Customer Reviews

George Foreman GR36BWC Jumbo Size Plus Grill, Silver with Double Bonus

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Love this combo! The grill is great; cleanup is a snap if you do this: place wet paper towels on the grill as soon as you unplug it, close grill and leave paper towels in place while the grill cools. A quick wipe with a dish cloth and it's done! The pancake maker is super. I have never been able to make good or pretty pancakes. With this appliance, I can. Pancakes are ready in 3-4 minutes. Haven't tried the toaster. The grill comes with two drip trays and two plastic scrapers. I haven't needed to use a scraper. I recommend this combo highly. A good deal too. (...) I am very pleased with my purchase.

The Foreman jumbo grill is a real workhorse for us; we had the original size grill (sans bunwarmer) and it did a great job. But it is only big enough for two small burgers or a serving of one chicken breast, fish or other item. For a single person, the original unit is perfect. But for a family, or even two people where one is a fairly big eater (the guy), the jumbo grill is more versatile.

Make no mistake, this unit is BIG. It is more than twice the size of the original unit. You can cook six burgers on the surface, or 2 full size steaks. And that's what makes it particularly useful; if you want to cook a steak dinner and have all the steaks done simultaneously, the jumbo unit makes a lot of sense.

The top of the jumbo grill can be detached for cleaning, so it moves with a bit of play in the hinge--this is normal. Cleaning the surface is done by sponging down the unit after it cools somewhat and after you scrape any drippings off with a spatula included with the unit. There are two spatulas (grooved to fit the grill bars) and two large drip trays to catch the fat and drippings that run off as you grill.

Since we like to make pounded chicken cutlet, where you flatten a chicken breast, we really did need a larger unit. We could have used the next size up (the Super Champ?) but this unit replaces an electric barbecue and works for parties. We like it.

Now, to the extras included here--a toaster and a pancake maker:

The toaster provoked a chorus of "Jetsons! We're the Jetsons!" when we took it out of the box. This is a single-slot, wide-mouth toaster with the signature Foreman bunwarmer on one side. The unit looks like a tv set that got flattened. You'll find a compartment covered by a clear plastic door on one side of the unit, just like the bunwarmer on the newer Foreman grills. These bunwarmers cleverly utilize the warm back side of the grill or toasting element--hey, heat radiates from both sides of a grill, so why not use the escaping heat for warming breads or toast? The clear window of the warmer is what gives this toaster the Jetsons-look. The toaster slot fits most any kind of bagel, bread, pastry or what-have-you; we tried regular toast, but it would also work for Texas Toast.

The unit has a defrost button and a cancel button for rescuing your toast from the Carboniferous Era. In other words, since this is a big toaster, thin slices of bread can burn even on a low setting, so until you are familiar with its quirks, finger on the "cancel" button and don't walk away. Unless you like your smoke detectors screeching first thing in the morning. The toasting is even. I didn't try the warmer portion, but you can defrost pastry or keep your toast slices warm. The unit is made of silver plastic, so it looks a bit spacey, especially with the clear bubble of the bunwarmer--it's not pretty like a retro-style chrome toaster but it sure does the job. We found the toasting was even, something I can't say about some other toasters I've owned.

Now, to the pancake maker. I felt about this item the way a reporter from the Wall Street Journal told me she felt about egg cookers: what, don't you people know how to cook? Who needs a pancake maker? I normally just pour my pancake batter onto a griddle on the stove, two pancakes at a time and flip them on a plate in the oven until they are piled up enough for the guests.

The pancake maker is not a griddle--it's more like a waffle iron and it has four approximately 4-inch depressions on boths sides of the teflon-coated interior. You plug in the unit, it heats up until the ready light shows green. Then you pour the batter into the depressions, close the lid and it bakes the cakes bake on both sides. When you open the lid, you have four perfectly-shaped pancakes, ready to go. The teflon coating releases the cakes well-- I greased them slightly with butter just to be sure. The pancake maker could be used tableside, so that the cook would not have to stand at the stove flipping flapjacks to order. So if your table is big enough or if you have a cart or counter nearby, you can locate the unit strategically to produce a continuous stream of pancakes while you wipe up the spilled milk, grab contraband items from the nine-year old and rescue the syrup bottle from disaster as it tips dangerously towards the floor. If you have a crowd who likes pancakes, the pancake maker will probably be extremely popular. It surprised me how well it worked. It's not small, either--about the size of a waffle iron or the second-size-up Foreman grill. It's silver plastic, also very spacey-looking but it works well, indeed.

The grill is the best part of this combo deal. George Foreman is the best when it comes to having dinner on the table in under 15 minutes. I love it! The pancake maker is a waste of time though, 4 little pancakes! I'd rather use a large pan on the stove and get 5 or 7 at a time. Clean up is also a pain with the circles, though it did clean up nice. I never tried the toaster, it's still in the package. Do yourself a favor and JUST buy the grill.

This grill is awesome....I love chicken and making chicken has never be easier since i got this....it's a great gril and cooks your food really fast...im very impressed....

This set totally rocks! I found it while searching Amazon for "pancake maker" because my kids love pancakes, but I still ruin more than half I make. The pancake maker makes small pancakes, probably a little thicker than most people are used to. The spatula for the grill works great for popping the pancakes out of molds. Because it cooks on both sides, pancakes are done in 3-4 minutes. Here's another tip: you can make a huge batch of pancakes and refrigerate or freeze them. The pancakes are firm enough that you can pop them in the toaster to reheat them. Remember Thomas' Toast-r Cakes? You can make something similar to that in the pancake maker with corn muffin mix. You can also make cool little omelettes.

I am a sucker for a sale. I have not used any of these things once. Maybe if I didn't have access to a kitchen they would be handy. I would have used them in a dorm or someplace with a plug and no stove top. Somebody must love these things.Just the thought of running the fat away from a juicy hamburger has made George Foreman a wealthy, wealthy man. So if you are a big meat eater...I must recommend one.