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Cuisinart GR-4N 5-in-1 Griddler | 
| Brand: Cuisinart
Category: Kitchen
List Price: $185.00
Buy New: $87.95
as of 7/31/2010 22:47 CDT details
You Save: $97.05 (52%)
New (11) from $87.95
Seller: Amazon.com
Rating:  63 reviews
Sales Rank: 61
Country: CHINA
Autographed: No
Memorabilia: No
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 11.5 x 13.5 x 7.1
MPN: GR-4N
Model: GR-4N
UPC: 086279031280
EAN: 0086279031280
ASIN: B002YD99Y4
Shipping: Eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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| Features:
| • | 5-in-1countertop unit works as a contact grill, panini press, full grill, full griddle, and half grill/half griddle | | • | Brushed stainless-steel housing; sturdy panini-style handle; floating cover to adjust to thickness of food | | • | Removable and reversible nonstick cooking plates drain grease for healthy cooking; integrated drip tray | | • | Adjustable temperature controls with indicator lights; gourmet recipes and scraping tool included | | • | Plates, drip tray, and scraper are dishwasher-safe; 3-year limited warranty |
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| Accessories:
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
The Cuisinart Griddler makes multifunctional an understatement! With five separate cooking options, it can handle everything from pancakes to sausages to grilled cheese to steaks, hamburgers and Panini. A floating cover, and one set of reversible plates that snap in and out, turn the Griddler into a Contact Grill, a Panini Press, a Full Grill, a Full Griddle, or Half Grill/Grill Griddle. Dual temperature controls ensure everything is perfectly cooked!
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 63
 Cuisinart upgraded the Griddler, and it's better than ever February 28, 2010
S. Harrison (Clements, CA United States)
61 out of 62 found this review helpful
I bought a G4 Griddler from Amazon in 2005, and used it a couple of times a week (at least) until it had to be put out to pasture in 2010 due to failure of the non-stick coating on the plates. (The coating started to bubble and peel, and no one wants that in their food...) I loved it. (See my review of the Cuisinart GR-4 Griddler Stainless-Steel 4-in-1 Grill/Griddle and Panini Press) It was still working great, but replacement plates were not available.
I was elated when offered the opportunity to review its smarter younger brother, the GR-4NAM Griddler. I could hardly wait for it to get here and run it through its paces.
At first glance, the GR-4NAM looks virtually identical to the G4. However, closer inspection reveals that it has been totally redesigned, and for the better.
Improvement: The grease catcher used to be a little cup that had to be set under a spout on the side of the bottom plate. If it was positioned incorrectly, (or forgotten about), greased dripped out on the counter. The grease catcher is now integrated into the Griddler as a drawer-like device that can be pulled out to clean, and then put back in place for the next use.
Improvement: The original G4 had two sets of plates - one flat set, one ridged set (for paninis). There is now one reversible set of plates (ridged on one side, flat on the other), and therefore no need to find a storage place for the plates not in use. The new plates have a good substantial weight. I don't have the old ones here for comparison, but the quality of the plates certainly was not cheapened.
Improvement: It used to be a little tricky to put the plates in place and to remove them. There was also a difference between the top plate and the bottom, so you had to be careful not to try to put them in the wrong way. The plates now have an identical shape, so they are interchangeable, and the release buttons activate a spring-loaded mechanism that pops the plate loose for easy removal.
Now, to see how it cooks: The Griddler takes about as long to warm up as a good-quality waffle iron. Just when you start to get impatient with it, it's ready.
The first thing that I cooked was a no-no in the eyes of Cuisinart - a bone-in, skin-on leg and thigh chicken quarter. Too thick, they say. HA! says I, because I am a bit of an anarchist. I marinated the chicken in olive oil and rosemary, heated the Griddler to Medium. I cooked it on the panini plates because I love those little fake barbeque stripes across my food. It worked just fine. (I should have taken a picture, it came out looking beautiful. But I was hungry.)
Word of warning: Do not cook thick or fatty meat on High - you will get grease spatters all over the place. Medium works just fine in such instances.
I discovered from my old Griddler that when cooking meat it's best to turn off the heat before it's done, and let it finish cooking with the residual heat in the plates. That way the meat does not get overdone.
For clean-up, I let the plates cool down, and then put a wet paper towel across the bottom plate and close the lid and let it sit for a while. The dampness softens anything that is stuck to the plates, and then it can be easily washed off with a sudsy sponge or dish wand.
Today for lunch, I made myself a sandwich with sliced sourdough bread, cooked sliced chicken breast, fresh grated parmesan cheese and dried basil. I followed the panini directions in the small cookbook that comes with the Griddler. Well, I sort of followed the directions... Cuisinart recommends brushing the outside of the sandwich with olive oil. I prefer to use melted butter on panini because it makes the sandwich crisper.
I preheated the Griddler on High, placed the sandwich inside, and applied light pressure for about 30 seconds, and then let it cook. The directions say to cook panini for about 4 -5 minutes, but my sandwich was ready to eat in 2 minutes. Maybe the butter makes the bread brown faster than olive oil.
In any case, it was beautiful - evenly browned, crunchy and delicious, and I did take a picture (see product images).
How durable will the GR-4NAM be? Good question. From everything that I can see so far, Cuisinart has only made the Griddler better. But time is the real test of quality. I will report back from time to time regarding durability.
Right now, I'd say this looks like an excellent buy.
Great Griddle January 7, 2010
Byron Butters (Loon Country - Minnesota)
34 out of 34 found this review helpful
Improvements over previous model are the reversable grill plates that snap in and out very easily and now you do not have 2 extra plates to store somewhere. The grease catch pan is integrated into the bottom and removes very easily for cleaning. Cleanup is a snap: take off the 2 grill plates and they wash and cleanup so easy I don't bother putting them in the dishwasher. Clean the drip tray and you are done. Fast & easy.
I disagree with those that say it is great for cooking small meals or for a small family. It cooks the meat so fast, you better not walk away. First thing I cooked were good sized hamburgers & they were at 180° in 5 minutes. The next 4 were perfectly cooked at 4 minutes. Used the Sear setting per the instruction book with the grill preheated. New York Strip sirloins were done in 3 1/2 to 4 minutes on the Sear setting. Fast cooking & the meat is eye appealing with the grill marks on both sides. Batch number 3 will be pork chops tonight.
Granted, it doesn't quite do the job my Weber grill does outside, but when it is 15 below zero, the Griddler is very nice to have for indoor winter usage.
Great indoor grill, cooks fast, easy cleanup... I highly recommend it.
Cuisinart makes high quality products & this is another one! January 25, 2010
MaryB
17 out of 18 found this review helpful
I have been looking for a quality multifunctional griddle and was ecstatic when I found this one! A lot of options packed into this griddler and getting 40% off sealed the deal.
Pros:
-compact when closed therefore easy to store.
-heats quickly and evenly.
-makes the best paninis I've ever had; crisp on the outside.
-grilling inside when the weather outside is bad is a huge plus.
-can grill open or closed depending on how much I need to make and the type of food.
-the lid conforms to the thickness of the food.
-easy to clean.
-drip tray catches every bit of grease.
-because of the multiple options it replaces several older and bulkier appliance I had.
Cons:
-can't think of any.
Excellent for a small meal March 16, 2010
J. S. Green
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
This is my first experience with any kind of electric "floating top" griddle. I find myself pleasantly surprised. You should note that the advertised "200 square inches" of combined cooking space means two grills of 11" X 9" each. It really isn't as large as it sounds. I could fit 3 large burgers on there, and 2 pancakes at a time on each grill plate.
Pro:
It is a nifty design, and very tasteful in stainless steel and black trim. You won't be ashamed to show this unit off in the kitchen.
The grill plates are detachable and reversible. A handy scraping tool is provided to help clean the "ridged" griddle side.
The center knob sets either the grill or the "grill panini". I'm not sure I see any difference in operation - the "grill" options allows one to set the temperature by degrees while the other sets it by high, low, etc I really liked the fact that the temperature knob in use is red when warming, and then goes green to indicate that the unit is at the correct temperature.
I liked the grease catcher design - it slides out easily and cleans up well.
The grill plates are very easy to clean. I did not try the dishwasher, since I believe that non-stick will do better when washed by hand. I liked the simple buttons to release the plates - it was easy to use (if a bit hard to push) while holding the plates securely.
I found the grill to be very versatile, functioning either as a top-and-bottom or, when folded out, as a larger grill.
Con:
The grill takes a while to warm up, plan on about 10 minutes or so to get to 300 degrees.
I found two places on the non-stick grill plates that had small nicks where the non-stick had gotten rubbed off (out of the box). The places were not on the cooking surface area, but it makes me wonder about long term durability. One should plan on being careful when cleaning, and of course ALWAYS use plastic utensils.
I wouldn't trust the "grill" degree settings to any large degree. From what I can tell it is within maybe 30 degrees one way or the other of the set temperature.
I'm not sure anything could be done about this, but when you raise the grill top after "top and bottom" cooking, if you don't lock it into place (it swings down so as to be at any desired height above the food), it will drip grease onto the counter. I think the drip pan is designed such that if it is locked it will catch most of the grease - provided you lock the top. But if there is LOTS of grease on the top, it will drip. Considering gravity, most of the grease should come from the bottom. But I still had to clean a couple of drops of grease from the counter, and once I had to remove some from the heaters under the bottom grill plates (after the hamburgers).
To get the top to swing freely, you have to jar it a bit. Doing this when it is hot is a challenge, and I found myself using an oven mitt or plastic utensil. I realize that one could unlock it while cold, but I warmed it while closed (I think it is faster), and the top tends to lock in place if there is no food between the top and bottom.
Use:
I tested panini, hamburgers, and pancakes.
Panini. The griller makes a very good panini. I still need to experiment some to see what temperatures works best, but it does a good job: the marks come out well and the sandwich is heated nicely. The top is not unduly heavy, and you may find that you need to exert some pressure on the handle when closed to get the desired depth of grill marks.
Hamburgers. This was simply outstanding. I took 3 frozen hamburgers (1/3 lb sirloin) out of the freezer, put on some spices, warmed the device up to 350, put the burgers on, and closed the lid. Eight minutes later the hamburgers were done, jucy, and very tasty. The grease went into the catcher like it should. Also, there was not very much steam - it was much less messy than cooking in cast iron, for example, and I think a lot of that steam stayed in the hamburgers.
Pancakes. I found that the griddle loses it's heat very quickly when I put on the pancake batter. This resulted in one side of the pancakes being sort of brown speckled, while the other side (after the grill had reheated and I flipped the pancakes) was solid brown. I don't think this is an error or problem, because the nature of these kind of grill plates is that they transfer heat rapidly. At the same time, I noticed that the temperature knobs stayed green (indicating at temperature) instead of going to red (indicating heating). But overall it did a good job on the pancakes.
Summary: For two people, this can be quite a time saver and very useful for quick cooking. It appears to be a quality device with nice features and great design. Recommended.
I use this all the time! April 19, 2010
D. Hamilton (Connecticut, United States)
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
I waited to review this product because I wanted to try it with several different foods. So far I have tried it with steaks, pork chops, boneless chicken breasts, and Panini's. All of which came out great. I did notice that with the meats, you need to season lightly because if the heat is too high, the seasoning will get dark or burn. The steaks came out with beautifully seared grill marks, and they stay very juicy. The pork chops I brined first, and they came out very juicy as well.
The good thing about using this grill with the pork chops, is that they don't curl up when you are grilling, because of the fact that you have the top grill to press it down. So now I always use this to make pork chops. The boneless chicken breasts came out great too. I usually pound them to make them even, then season them lightly and grill them. I think they come out perfect in just five minutes. I usually grill about 5 at a time and put them in the refrigerator, and use them to make chicken salad or just slice them up and put them in a regular salad to add some protein. They always come out great. The Panini's however, are out of this world. I find that if you brush melted butter on top of the Panini bread, they come out fantastic. Better then any Panini I've gotten in any restaurant.
The grill itself does heat up very quickly, which is a good thing, and I didn't have any problems with fat running off the grill like some other people have, and I use it all the time.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 63
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