Russell Hobbs 17888 3-in-1 Panini Press, Grill and Griddle - Stainless Steel by Russell Hobbs

Having used one for the last 7 months, I would say that it's a mixed bag.The good:- Hinge design lets it handle foods of a wide range of thicknesses (personally have tried with things as thin as one slice of bread and as thick as a large sausage about 1 inch in diameter)- Warm up time is very fast, well under two minutes- It's cheapThe bad:- No on/off switch in the unit. You'll have to use the switch on the wall, or wire in your own switch in the plug or the wire- Plates are not removable. Forget giving this thing a good cleaning in the sink, the best you can do is wipe in-place with a damp cloth.- Temperature is not adjustable- Height of the upper plate can't be locked - it always presses down on the food. So you have to fiddle carefully with the placement of the food (get it exactly centered or it tilts and you end up with wedge-shaped bread because of the uneven pressure), and for soft foods like vegetable burgers the weight of the food tends to crush and deform themThe ugly:- The temperature is set way too high. It scorches a lot of food before cooking them through. For example, if you're making sandwich toast you have to apply quite a bit of pressure on the handle to get the heat to penetrate through and melt the cheese, as otherwise you will just end up with burnt bread and cold cheese.- The heat distribution is extremely uneven. There is a hot spot running from front to back on the bottom plate about 1.5 inches from the right-hand edge. I'm guessing that's where one of the heating elements is. Any food placed in this area gets instantly burnt and inedible. The only solution is not to place any food on this hot spot, which effectively reduces the available cooking area to barely large enough to cook two slices of bread. After 7 months of using this toaster, the non-stick coating in this area has been burnt off, and it sports a visible layer of carbon because any grease or oil or cheese or crumbs from the food that make contact with this area burn immediately and are very hard to scrape off.Now that the clear paint/varnish on the lid has started to discolour peel and the metal of the bottom plate has cracked in the area of the hot spot, we've retired this unit and replaced it with a Severin 1800W contact grill (KG2392) which is much more expensive but has all the features I complained about this unit lacking in the "bad" section, and none of the faults in the "ugly" section. And it retains the nice flexible hinge design. Time will tell how the new unit fares.

Pros: still going strong and working well, does what it says - it grills stuff, nice design - looks more premium than it is, very easy to clean, non stick material on grill is good quality, good to have drip tray underneath, reasonable priceCons: wire to plug could be longer, certain elements of where the wire goes can be an obstruction, the grill doesn't close properly when in use and it appears quite easy for your sandwich to go flying out of the grill if you pushed too hard or quickly on the top part of the grill as you press down!, the light system of red for not ready and green for ready to grill is a nonsense and pointless, there is no temperature control, there is no timer so you have to guess or keep on checking to see when your panini is ready!

It's perfect as a toaster, but not as a grill. It has the shapes for it but it’s very difficult to clean, the hobs are not removable and if you need to clean it with some product it takes long and is a mess. At least is nonstick, so easy to takeoff the burnt part.It has a part that collect the drops of fat, that you can easily remove and clean it.The top part is not rigid, it moves depending on what you put on the hob, for example if you have a tall toast you can close the toaster and the top will stay horizontal to it.There’s no way to control the temperature (so isn’t the best as grill) but is not too hot or too cold, even if you leave it open, there is a thermostat that keeps a certain temperature.There is no button to switch it on or off.That could be a problem because if you forget it plugged in, it continue to stay on an super hot, so it’s very dangerous.- Is not safe if you have children or for older people. -Summing up, is a good choice if you need a toaster, not so good if you are searching for a grill, but at least you can use it sometimes to cook something without so many expectations.Not super safe but if you are wise you will not have problems.Good choice for me, I use it like a toaster and it does a very good job.

Bought this for my son as he is always looking for ways of making a quick bite but the whole family gets enjoyment out of it. It arrived in a very BIG box - exceptionally packed. Easy to unpack and easy to work - fool proof. Great idea to be able to make normal toasties/paninis and grill meats such as steak/chicken and so on. Have just used it to make peppered chicken fillets for a scrumptious toasted wrap and my word very impressed - cooked to perfection - no fat so ideal for slimmers. Looks more expensive than it was - tremendous value. Good dimensions - sits perfectly on my worktop. However, needs plenty room to open so wouldn't advise putting under a cupboard above worktop. Fairly lightweight too which was a bit unexpected. But still sturdy enough that it doesn't lack quality. Very stylish modern design and made by a well known brand which has a good reputation. Cant fault it in any way.

Does the job fine. Not very easy to clean. Heat not evenly distributed.

I use this all the time, its so versatile and cooks brilliantly. burgers, bread, bacon, sausages, steak, crumpets, crising up pizza bases, on and on - everything comes out fantastic, and with the sexy grill marks on the food. whole thing can be folded out to double the size. nice quality and bargain.