West Bend 6111 Heart Smart Indoor Grill, Black
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List Price: Our Price: $54.95 You Save: $28.04 (34%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Category: Kitchen See more product details |
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Kitchen and Housewares Reviews of West Bend 6111 Heart Smart Indoor Grill, Black
Customer Review: Slow and Hard To Clean
Summary: 3 Stars
After reading the reviews, I had high hopes for this grill. I mainly wanted to be able to grill veggies during the months when it is too cold to be outside, plus veggie burgers, etc. If I had used it sooner, I'd probably have sent it back.
The grill takes a good 10 minutes to heat up properly. Once heated, most of the grill is consistently hot but there are still cold spots. Food needs to be moved around. Cooking times are way longer than one would expect with a grill. In a way, this is problematic, but it also allows you to cook things with less likelihood of burning them. I don't eat meat, so can't say how long something temperature critical like chicken might take.
The griddle side heats much more evenly and cooks more consistently, but also much more quickly. You can easily do things like sauteed mushrooms on the side for one or two people, fry sausages, and that sort of thing.
The water tray underneath does go a long way towards eliminating smoke in the house.
The two major drawbacks are
1) the size. It is far larger than it needs to be to support the cooking area it has. This thing is huge.
2) Cleaning. The dishwasher does not clean it, and you can plan on doing a lot of scrubbing unless you brush it clean while it is still hot. If the grill cools before cleaning, it is nearly impossible to clean. It may be dishwasher safe, but it doesn't come clean in the dishwasher.
Customer Review: Grilling inside
Summary: 4 Stars
I bought this grill used off Amazon. I had been looking for some way to grill inside away from the stove. As an apartment dweller, I haven't had a real outside 'grill' area in a long time and I missed the taste a grill adds to hamburgers and hot dogs, not to mention the ease of grilling a steak. So I bought this one.
The best points of this grill is that you can put everything except the plastic stand in the dishwasher! So clean up is outstanding! You plug it all in like an electric fry pan, set the tempurature and when the light go off the food goes on. You get the lovely grill marks, the spaces on the grill allow the 'fat' to fall through but aren't wide enough to loose a hotdog (as on an outside grill). I have cooked hot dogs, hamburgers, Chicken, steaks, bacon and eggs (there is a flat area on one side). So far it has been a joy. It held a whole cut up chicken at one time!
The only downs are storage, I am in a small apartment and I have had to dedicate a portion of my counter to this appliance, but I end up using it a lot more than I would if I had a place to put it away. And the lid is almost flat. When I grill anything with hieght,like say BBQ chicken, the lid rests on the meat at an angle. I have tried tenting with foil but you loose the ability to see the food grilling.
I haven't tried any other indoor grills, other than the george foreman stuff and I like this west bend so much more than any of those!
Customer Review: Not what I expected... at first. (Updated Review)
Summary: 4 Stars
I purchased this item based on the very positive reviews of other buyers. But I wasn't that impressed with it after my first use. I DO love the design & size of it. I DON'T like having to put water in the bottom tray (as recommended by manufacturer to ease clean-up & reduce splattering) because I think it caused it to act more like a steamer & slowed down the browning process. Plus, because it is electric, even on highest setting, it kept shutting off when it reached temperature & the "sizzling" stopped until it came back on again. I didn't use the lid as I didn't want to increase the steam affect. Although there were "grill" marks on the burgers, it took a while before that appeared. The aforementioned points I think affected how my burgers turned out - not browned enough, dry and chewy. However, I will try it without the water in the tray (maybe line it with foil) & try again, with other foods as well, in case it was a case of my not using it properly before I give it a thumbs down.
UPDATE: I actually prefer it now as I decided NOT to use the water in the bottom but instead I lined it with foil (which I am sure the manufacturer recommends you NOT do this), and I don't always use the lid either, depending on what the food item is, now my foods brown a lot better.
Customer Review: hilly43
Summary: 4 Stars
I recently purchased this product to replace a Mirro Electric Grill I had for many many years, that finally gave out. I searched for a while till I came upon this particular model that seemed to emulate the same type of grill I had previsously except that the electric element is covered on this grill. So far I have cooked chicken, fish, burgers and chops and all have come out excellent. The only thing I was not prepared for is how to throw out the water which catches the grease. It was difficult to tip the water into anything without spilling into the sink. I decided to put only enough water to cover the bottom of the tray and not up to the fill line, and this makes it much easier to remove the water to a jar for disposal. The grill cooks up without any smoke, the food is juicy and delicous. It requires a little more cleaning than my old one, but holds much more food. The lid has a tendancy to move easily, which is the only thing I see that might need changing. Maybe a deeper groove for it to sit in would do the trick. Otherwise, I think this outdoes any Forman grill for ease of use and taste of food. TRY IT YOU'LL LIKE IT....Customer Review: Works decent - good price
Summary: 4 Stars
I returned the Delonghi BG24 to buy this as they are almost identical but this one is a much better price. As a matter of fact, they are so similar they are probably manufactured by the same company.
There are only 2 differences:
* this one includes a skillet area on the grill plate, so smaller grilling area but you have a side part to grill onions or bacon for your burgers... the drip pan, base and lid are exactly the same
* this one states the grill piece is dishwasher safe, though the grill piece on the BG24 is almost the same, they state it is not dishwasher safe - probably is though
It probably uses a lot of electricity, and does not have a true BBQ taste but it works well. I scrub the gril with a teflon safe sponge while on the base with drip pan still in place and then stick it in the diswasher. I don't even put the drip pan in diswasher b/c it is so easy to clean my hand , especially when coated with water.
This is a pretty big unit - I'd actually prefer something smaller as I live by myself in a small nyc apt.