Customer Reviews

Hamilton Beach 25285H Meal Maker Express Contact Grill White

5 star:		(56)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

This grill is definitely better (dollar for dollar) than the infamous George Foreman grill. My college roommates and I usually buy about fifty frozen hamburger patties from costco every month. Each frozen patty takes only 15 minutes to cook, making it perfect for a quick inbetween-class meal. You'd be suprise at how much grease is extracted from each meal!

Now, it probably wouldn't be a good idea to use this grill in a small room (ie. dorm) unless you don't mind your place smelling like a busy kitchen for a few hours.

The Extra Large Contact Grill is only large compared to the smaller foreman grills. It really will only hold about two steaks, 3 burgers (2 if they're big), 3 chicken breasts, and about 2 lrg pork chops. If you have a big family, I suggest you go up one model to the even bigger grill.

I really don't like washing cleaning. This grill is improved from the previous model, because the heat panels come off, and are dishwasher safe.

In conclusion: Great grill for smaller families. Awesome grill for college folks in an apt/house. Not so good for dormatories. Easy to clean.

The Hamilton Beach Meal Maker Grill is the perfect indoor grill. Its timer feature insures the food is cooked the proper time and then shuts off. The best feature is the detachable grill plates, which makes cleaning quick and easy. We often cook on our grill for lunch, clean it and cook on it for dinner. The George Foreman grill of our past were hard to clean and those in our price range did not have timers, automatic shut offs, or detachable grill plates. This grill is the right price with the right features to make indoor grilling a pleasure. Sorry George, Hamilton Beach stole your punch. Five stars because it is 100% of what we were looking for in a counter top grill.

This looks like the GE product that [a local store] carried a couple of years ago. In fact, Hamilton Beach made that unit. However...watch out, this is about 30% smaller. The picture is deceiving. It is quite a bit smaller than the Foreman Jumbo or Family size grill. Only one T-bone can fit on this grill at a time...or two chicken pieces.

The non-stick surface on my previous grill started flaking after two years of light use. I do like the removable grills, however.

You will need to turn the food once, since like all indoor grills, the bottom is hotter than the top plate.

Addendum:

I went to a Foreman jumbo. This grill just does not get hot enough to really work well. The Foreman is hotter and produces superior product.

When our George Foreman mini-grill got too small for our expanding family, my wife and I purchased this product because it was bigger and much less expensive (and it was on sale, which even further reduced the price).

We've now had it for almost a year and it is still holding up well. During this time we've noticed no difference in quality between it and the George Foreman. The fod comes out just the same -- nicely grilled and much of the fat drained. Speaking of which, we also found the drip tray for fat much more convenient on this Hamilton Beach grill. So I would save yourself the money and pick this up instead of a George Foreman.

I ordered this to replace our third George Foreman grill. The first three Foreman grills all suffered from the same defects: they are very difficult to clean thoroughly, and the non-stick coating wears off quite quickly. The Hamilton Beach model is much, much easier to clean, and therefore I hope that the non-stick coating will last longer, especially since I do not plan to put the grill plates in a dishwasher. However, the Hamilton Beach grill has been in use for only two weeks, and already the automatic shut-off has failed. This might seem a minor issue, but on the day of its failure (yesterday), the user walked off assuming that the grill would shut itself off after he had removed his food. I came home several hours later to find the grill still on--and very, very hot. Today we tested the grill again, and again it failed to shut itself off. The timer no longer dings, either, which means the absent-minded user is no longer reminded that he has put food on the grill and that it has been on the grill long enough. One of the major features for which I purchased this grill--the automatic shut-off feature--has failed in a very short period, then. The second major feature, the removable grill plates, is less likely to fail, and I therefore will keep this grill for the time being. But I do hope the almost immediate failure of the automatic shut-off does not foretell a short life-span for this applicance.

This used to be available as the G.E. Contact Grill. For whatever reason they discontinued it and Hamilton Beach took it on.

Smart move. I've had my G.E. model for nearly four years, using it almost every day. I've now literally worn it out. I'm buying the Hamilton Beach.

It has worked perfectly. Remember, adequate preheating for at least five minutes is essential.

Steaks, burgers, chicken, shrimp, scallops, kabobs, salmon steaks or filets, veggies, even grilled ham & cheese sandwiches. They all turn out great.

Clean-up is a breeze, because, unlike others, the grids are removeable and just go into the dishwasher, as does the recessed grease collector cup. What could be easier?

I honestly don't know what I would do if I didn't have this gem. In fact, I think I'm going to buy two this time. You know how these companies are. They just love to discontinue good products!

One small complaint: On my G.E., when the timer bell rings, the knob doesn't turn quite far enough to turn the unit off, as it should. I have to give it that extra little nudge so that the red light, and the heating elements, shut off. But that didn't happen until I'd used it about a 1000 times.

I hope whatever caused that has been corrected.

Otherwise, Happy Grilling, everyone.

I used the grill for chicken tenders and in 5 to 7 minutes it was done and very tasty. I marinated the chicken in Teriaki sauce before grilling. Also had steak and did a wonderful job of cooking it. Its fast, easy to clean with the removable grids (grills) and a side drip grease tray. I brought this cause I wanted to cook the meal fast and is easy to clean.

I highly recommend this for a single or a couple of people, otherwise get a bigger one.

Since we were going to start "Atkins", my wife & I decided that maybe we'd look into getting an indoor grill, and I started doing some research. Based on comments from family & friends, I came to learn that some people have problems cleaning the "OTHER" grill, (wink wink). Some more research led me to this model.
The very first thing that impressed me were the removable, dishwasher-safe grids. I then saw that the drip tray was encased within the grill itself, rather than left to loiter on the counter, and I was sold. I ordered it immediately.
This grill has been in my house for just over a week now, and I've used it every night. It does 5 boneless chicken thighs in about seven minutes, and they stay moist even when I nuke them the next day for lunch. It makes fantastic hamburgers for dinner and sausage patties for the next morning, and things stay moist even after re-heating.
Prepare the rest of the meal first, though. This thing cooks so quickly you barely have time to heat the peas!

When I made my purchase I didn't realize how quick and easy it would be to prepare dinner! Frozen chicken breasts, steaks, pork chops - in or less than 10 minutes!! It is unbelievable and I would highly recommend it to everyone! Cleanup is so easy!

I read all the great reviews of this indoor grill, including the Consumer Reports article. I chose this one to help with the Atkins diet. I am returning it. This thing does not grill meats, it steams or boils them in their own juices. Hamburgers, steaks and sausage patties come out grey and tough instead of grilled. Ever had a steamed steak? It does cook vegetables and makes ok sandwiches, but I don't think I want to pay this amount for a sandwich maker.

The unit also heated unevenly. A quick look inside after the grids are removed for washing (a very appealing feature, and it is easy to clean) reveals why. The element is odd shaped and covers more area on the left side than the right side. The element is not centered but more left oriented therefore things on the left cook faster than items on the right side of the grill.

I like most of the features of this unit, but what good are features if the food comes out bad. I think it does not get hot enough during pre-heating, and again, red meats come out grey. Chicken is a bit better, but still does not even resemble something that has been grilled. Oh sure, you get nice grill marks, but a magic marker will do the same thing.

I am gonna stick to my outdoor grill.