George Foreman GRP4842MB Multi-Plate Evolve Grill, (Ceramic Grilling Plates, and Waffle Plates Included), Black

Overall this is a good grill, but the Ceramic Plates have issues. After about 10 uses, the top ceramic plate is no longer non stick and I can’t get it clean at all. The bottom plate is fine, but the top plate has completely failed. I do a lot of searing so my thoughts are that might of damaged the top plate. I have always followed the directions of cleaning the plates, and like I said the bottom plate has no problems at all. I have attached a pictures of the top plate after trying to clean it for 5-10 min.

UPDATE Aug 24, 2017: I owned this grill for 3 months now and we are on a second set of grill plates. I spoke with customer service and we had a very lengthy conversation (I work full time and have two kids). Customer service sent new plates and I am officially back to square one with unusable grill plates due to burnt spot appearing again. We cook three times per day on this grill but nowhere does it say that I can cook only certain amount of times. I wish I can find the very first grill we had because that grill lasted for years. I can no longer cook my son’s food on Evolve and I came back to amazon to see what other options we have.

My son with special needs is gluten intolerant so we’ve been dependent on George Foreman grill for years, ever since they made those black lined grills with timer on top. I make my son’s breakfast, lunch and dinner so grill is used constantly. We never had issues with black lined grills but these ceramic grills are awful. This is our second “ceramic plated” GF and first one plates got burnt spot developed within a month so as this one. George Foreman’s customer service replaced plates for us with first grill but problem returned and customer service decided its not their problem anymore. I figured to try new Evolve series with hopes of some sort of improvement to ceramic grill plates but wrong! still burns spot developed within first week of using. I will contact customer service but I am sure they will blow me off just like they did before. I depend 100% on this grill to make sure my son’s gluten free food is prepared separately such as chicken nuggets, chicken meatballs, breakfast sausage etc etc of gluten free option available – he has been on gluten free diet for 12 years since discovering his intolerance. I haven’t tried other brands of indoor grill but I will if customer service ignores me… again. Otherwise, I love how I can wash grill plates easily, those black grill plates was tough to clean since those were attached to the grill. I also love how quickly I can make my son’s food. I used Kill A Watt and it measured $18/mos usage so not too bad compared to heating an oven three times per day with A/C unit fighting all that heat generated. George Foreman, please make this ceramic plates so those don’t develop burnt spot within a week… at least have grill plates last a year so I can justify cost.
Photo is of grill plates washed and ready with its burnt spots on top and bottom. Those spots will increasingly become larger until entire grill plate will turn into nasty brown madness. I used grill brush sold on Amazon for this grill and I do not use Magic Eraser because instructions state abrasives will destroy ceramic grill plates.

I would have given it 5 stars but the top plate gets harder to clean with each use & food sticks to it. I noticed that the top plate wasn’t as smooth as the bottom plate. Food still whips right off the bottom plate. its cooks faster than the one with the black finish on the cooking plates. ( if U buy one and the top plate isn’t as smooth as the bottom one, send it back right away. Don’t make the mistake I did and keep it to long.>>>>>>>>>I’m adding to this review to let everyone know that the Spectrum Brands customer service is great. They even sent me another set of grill plates & a grill cleaning sponge. But I have the same problem. You can fill the difference between the top & bottom plates with your hand. Unless you have brick layer hands.(LOL) Adding this on 8-29-2016. If Ur not in a rush to clean the plates use easy-off oven cleaner & the stuff will wipe right off.

UPDATE: I’ve removed a star from my initial review because after using this grill regularly for a couple of months, I realize that I now stand corrected on the issue of the non-stick coating of the ceramic plates. At first, they were super-easy to clean and there was no residue left behind from anything. Now, however, there are a few permanent stains that I cannot get off, and food is sticking more often. It’s still not particularly bad, but it’s enough to be a bit annoying at this point. I’ve only ever cleaned the plates with gentle dish soap, water, and a sponge and/or nylon brush. With that in mind, my original review follows below…

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I’m really glad that I finally decided to replace my old Foreman Grill. I had a twelve-year-old “Next Grilleration” G5 grill (model #GRP90WGR) that had served me well, but was finally on its last legs. After researching my options, I felt that this Evolve grill would be the best replacement, and I was right! I didn’t think that I would like the digital controls as much as the old, simple “low-med-high” dial, but it’s honestly just as easy to work with, and the timer and “sear” functions are nice added features. The only weird thing about it is that no matter what temperature it’s set to for preheating, it still does an arbitrary 5-minute countdown, followed by a loud beep, followed by the rest of the preheating cycle, and then yet another beep. I don’t understand what that first 5 minutes is for. Beyond that, though, it works perfectly well, I really like the floating hinge design for thicker things or using the included baking pan, and it’s easy to clean!

I think that all the people complaining about food sticking like crazy to the ceramic grill plates must be overcooking everything, and/or just cleaning the things wrong (or maybe they think that “non-stick” means “no cleaning required?”). I have a ceramic-coated wok that cleans up super-easy, and I’m pleased to report a similar result with these grill plates! I don’t use any cooking spray or oil on them, per the manual’s recommendation, and I haven’t had any problems. After cooking something, if there’s grease and residue left behind, I’ve found that a few good scrapes with the plastic spatula are enough to loosen or remove the majority of it, and the rest will come off easy enough with a gentle scrub of a damp sponge or nylon brush. Bigger messes may need some hot soapy water, but it’s still not even close to the epic struggle that so many other reviewers seem to be going through. Heck, I don’t even always need to remove the plates from the grill to clean them.

Another thing that I was really happy to discover about this grill is the fact that the interchangeable plates from my old G5 grill fit perfectly onto this one! I had actually contacted the manufacturer before purchasing this grill to ask if my old plates would work with it, and they told me that they would NOT (I actually had to email them twice because they failed to even answer my question the first time, instead just giving me a link to where I could order new plates). After comparing images and finding a review here on Amazon that suggested that my old plates would indeed work, though, I took the plunge and I now have a new grill which can use not only the included baking and muffin pans, but also the still-good griddle and waffle plates from my old grill! The manufacturer’s dishonesty about this, along with the inexplicable five-minute countdown thing mentioned above, is my reason for taking away a star.