature" adds complexity without adding much functionality.

As mine is a reconditioned unit, these objections aren't as important as if I'd paid the full price, but they're still areas for concern. I'll just have to see how well it lasts.

mediocre design - heats unevenly, overcooks directly over heat coils while center area undercooks. Grease from top grill drips down on to counter when the top of the unit is lifted. Can do as well with a cheap foreman grill..

This is one of the best counter top grills I have ever had. Its very high quality and is built very well. There are only two bad things I can think of with this product. It does make a mess more so then the regular George Forman type grill. The lack of sides around the grill plates means that greese gets all over the area you are cooking. So clean up is much more frequent. The other problem is getting replacement grills. The teflon does wear out over time and i found getting replacments are almost 40.00. Its cheaper to buy another grill with 2 new sets of grilling surfaces. Other then these two items- its a great unit.

I've had this grill for one week so far, and used it six days out of seven. I choose the GR-4 because it was the only grill/griddle that had top and bottom adjustable temperature (required) and removable griddle or grill plates (nearly required).

So far so good. Steak, turkey burgers, grilled vegetables, some nice panini, grilled cheese, and sunny side eggs with hash browns all went well. I had no problem fitting 4" steak sandwich with grilled veggies between in the grill. I'm looking forward to trying some grilled doughs this week.

On the downside, it may be slightly underpowered and heats up more slowly than I would like. I am still getting a feeling for it though, and everything has come out well. The grill plates fit well into my dishwasher, though I mostly just hand wash. Having the option is well worth while. It took me a while to find a place in my small kitchen for the plates when not in use, they only store adequately on edge and now reside at the end of the bookcase.

I've used a commercial panini press when working in a busy deli. The GR-4 isn't even close in power, but makes up for it by being a great all-rounder.

My remanufactured grill came in the mail a couple days ago. It looked brand new and came with instructions/recipe book. So far I don't see any drawbacks to getting the remanufactered product vs. the new one. I have used it only twice so far, but I really enjoy using it, and especialy appreciate the quick clean up. I've made room on the counter top for it, because I anticipate using it quite often, since it is so versatile.

I have noticed that it doesn't heat evenly, as stated in previous reviews of this product.

I bought it thinking it would be an improvement over my older George Foreman since it had removable griddles for easy clean-up. Turns out cleaning the griddles is easier BUT the splatter from anything other than thin, flat sandwiches is a 30-minute clean-up with 409 [countertops, counter backsplash, under-cabinet, unit's exterior especially knobs]. And I'm talking about cooking with the cover DOWN! I would never try cooking any meats or vegetables with the lid open. And I'm surprised they couldn't engineer it so that the griddles would fit either side.

I was a little nervous about purchasing the remanufactured Cuisinart Griddler, but it was so much cheaper than the new one - around half the price - that I figured it was worth a shot. It arrived in beautiful condition and my husband and I have been very pleased with it. We've used it just about every day for the past month. The removable plates really do make cleaning it much easier than our old George Foreman, which did not have removable plates. The open spring hinge is the best feature because we can cook thick steaks on it, which we could not do on the old George Foreman. It's also nice to have the different heat options, as opposed to our old George Foreman, which had only 2 settings: on and off. It's not too big to leave out on the counter in our small kitchen. It's designed well, so it's not an eyesore either. We have no regrets about this purchase and highly recommend it to all of our friends and family.

Purchased this Cuisinart GR-4 in which was to have been remanufactured/factory recondition, but it seems to me who ever was remanufacturing these units would a least have cleaned them. The grill plates appeared to be new but grease from the last user was still draining from the spring coil covering the electrical cord. The stainless still top was covered with grease spots and finger prints. I called Consumer DIS-SERVICE at Cuisinart to inform them of the way I have received this unit and suggested a little more Quality Control. THEY COULD CARE LESS. With the attitude of Cuisinart I strongly suggest to leave this unit at amazon.com

... Because it means they've been inspected. When I received this item, the outside of the unit was generally dinged up, including some flat out dents. I figured I could live with this to save the difference between this and the new model, until I looked at the griddle and grill plates -- The cooking surfaces were scratched, pitted, and otherwise damaged (one spot, I have no idea what happened there).

Disappointed does not cover how I feel. I thought Cuisinart had some pride in workmanship.