T-fal GC7 Opti-Grill Indoor Electric Grill, 4-Servings, Automatic Sensor Cooking, Silver Import To Shop ×Product customization

T-Fal GC702 grill is fantastic!After looking over all of the George Foreman grills, I was struck at how primitive they are. The cheapest ones are not the easiest to clean, the more expensive have removable heat plates that are still difficult to clean, and all are pretty “dumb.” I then wondered “what happens if I bump up my price expectations?” which was when I came across the T-Fal GC702. It is the first grill I ever bought. I now have about 4 months of experience using it and can offer my thoughts on it.For starters, its heat plates are “non-stick” and easily removable by single buttons on the side. This makes cleaning quite easy. I first followed others’ recommendations by spraying PAM on the plates before cooking, but the smoke was more than I could bear. Plus, it tends to burn itself into the plates, making cleaning difficult and leaving a residue on the plates, even after a thorough cleaning. I then bought a good plastic scrub brush (“OXO Good Grips Electric Grill and Panini Press Brush”), and it’s been a breeze to clean since. I simply run the plates under a bit of water, let them sit for about a minute, and the scrub brush easily cleans everything off. Piece of cake!What makes this grill unique is the meat thickness sensor in the hinge assembly. You must power on the grill with the nothing in the grill, which the sensor interprets as the time to ramp up the temperature. You input whether you want to first defrost the slab of meat, or if its not frozen already, as well as the kind of meat you will be cooking: chicken, meat patties, steak, fish, hot dogs, or sandwiches (grilled cheese, presumably). The unit’s smarts then take it from there to do the next step, which is when you open the grill and insert the meat. The thickness sensor then knows how thick the meat is and adjusts its timer accordingly. If it’s to defrost the meat first, then the defrost timer starts, based on the meat’s thickness. If no defrost cycle is called for, then the cooking timer starts. It’s a pretty decent sensor and timer, and gets you pretty close to where you want the cooked meat to be, be it rare, medium, or well-done.Part of this process if the simple “cyclops light” in the grill’s handle. When the unit is first heating up, the light is purple, and slowly turns blue. When the grill is up to temperature, a little beeper goes off, alerting you that you’re ready to start cooking. As the meat cooks, the light first turns yellow (“rare”) and beeps, then continues as it turns orange (“medium”) and beeps, followed by red (“well”) and beeps. You can lift the lid any time during the cooking cycle without upsetting the cook time sensor. I’ve found that these indicators get you close to where you want to get it, although my sense is that they tend to overcook based on the sensor light color. Personally I prefer juicy chicken and slightly red steaks. Each of these desires, I’ve come to learn, can be accomplished by the “rare” timer. Typical grill times are: warm-up time, 6 minutes. Cook steak to a bit more than rare, 5 minutes. Cook chicken to juicy, 6 minutes.I’ve come to disfavor using the grill’s defrost function, as it tends to over-char the meat. Instead, I use my microwave’s defrost capabilities, which are quite good, and then cook the meat with the grill. The microwave’s defrost cycle tends to cook the meat slightly, but since the meat is going into the grill in short order, so what?There’s a little plastic drip pan in the front of the unit that I’ve found is only needed when cooking hamburger patties. Chicken breasts and steaks never seem to drip. The pan removes and inserts very easily, and is very simple to clean.I thought that the grill would really smoke up my kitchen, but the only smoke it has generated came from the PAM I sprayed on the plates in my early stages of cooking with it. Since I stopped with the vegetable spray, there is zero smoke from it!I have the luxury of owning a nice little thermal imaging camera and was curious to know how hot the lid got when cooking. To my surprise, it is a balmy 90 degrees F, so you won’t burn your hand on it. Where you have to be careful is around the edges, where the removable grill plates jut out. Those WILL burn you at over 300 degrees F! However, I suspect that ALL grills offer the same exposure to high temperatures at the edges. It is probably not unique to the T-Fal grill.The first time I attempted to use the grill, I also wanted to bake a potato using my 1100 watt microwave while the grill did its thing. My 20 amp breaker, which was handling both appliances, then popped. No surprise there, but it made me want to know what the power draw of the grill is. It is rated at 1800 watts (as are most of the other larger grills on the market), which means about 15.6 amps for 115VAC. If my breaker was 15 amps, then the grill would have popped it all by itself. (BTW: my house wiring is 12 gauge, rated for 20 amps.) The meter indicates that my voltage is high, 126VAC, which takes the current up even higher — 16.6 amps, about 2100 watts! Thus, this grill really sucks the (electrical) juice! Potential buyers should be aware of this and make sure that they will be plugging into a 20 amp breaker circuit lest you be popping breakers with it!Other than that, I love the T-Fal grill. It has completely changed my cooking style, as primitive as it is. I no longer broil meat in my oven. Why bother?If you have the budget, I highly recommend this grill over any other of the cheaper Foreman grills. Sorry, George!

IT DIED and I am .D..I…S…A…P…P…O…I…N…T…E…D…!!!Bought the item in Jan 2015 and with Filet Mignon’s in hand, proceeded to cook. And I can tell you this first outing was MEDIOCRE! My other half is forcing me to say it was because I DIDN’T READ THE INSTRUCTIONS CAREFULLY. On our second go around, I grilled 2 more filets. THIS time they came out perfect. Since them have tried Italian sausage, gourmet hot dogs (thicker than normal) pork steaks and hamburgers. ALL came out perfect. Now for a few hints from someone who Strongly recommends you read the instructions.Yes, there are picture to show you what to do but the accompanying verbage is a bit lacking. FIRST, do put a bit of oil (with paper towel) on grill. Helps to keep things from really sticking although I haven’t had a problem yet. SECOND: Push the on button and the type of food you are grilling (the pics on the buttons are a no brainer) AND KEEP THE LID CLOSED! This the “HEATING UP THE GRILL STAGE. This takes about 10 minutes. When the grill is ready, it will beep. Place your items on the grill and close the lid. Now for the hard part. DO NOT WALK AWAY FROM THE GRILL AND TOTALLY RESIST OPENING THE LID!. As the grill begins cook your item, the color window WILL change color. IF you open the lid thinking the item is not being cook….BOOM! you go to manual mode and now have to really watch what you are cooking. So, if you don’t open the lid, the light button will continue to change color as it rotates around the “done-ness” scale. So you want a medium rare steak? As soon as you determine the light is NEAR this color, open the lid and remove the steaks. Reason? The meat will continue to cook for a minute or two and you steak will go from med rare to slightly under medium. I had this happen with my second round of steaks but they were still juicy. Second thing to watch. Oil the grill lightly! If you get heavy handed, the unit will smoke. I’ve tried the grill without oil and it works very well. Use your own judgment.And FINALLY: Remember that once you remove your food from the grill, PUSH the on-off button, an then unplug. This unit WILL stay hot for at least 45 minutes. Now, what I like most about this grill: It does extremely well what it is intended to do and that is grill indoors and grill to perfection.Second, there is very little smoke involved. Third, found VERY LITTLE splattering and that was only with the hamburgers. Third. once COOLED, the unit is a breeze to take the two grill plates off, and place them and drain plate in dishwasher. I have not yet tried the panninis approach but my other half, who is currently banned by the EPA from even BOILING WATER, wants to try her hand at this after reading the recipe book that came with the unit. She thinks she can do this. OVERALL: Is it too expensive? Initially I thought so but after using it several times, it is well worth the price for what it does. Would I recommend? ABSOLUTELY! I now am cooking beef,chicken,sausage, etc to perfection. And I do think it is kind of neat to watch that light button change colors. I think it is important to think of this unit in two levels: one, you get what you pay for and two, you buy it because you will use it often. And please…DO READ THE INSTRUCTIONS!UPDATE: DEC 2017OK. Nearly 2 years of having and using this unit. Noted in my previous review, I eventually did liked the color changing light that denotes the done-ness of the food you are grilling. Well, I don’t now. It was initially fun to watch but a meter, or an LCD screen that lets you know the done-ness would be better. As for the unit itself, I LOVE IT! I’ve used it over 20 times during the past 2 years and the grill still works like a champ. I use a little oil to coat the grill plates, preheat, and upon the “idiot” beep, place the grilling item on the grill and close the lid. Now, my other half and I both like our steaks medium so after the first “beep” ( which is not very loud), I am in the kitchen watching for the colored light change. Consistently, this unit has performed. Even hot dogs (AND Italian sausage and bratwurst) come out tasting like I used an outdoor grill. AND cleanup is simple. I do let the unit cool down completely (takes about an hour), clean off any bits of food that may stick to the grill plates, an then put them into the dishwasher. Plates come out clean (and sanitized!). I also give the unit itself a once over with a good kitchen cleaner in order to remove any/all grease splatters. My overall feeling is this: keep the unit clean, use a little oil on the grill plates, AND let it cool before cleaning and this little griller will give you very good service. Yes, my 5-star rating holds and I do RECOMMEND AS A BUY.UPDATEL: Dec 2019My unit died last night. Or I should say was DYING over the past 5 uses. Granted, unit was purchased in 2015 and initially used it a minimum of 2 times per week for about 4-5 months. Then, used was about once every 1 1/2 – 2 months. 5 months ago, I set it up to cook 2 steaks. I hit the start/set/ok buttons and VIOLA! the light began blinking and the big M letter (for manual) came on. Seems the unit would not go into auto cook mode. I cooked the steak differently and got on the internet to see if other owners had the same problem. Second VIOLA! Found a RESET sequence that several people said would work. I tried it…and it worked…..one time. For the next 4 months, each time I wanted to used the unit, I would have to go thru the sequence of pressing buttons, waiting, plug in again, etc. More times than none, I would have to try the reset sequence at least 4 times before I could get the unit to respond accordingly. Last night I plugged the unit in and the idiot light (as I call it now) flashed light blue, then white, the back to blue…and lo and behold I get the big M light to turn on. But no auto cook. I tried the reset sequence 5 separate times, and each time it would not go. Finally, after the 6the time of reset, the unit reset and I placed my steak on the grill. Within 1 min. or so, the unit light flashed and changed to MANUAL mode without cooking my steaks on auto. At this point I said a bad word that started with “son”. I did all the right things: handled the unit carefully, made sure the grill was cleaned thoroughly, let it cool before cleaning, ETC. I just NEVER expected that I would have to RESET this unit 1 to 6 times each time before I could use it!…..and then have it not work. No, I do not expect an electrical appliance to work forever….although my TOASTER gets a workout daily, and it is over 10 years old….and still humming right along. With the light workout this unit received and for the price I paid, it has turned out to be disappointing at best as initially it really did the trick on steak and chicken. I am now looking thru the Amazon offerings for a different griddle that hopefully will last longer. I give it a 4 star on cooking and a 1 1/2 star on longevity. As a recommendation for a buy? Your choice.

No problems here with sensor cooking. I’m loving this grill.This is an unbiased review. I did NOT receive this item for free or at a reduced price in exchange for my unbiased opinion. I paid full price and am just a regular Amazon shopper like you are.I held my breath when this arrived. I had purchased a Cuisinart Griddler and it was my favorite appliance for a long time. That is, until I ordered a second one and within a few months, the cord would get very hot when I used it so I threw it away. I cut the cord first so someone that saw it in the garbage would not think they found a working appliance.I needed a replacement and just was not willing to give the Griddler another try. I still have one of them and it works well but I use that on my small balcony so I can cook a quick meal outside in summer and not make the place any hotter than it already is. Bringing it in and out was a pain. So what to do?I liked the design of this one right away. I am paranoid about food being cooked all the way through and the sensor feature was intriguing. Many reviewers indicated that this function did not work on their grill and that made me leery about ordering it but I figured I’d give it a try. It’s a little bigger than the Griddler but I had just enough room for it.The first thing that I cooked on it was a burger. I like my burgers extra well done, and the well done setting on this grill resulted in a burger that had no trace of pink inside at all. It was not as well done as I like it but that’s fine. As is, the feature worked for the burger and I just now to leave it in a bit longer next time.My next attempt was a grilled chicken breast that was about a half inch thick or so. I followed the directions, put the piece of chicken on when it was preheated and left it until the red light and beeps at the Well Done point let me know it was ready. I took it out and cut it two at the thickest point and there was not a sign of pink. Hooray! No more guesswork and cutting it to make sure it’s cooked anymore! I put it back on the grill, basted it with a little barbecue sauce and left it open for a minute or two. It was great.Next up were grilled veggies. I’m a huge fan of the following combo of grilled veggies: broccoli, carrots, green beans and onion. I usually cut them up, throw them in a disk with a very small amount of water and put them in the microwave to cook by sensor since they are– save for the onion– hard veggies.Once they were done, I sprayed the grill with a little bit of Pam for Grilling, put the veggies on the grill and closed the top. Veggies should be done in manual mode. I left the grill closed for about 7 minutes and when I opened it, the veggies had nice looking grill marks. At that point, I threw in a few pieces of Purdue ready made chicken shortcuts and closed the grill on that to warm them up a bit. I took few tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil, some minced garlic and some Mrs. Dash Salt-Free seasoning, mixed it together and warmed it on the stove. Once it was warm, I tossed the chicken and veggies with it and had a wonderful lunch.I have used this grill about five times since I got it, both on the manual setting and using the sensor settings and have had no problems at all. I’m extremely pleased that replacement grill plates are available from T-Fal if these ever need replacing. The ones on my grill are the non-stick coated ones but they make ceramic plates as well. I am going to look into whether or not the ceramic plates fit on this model as well.I’m very, very happy with this grill and hope that my good fortune with it lasts.

Absolutely wonderfulI use it daily. Works amazingly. Ease of use and cleaning.

Beeps when it’s readyI’ve had my Opti-Grill for two weeks now and I’ve used it every day at least once, sometimes more. I was spooked by all the reviews mentioning reliability issues, so I bought all the warranty extensions. So far so no mechanical defects.This product is good but not perfect. The main benefit is that it tells you when your meat is done, which is fantastic, but other than that it is finicky and has some gotchas. However, the fact that I don’t have to guess about when meat is done makes up for the other imperfections.If you move the lid while it’s warming up it gets confused and starts cooking, so there’s no easy way to toast your bun while it’s warming up to cook your burger. Also, after you choose the program you still have to hit start. If you don’t it looks like it’s doing something but it gets into a weird state and when you finally hit start it starts from the beginning even if your meat is half cooked already.Another downside is that it is a full-contact grill, so there’s no way to do an open-face tuna melt, for example, where the top surface is close to, but not touching the food.Cleanup is surprisingly easy. I just empty the drip tray and spray down the two plates, using a soft brush if there’s anything the hot water failed to remove. Takes a minute, maybe two. Maybe it’s because it cooks at a cooler temperature than an electric range, that the non-stick surfaces are still pristine while my non-stick frying pans start getting burned residue cemented on them after just a couple uses.I live in an apartment and there has been no smoke unless I use it without cleaning it.I must mention that the grill marks it leaves are freakishly perfect. When I take my chicken breast or sandwich off the grill and put in on my plate, it looks like a TV commercial for a bar & grill.So in summary, I have had a few learning experiences to figure out how to do it right, but now that I know what can go wrong it works perfectly every time. And I can go from thinking that I want to eat a burger to having it on the plate in front of me in less time than it takes to hit the drive-through: less than ten minutes if the meat is thawed first. That’s actually pretty amazing to me.