Hamilton Beach 25450 Gourmet Panini Press

Other Hamilton Beach products

Product Features

• Gourmet sandwich press for deli-style grilled panini at home
• Floating lid makes even contact with thick or thin sandwiches
• Nonstick grids measure 8-1/2 by 12 inches
• Power and preheat lights; locking lid; upright storage design
• Grill unit measure 13-1/2 by 11-1/2 by 4 inches; 2-year warranty

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 16.3 x 13.3 x 5.8 inches ; 11.8 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B0001AG8F0
• Item model number: 25450
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (69 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #15,561 in Kitchen & Dining (See Bestsellers in Kitchen & Dining)

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Product Description

Amazon.com Review
Create delicious, deli-like panini at home with this gourmet sandwich press from Hamilton Beach. Designed to accommodate everything from single-slice ham sandwiches to piled-high turkey grinders, the grill heats ingredients, melts cheese, and creates a crispy outer crust. The floating lid slides and swivels for the right fit and locks into position with a side dial. The locking function is also handy for keeping the lid upright if you want to make open face snacks or clean the grill plates. Roomy and ribbed, the grill plates measure 12 by 8-1/2 and are coated with a wipe-down nonstick coating.

Stable on its four feet, the press has gleaming chrome housing and durable plastic accents. A side clamp locks it shut between uses, so you can choose from upright or horizontal storage—a thoughtful feature for the space-efficient kitchen. Two indicator lights signal power and preheating, and the whole unit measures 13-1/2 by 11-1/2 by 4. Hamilton Beach includes a two-year warranty. --Emily Bedard

Product Description
The Hamilton Beach Panini Press Gourmet Sandwich Maker is an excellent appliance to have on hand to make grilled cheese and other hot sandwiches. Every deli sandwich tastes better hot and with melted cheese. This Panini Press can handle sandwiches of any size.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

58 of 59 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fabulous, but no frills, January 19, 2006

By	Katphish "Katphish" (ny) - See all my reviews

You can't give this machine a bad rating. This Hamilton Beach Panini Press does one thing and one thing only, but it does it very well. If you enjoy pressed/grilled sandwhiches you will love this machine. As I write this I'm eating a feta/olive/artichoke/roasted peppers on pita sandwhich hot off the panini press, and it's scrumptious. I actually bought this as a christmas gift for my mother, but I probably use it more than she does.

The machine looks good on the counter, and has a large, non stick service. It's not on a hinge so it's designed to accept even the thickest sandwhiches without squeezing all the filling out. You can even "lock" the lid down to apply constant pressure, or lock it up to maintain minimal pressure or to not make contact with the top at all. It's great for quesidillas as well. Ignore the user that says it takes too long to heat up, it takes only a couple of minutes, about the time a waffle maker would take to heat. Even cooking on the stove you need to take a few mins to heat the pan! Also ignore the comment that this machine burns the bread before heating the filling, I've never had such problems, although I do wish there was a temperature control for further versatillity. But my bread never burns... I find 2-6 min will brown the bread perfectly, from lightly browned to nice and crispy (depending on how you like it) without burning it at all. I've never burned anything on this machine. I even once used it to grill some chicken, and it did the job nicely, though it's not really designed for that.

The only down sides are that there are no frills. I've seen other models that come with nice recipe books, this one has just a few hastily thrown together recipe ideas in the instruction booklet. There's no temp control either, which is fine, but it would be nice to have some kind of control (it would be more convenient if you wanted to use it for alternative purposes. The machine gets very hot, but that's to be expected. There's no alternate "plates" or cooking surfaces for say a flat "griddle" style surface, so you'll have to settle for the striated grate style surface, which in all honestly is not a big deal at all.

This is a great machine, at a decent price. It could be better with a temp control, some extra features, and a better recipe book, but all-in-all, you can't complain. It does its job, and does it very well.

51 of 53 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Bread is Done, Sandwich Fixin's Are Not, September 20, 2005

By	asfhgwt (PA, USA) - See all my reviews

Mechanically, the press has a nice design and it works OK for a $40 item. The upper lid is not hinged, so it can be raised very high to accomodate thick sandwiches. Bread comes out nicely ridged and crunchy. It does take a while for the unit to heat to cooking temperature, however. The main problem seems to be how to cook the inside of the sandwich without burning the bread; for an average sandwich (3 oz. ham and 2 oz. cheese) after 1.75 minutes the bread is done, but the ham is not sufficiently warm nor the cheese melted. This may be an issue with all lower-end panini presses, I suppose; perhaps some experimentation with different bread types and cooking times will solve my little dilemma. In any case, so far the resulting sandwiches are better than if served at room temperature, but not as good as those heated in my toaster oven and then slapped together.

31 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Nicely priced, multi-use grill, February 6, 2005

By	Reader Rabbit (Northern Calif., USA) - See all my reviews

Excellent value because it's not just a panini press -- you can also use it as a contact grill for vegetables, burgers, etc. You do this by using a set screw to lock the upper plate at the height you want. Bingo: buy one appliance rather than two.

The upper plate has about 3" to 4" of travel, so you can press fairly thick sandwiches. The size is nicely compact, with the overall dimensions not much bigger than the heating plates.

The plates have very fine ribbing, so you can't use this grill to fry eggs or pancakes. If you want those options, consider the Breville SG620XL panini press/grill (which has flat plates that lock into 6 positions), or the smaller Hamilton Beach 25219 Contact Grill.