I have been a fan of George Foreman grills for a long time, and hence I was a little taken aback by the price of this one, which is 10X the price of an entry level George Foreman, so the obvious question is, it is worth it.
I have put the unit through its paces, and have been very impressed. First, I should say right off the bat that I purchased the extra ribbed grill plate. Call me old fashioned, but I like grill marks on both sides of my food, and I really did not plan on using the flat plate. Hence, most of my testing was with the ribbed plate on top and bottom.
The first thing I notices was how quickly the unit comes up to temperature. I like to chargrill/sear meat, and after plugging in and turning on, the unit was up to 450 degrees in a matter of minutes. My first test was Gyro patties. I had almost two pounds of ground lamb, which I portioned into 6 patties. The fat content of the meat was fairly high . . . 20%, so this was a good test to see if spattering was going to be a problem. When I put the almost 2 pounds of ground lamp onto the grill, and closed the lid, the unit came back to full temperature quickly. I took at peak inside at 4:00 minutes, and meat was nicely seared on both sides, and it looked fully cooked. I left it on for another two minutes, and the meat was nicely well done with impressive chargrill marks on both sides. So for two pounds of meat, it was perfectly done in about six minutes. I did a test where I put one gyro patty on by itself, and it was completely cooked at about 4 minutes.
While I love my wife, she is a little bit of a Kitchen Nazi, and I take my life into my hands when I cook something, especially something that might generate a greasy mess in her kitchen. I must say I was extremely pleased to see virtually no splatter cooking with this thing, with the lid down. Again, the meat I was cooking was fairly high fat lamb. and cooking two pounds, the meat was getting close to the edge of the grill on all sides. So, this was pretty much a worst case test, and almost no splatter at all.
Cleanup was a snap. The grill plates snap right off. They are listed as "Dishwasher Safe", but I would never risk that. I washed them by hand, which took just a couple of minutes, hand dried them with a soft towel, and then put them back safely on the unit. Understand that is no such thing as a rugged non-stick surface, and to be happy with this unit, like all fine things, you must be very careful cleaning, handling and cooking on the non-stick surface. Use only soft spatulas, and no metal against them. Be careful washing them as well. The grill plates are relatively expensive, and I dont want to have to replace them for years, so I am being very careful with them.
The food I have cooked on the grill has turned out perfectly. The unit is easy to use, easy to clean up, does not make a mess while you are cooking and cooks meat FAST. The meat can be cooked with pronounced chargrill marks, if that is what you are after. Of course, you can turn the temp down and get more of a slow roast effect, but I like the chargrill marks, and associated char flavor.
OK, the big question . . . was it worth it. What I like about this unit is that it gets the grill plates hot, and keeps them hot even if you put a big load of cold meat on them. The second thing is it has a very large cooking area. Like I say, I cooked six large portions of ground lamb in one cooking, so you can cook for a fairly large group with it.
So, as a fairly serious cook, I think these two features make it worth the money. I do love the little George Foreman grills and still have several, but I musts say that I am very pleased with the Breville, and can suggest it to anyone wanting to take their indoor grilling to the next level.
OK, a couple of minor quibbles. I think shipping the unit with one flat and one ribbed grill plate is the worst of both worlds, and was stung a little by having to pay an extra $50 because I wanted top and bottom with ribbed plate. With these really high prices, Breville should offer the purchaser the option of which plates they want, two smooth, or two ribbed, or one each.
Again, even though this unit is expensive, I think it is worth it, and I am pleased to own it, and recommend it to other serious cooks.
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From the manufacturer
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1800W Heating Elements Embedded into the Plates
Electronic thermostat senses small movements in temperatures for a consistent cook
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For Easy Cleaning
Just pop them out for an easy and convenient hand wash
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With 5 Settings
Tells you when the plates are preheated and counts down cooking time
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For Bigger Grilling & Gridle Surface
Cook steaks, burgers, seafood, eggs and pancakes to perfection. Removable drip tray catches the fat
1 High Sear Grill 2 Removable Plates 3 LCD Display 4 Open Flat BBQ Mode
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Compare with similar items
This Item  Breville Smart Grill BGR820XL, |  |  |  |  |  | |
| Price | $319.95 | $299.99 | -8% $109.99 List: $119.95 | $79.99 | -17% $107.84 List: $129.95 | $59.95 |
| Delivery | Get it as soon as Friday, May 10 | Get it as soon as Friday, May 10 | Get it as soon as Friday, May 10 | Get it as soon as Friday, May 10 | Get it as soon as Friday, May 10 | Get it as soon as Friday, May 10 |
| Customer Ratings | ||||||
| Temperature Control | ||||||
| Easy to clean | ||||||
| Versatility | ||||||
| Easy to use | ||||||
| Durability | ||||||
| Sold By | Amazon.com | Amazon.com | Amazon.com | Amazon.com | Amazon.com | Amazon.com |
| style | Adjustable,Grill | Contact Grill | Digital Griddler | Searing Grill with Window | Smokeless Griddler | Non-stick,Nonstick |
| material | Stainless Steel | Healthy Ceramic Nonstick, PFAS-Free, Aluminum | Stainless Steel | Stainless Steel | Plastic, Stainless Steel, Aluminum | Aluminized Steel |
| number of settings | 6 | 3 | 5 | 6 | — | — |
| wattage | 1800 watts | 1000 watts | 60 watts | 1200 watts | 1500 watts | 1200 watts |
| weight | 8.6 kilograms | — | 5.14 kilograms | 8.14 pounds | 10 pounds | 1.62 kilograms |
Reviews with images
Brilliant sleek super Grill that works as advertised but you must read the manual
I recently bought this grill. I live in a condominium in downtown and this works completely as advertised. It got great reviews and my mind was set on purchasing it but reading some of the customer reviews made me wonder about a couple things like is it really easy to clean and is the surface durable. Everything works as advertised. The challenges people need to read the instructions. You cannot use non-rubber utensils so you must make sure you have heat resistant rubbery or utensils. You can’t use a hard scrubber to clean it but a standard plastic yellow scrubbing sponge works. The kind you would find at your local grocers for a few bucks. But most of all the heating element is excellent. It gets grill hot Really fast and easily adjust to various temperatures. Filleted adjust to several heights making it great for sandwiches burgers chicken breasts anything. And there’s a cool timer and just overall brilliantly designed. So don’t let the naysayers fool you. I just don’t think they read the manual and follow the instructions. And that’s OKI’ve done that myself sometimes. But if you take the time to read the instructions you will love this grill. I bought it over a month ago and had to come back to write this review because I didn’t want someone to overlook this product for the wrong reasons. Worth every penny and looks great too.
Top reviews from the United States
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Top reviews from other countries
Francisco olguin
Producto con marcas de que se mojo, que es usado y llego demasiado danado el empaque.
Reviewed in Mexico on April 9, 2024Style: Adjustable,GrillVerified Purchase
Francisco olguin
Reviewed in Mexico on April 9, 2024
Se levanto devolucion y regresare con mi update una vez que reciba una respuesta.
Images in this review
Praxis
I wish I'd bought this a long time ago!
Reviewed in Canada on January 16, 2014Style: Adjustable,GrillVerified Purchase
Northern light
Solidly built - great griddle/grill
Reviewed in Canada on April 15, 2017Style: Adjustable,GrillVerified Purchase
Northern light
Reviewed in Canada on April 15, 2017
So far we have only grilled vegetables and veggie burgers on it so I can't comment yet on how well it does with meat, however, based on how well it performed with veggies I have no doubt it will not dissapoint when we cook meat on it.
Some details and tips
It's heavy. Portable, yes, but heavy. I think this is a good thing because it reflects how well it's made and suggests it will be very long lasting.
- It's easy to set up, pull out and replace the plates
- The plates are very non-stick. The manuel says you don't need to add oils and I would agree
NOTE: do NOT use cooking sprays on it. The manual specifically states that's a no no.
Also in the manual is info that it has an automatic shut off after one hour if the dials are not engaged during that hour. If you adjust the temp for instance it resets the clock to start a one hour shut off count down again. This is an excellent safety feature but if you don't read manuals you may wonder why it suddenly shut off ie when cooking multiple batches.
- the veggies were tossed in oil and salt/pepper so there was little grease and as such no splatter. I would expect splatter like in any grill if you cooked meats.
- clean up was VERY easy. Just wipe with damp paper towel or cloth when it's warm. They're not kidding when they say non stick
- we used it full open flat and used both plates cooking brussel sprouts ( cut in half) asparagus , portobello mushrooms and veggie burgers. All cooked beautifully.
See pics to get an idea
IT DOES HUM! We didn't notice it when cooking and the usual noises of socializing permeated the air but this afternoon when all was quiet and I was in the kitchen I heard the hum some people have commented on. It is low but it is annoying. Fortunately I have it plugged into an extension bar which has an off switch and when I turn off the power bar the hum stops. If you are sensitive to noise and are in an otherwise quiet kitchen this may bother you so just something to consider.
Overall I am extremely pleased and highly recommend. I will update after I have tried other foods on it like meats.
Images in this review
Orbi-Roc
We love it. Excellent quality of materials
Reviewed in Canada on September 9, 2014Style: Adjustable,GrillVerified Purchase
Ali B
Heavy duty electric grill
Reviewed in Canada on April 24, 2016Style: Adjustable,GrillVerified Purchase
