Food Network Food Network 4-in-1 Griddle, Model#18004 Review

I have long been a fan of appliances that can do more than one thing. So when the Food Network 4-in-1 Griddle came along, I was excited. It was stainless-colored, a huge bonus, and came with 3 sets of plates: flat grill plates, ribbed grill plates, and waffles plates. The "4-in-1" label comes from the fact that, in addition to the three sets of plates, which allow you to grill with/without ribs, and make waffles, you can open the unit flat and use both sides as an open griddle.

Size: 7"h x 10"wx 12"d. The unit was too large to fit in my appliance cabinet because the handles make it wider than the 10" of the unit. There is no lock to held together the uper and lower parts of the unit, so it doesn't stand up in a cabinet very well. The unit has a "floating hinge" which allows you to make a panini from a large sandwich.

Accessories: It comes with two drip trays (which can both be used if using the unit as an open grill) and a cleaning tool. Included are a couple of recipe cards. The unit's handle stays cool at all times. The plates are easy to remove and are non-stick and dishwasher-safe.  

Buttons/dials: A plus to the unit is that it has two sepearate temperature controls: The unit has a dial in the middle where you select Griddle or Waffle (or Off.) The left button, for using the unit as a grddile, has a temperature dial from 200 to 400 degrees. The right button, which is labeled grill/waffle has selections for warm, low, medium, high.

Warranty: There is a two-year limited warranty.

Problems:The waffle plates are the problem with this unit. The waffles are so thin, they almost look like pizelles! It was very difficult to make waffles without burning the inside of the little squares which, of course, is the thinnest part of a waffle. After playing with the settings, I was able to stop burning those parts, but the rest of the waffle was a bit too soft.

I played around with waffle-making for a couple of hours, then gave up and packed the unit up and returned it. Kohls was gracious about letting me return it after having used it for a couple of weeks. Although I like thin, slighty crispy waffles, I couldn't eat what I made with this unit. I was disappointed that Food Network apparently didn't think the logistics through or test the product adequately. (I have read other reviews and this is a consistent complaint.)

The unit functions quite well as a grill, griddle, or panini maker. I spent a lot of money because I wanted something that would also do waffles. On that score, this unit failed.