Customer Reviews

George Foreman GRP4B Next Grilleration 72 Square Inch Black Removable Plate Grill

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

We love this George Forman grill with the removable plates! Not only does it cook up burgers, chicken, veggies, fish, steaks in no time - but it is a snap to clean up. The removable grill plates allow you to put this in the dishwasher. We liked our old grill - but it was a pain to clean. This is so much easier and it cooks up dinner/lunch very quickly. We bought some as gifts too. If you do not have an outside grill - this will do very nicely. We really like cooking with it.

I got this grill a few weeks ago and love the way it cooks food. Boneless chicken breasts are fully cooked, tender and juicy, in about 5 minutes. The removable, dishwasher-safe plates are something that the GF grills should all have... nothing could be handier than that. There is no timer, though, so you'll have to use the manual as a guide, then make notes as you go of how long it takes each particular food to cook. For example, the chicken is done in 5 minutes, while it took about 7 for a 1/2 pound hamburger patty, and close to 10 for a slab of boneless pork shoulder ("country style"). I actually gave up on bacon after a while because it's too thin and the top plate won't help with the cooking. It's nowhere near as effective if both plates aren't cooking at once. So I finished off the bacon in the microwave and put sausage patties on instead. Those work great.

I still haven't found a use for the included spatula... so it sits uselessly in my cupboard. I also can tell you that there is no way to fit 4 burgers on this thing, unless they are slider-sized. It's not that big from front to back. It also doesn't cook completely evenly unless all of your foods are approximately the same thickness, and the middle of the grill is a little hotter than the edges, so keep that in mind as you cook.

However, here's my main problem with this thing: when I cook meats with more fat (hamburgers, bacon, sausage, etc.), the fat drips down to the end of the grill. Instead of dripping into the drip tray, it clings to the underside of the grill itself, and runs down onto the counter. MESSY!!! I have had to clean up several large pools of grease from my counter top Unless I am cooking the chicken breasts (which don't have enough fat to drip anything at all, and don't even require the drip tray), I now have to put a paper towel under the unit in order to prevent a huge grease puddle. I will continue to experiment to see if I can find another way of getting around this problem, such as putting something under the back end to increase the angle of the grill from back to front, but until I can use this AND have a clean counter after the fact, I can't give this more than 3 stars.

Several of my friends have George Foreman grills and love them. I returned my grill for a refund. I tried to grill a steak and it ended up steaming instead of grilling. Not very appetizing. I thought perhaps I had not let it warm up long enough so I tried it two more times with the same result. I'm not sure if the removable plates design is a factor or not as my friends model did not have removable plates. I wouldn't recommend this model to anyone.

We do bacon, hamburgers, sometimes fish on it. Can't beat it for efficiency and speed. We're on our fourth one (not that they wear out fast; none of them have ever stopped working).

love the removable plates; so much easier to clean than other grills; could be bigger

We bought this when we lived in an apartment. We weren't allowed to have any type of grill. This worked well for what we needed. I grilled chicken, burgers, hotdogs, and pineapple on it. It wasn't as good as on an actual grill, but it was a good alternative for our situation. Now we live in a house, but I still use it for hot dogs and I think that I will try bacon.

I have always wanted a George Foreman grill and recently went through two of them, with this one being the second (and last). The first one I quickly returned because the plates could not be removed, making cleanup very cumbersome and awkward in the sink. This unit does a good job of resolving that problem. Removable plates are easy to clean.

However, I regret to report that I absolutely cannot stand this thing. That's strong language, but I mean it. The problem is that it heats to such a high temperature (in the range of 450 degrees) that it overcooks food very quickly. TOO quickly. The outside of food items become thoroughly cooked, even overcooked, while the inside is still raw. By the time the inside of meats are cooked, it's too late: the entire item becomes overcooked and dried out. Unlike a standard grill that can be adjusted to heat evenly and allows for time to cut and test for doneness, this thing does not permit that. I am left with two options with this machine:

1. Lift the upper lid every 30 to 45 seconds to test for doneness (yes, it cooks food THAT fast), which only causes uneven cooking from the top of the food to the bottom due to the constant lifting of the upper lid;

OR

2. Let food sit for even 5 minutes to insure it's cooked, just to discover meats are very quickly overcooked and dried out.

But that's only HALF the problem with this machine. Even worse is the fact all the juices immediately BURN right on the plates, not even dripping off the edge. This is because the preset cooking temp is TOO HOT with no ability to adjust the temperature.

The juices from meats immediately burn and become encrusted on the cooking plates while the food itself is still not done. This creates a nasty burnt stench in the entire house, AND the contact of the burnt material directly with the food severely affects the flavor of the items being cooked.

Anyone with cooking experience knows you cannot cook everything at 450 degrees! I don't mean to offend anyone here that gave this thing high marks, but my opinion is I think these things were designed for college students that just want something done fast, with no regard for quality of taste or flavor.

I went to my local appliance store that featured a wide range of George Foreman grills on display, and I was astonished at how flimsy and cheap many of them felt. Craftmanship is not at all what I thought it was. The one machine that had a temperature adjustment lever was so cheap and loose that I literally felt anger at the $130 price tag for such an inferior product.

Frankly, I feel that Foreman should be ashamed to be putting his face and name on this entire line of kitchen grills.

I determined to find a better countertop grill that had the following features:

1. Temperature Adjustment to prevent overcooking and burning of juices.
2. Removable plates for easy cleanup.
3. Compact size to take little room on the kitchen counter.
4. Sturdy and well built for rigorous and long-term use.

I'd rather spend a little more and get a machine I'm happy with. It turns out that the Cuisinart Griddler carries mostly 5-star ratings among Amazon members, and it sells for about $100 through Amazon, so that will be my next purchase. I will follow up this post with an update after I have some time to spend with the Cuisinart. But for the time being, I regret that my experience with Foreman grills has quickly come and gone in just 2 weeks.

I am referring to this specific model with removable grill plates. The plates just don't get hot enough to brown anything. I use a thermometer probe to check when my food is cooked. I can't believe that my chicken, turkey, and beef reaches 170 degrees and STILL no nice color on the outside. Turkey and beef turns gray when it's done, and chicken turns white. And since you continue to let it cook because it actually looks undercooked, the meat becomes overcooked and dry.
Looks like the other models of this grill work well. By the way, i tried 2 different units because i thought the 1st one was defective. But nope, same results with the second grill. And i definitely let my grill preheat adequately. It's just a bad product.

I had an older model that did not have the removable plates. It was a real "pain" to clean. This model with the removable plates is so easy, just remove them and dump them in the dishwasher.

Cleaning the old George Foreman grill was such a pain that I never even wanted to use it. Now with the removable plates I can throw them in the dishwasher and its no longer a hassle!