Review by J. Abbott:

I really like this grill. I found it to be particulary good for searing fish and really like the smoke free feature. I was a little skeptical of the smoke free feature however it really does do a good job of cooking with little-to-no smoke. I really found the griddle to be very useful as I love sauteed mushrooms on burgers and the griddle and grill together are quite conducive for this type of cooking. Having one place to grill and griddle is very handy for eggs and sausage or bacon for breakfast too. For someone who lives in an apartment wihout an outdoor area for barbequeing (like myself) this is a great alternative.

Review by Thomas L. Lutzenberger:

Great and convenient product. Especially liked the covered skillet protion of the grill that made sauteeing easy!

Review by Betty Jack:

This is one appliance that lives up to every one of the manufacturer’s claims. I follow directions and spray the grill surface with cooking spray and put half a cup of water in the pan below, and the grill really is, as advertised, smokeless and extremely easy to clean. I like the adjustable grill temperature, a feature I’m not used to since my faithful antique Farberware, now deceased, had only two settings, namely “plugged in and on” or “unplugged and off”. The Sanyo cooks everying in half the time the old grill did, and without cabinet-endangering flareups. I particularly like the enormous cooking surface since I’m regularly cooking for 5 adults and a child and with this grill I can cook for all of us at once. The dimensions make it easy to store if you set it vertically rather than horizontally. The appliance is so low in height that I set mine on a silicone countertop protector, but I’m not sure this is really necessary. My only complaint is that there is no surrounding rim to keep your hamburgers from sliding right off the grill when you try to flip them over, but using a second spatula as a backstop solves that problem. This grill is a terrific bargain even at the suggested retail price; at the current Amazon price it’s even more terrific.

Review by Gadgester:

All considered, I decided to give this Sanyo indoor grill a 5-star rating. It’s probably more like 4.5 stars, but Amazon doesn’t allow that. I’ll explain.

On the plus side, I really like the simplicity of this grill. It’s also light-weight, registering a little under seven pounds, which means it’s easy to move around – no breaking your back! It’s also quite easy to clean: just soapy warm water and dry! The grill consists of three pieces: a metal grill, a sheet metal oil drip pan, and a plastic base. The base does feel a little insubstantial, but the whole thing, put together, is quite sturdy. The 200 in^2 cooking surface is good for a family of up to four.

I also loved the price: I never imagined I could have a quality indoor grill for such a low price. (Thanks to Amazon, too?) This is probably what tilted me to the five-star rating. The grill, made in China, is of pretty good build quality, and looks like it’ll last a long time. The price and value just can’t be beat.

Above all, the grill really gives you delicious BBQ food! I’ve grilled steaks, pork chops, burgers, franks, chicken breasts, chicken legs, chicken wings, vegetables, and more, and *each and every time* the food came out absolutely delicious. For example, I bought 2 pounds of semi-boneless rib steaks at Shaw’s for ten bucks. I sprayed the grill with some oil spray, pre-heat the grill to 350 F degrees (which took about 20 minutes), and then grilled the steaks (together with a couple burger patties and some green peppers) for about 15 or 16 minutes to well-done. Then my family enjoyed a delicious steak meal. Not counting the cost of the grill itself, but including electricity (the grill is rated at 1300W), the whole meal came to less than for four full-sized adults! Imagine if we had eaten out at a steakhouse; the last time I went to a steakhouse in Manhattan, I had to shell out over per person, with no appetitizer ordered and only tap water! In fact, I found my own grilled steaks (served with Diet Coke bought on sale) even better. Even if the Sanyo had gone meet its makers after this one meal, I’d have more than broken even on the meal, compared to any restaurant that serves steaks.

So I’m really thrilled about the value and the quality of the food.

Now, why not a full-hearted five stars? Well, because this is a low-cost product, there are a couple items that I dislike. One, the thermostat is a joke; it has temperature ranges like “200-250″ and “300-425″ but doesn’t give you exact markers, so you have to guess where to turn the knob to in order to preheat to 325. Not a big deal after a few tries, and I seem to get it right (more or less) each time even though I’d never operated a grill, indoor or outdoor, before. Two, cooking time is not short, period. Preheating to 300 takes about 15 minutes and to 425 takes over 20 minutes. Cooking itself takes between 10 and 20 minutes depending on what you cook and the meat’s thickness. Also, the cooking time seems to vary with room temperature.

Three, more important, this grill is not completely smokeless. The oil spray will give out the most smoke, although it hasn’t set off our smoke alarm yet. (I keep the doors and kitchen windows open when cooking.) In fact, I don’t think any open grill can give you smokeless cooking. As long as you have oil heated to over 300 degrees, you will get smoke. Please keep this in mind if you live in a meticulously maintained house and cannot stand any grill smoke.

But all in all, I love this grill. I’d gladly buy another one any time. While grilled meat may not be healthy, this grill cooks yummy BBQ meat and veggies and saves me tons of money. I recommend this grill.

Review by D. Rambow:

I have the larger Sanyo electric grill and it is great, just a little too big for my kitchen counter. (it is out in my RV, working great) But this baby is just right for my kitchen.

It has a little less wattage than the bigger model but actually seems to heat up a little faster. I like the design of the grilling surface better than the design of the bigger unit (deeper grooves, and a good lip around the edge). I like the water tray that is black instead of aluminum in color, and it is easier to remove and pour the little amount of water out (1/2 cup of water is used to keep the smoke down).

My cooking routine is to set it up, pour a 1/2 cup water into the tray, spray a little canola oil on the grill, turn the control up to high to pre-heat for about 3 minutes, then slap the seasoned steak, burger, chicken, ribs, etc. on the grill. I sear in some good grill marks on each side, then turn the heat down to medium and finish cooking at a slower pace, depending upon thickness of the piece being cooked. My first try was a T-Bone steak, and it was great!

After the food is done, I turn the heat control off. For cleanup, I place a couple of dripping wet paper towels on the grill surface, turn the heat control back to high for a minute or so. When the steam starts rising of the wet towels, I shut of the power, and just wipe down the grill with those same paper towels, then dry, it cleans very easily.

Nothing is quite like the burning and flames of a good charcole fire, but indoors or out, this cooks very, very well, with bare minumum of effort.

I do recommend aluminum foil to cover the grill and the food to speed pre-heating and to keep splatters down. I think I may get some disposable shallow metal foil trays that match the grill size, to use as lids, they look like they should work well.

Review by Daniel Massey:

At 120 square inches, we wondered if the larger, 200 inch model might make more sense. But we’re two people and rarely serve guests; so, the size and energy savings are perfect. We loved the grill we wore out before we ordered this, but this has a lighter weight cook surface, which makes for faster heating (more energy savings! ) and easier handling for cleaning. The non-stick surface is gr8 – washes up easily; whereas, we used our pressure washer on our last grill. We like the removable drip pan, which is easy to wrap in foil to avoid that nasty cleaning job. We did not believe that we could possibly like anything as well as our previous unit, but we like this grill sooooo much better that we don’t even remember who manufactured the last one. We hope this lasts as long!

Review by Helen:

I love this grill. I spent a lot of time researching indoor grills before I decided on the Minden. Make sure you heat up the grill very well before you put things on it.

Pros: -The food comes out tasting just like you had grilled it outside.

-Easy cleaning. Dishwasher safe and or pop in your self cleaning oven.

Cons: -The lid is not high enough. When I try to finish artichokes on the grill the lid is to small to cover them.

-It can create a lot of smoke and flare ups. I wouldn’t recommend it unless you have lots of windows.

Review by S. Stephens:

I was very excited to get this grill for my birthday after researching the best indoor grill. I started off making grilled zucchini and found it to be pretty smokey, but the taste was good. I next tried grilled chicken and felt like I was going to pass out from how INTENSE the grill smoked!! I had opened all the windows before grilling and it was still terrible!! I have used it one time since with chicken also, and the same result. I would honestly use this grill several times a week if the smoke wasn’t so bad. I will again state that the taste is good, and is pretty close to real outdoor grill flavor. I just can’t get over the smoke!!

Review by G. G. Makredes:

I live on the second floor of an apartment complex where gas & charcoal grills are not permitted. This is the next best thing; I did a lot of research & this is the best thing in the market for what it is; a real grill, albeit electric. It heats up quickly & grills rather well. The only thing is that it will take a couple of meals in order to season the pan that lies under the heating element – like a cast iron pan or a gas grill lava rocks, as it builds up burnt drippings it will act as a charcoal & flavor your foods. Its big enough to cook a meal for 3 or 4 people. I have cooked T-bones, burgers, chicken & steak tips. Its a 5 star in the world of electric grills, because it actually is a grill & not a fancy electric press like the George Foreman or anything else. (it just won’t completely replace the flavor & experience of open flame grilling.

Review by Grill Chick:

I can not believe that an electric grill is this awesome. Most electric grills are similar to the George Forman products, that can in no way rival true outdoor charcoal grilling. I was skeptical at first, but decided since it was only .00 and charcoal and gas grills are forbidden on the patio, I’d give it a try. My grill heats up to a sizzle in less than 1 minute. I grill shish kebobs and seafood. I even smoke chicken and ribs, as well as grill them. I line the bottom of the grill with foil for easy clean up. I soak wood chips for an hour or two and then place them in 2 aluminum hotdog trays (the height is just right)I found at the local 99 cent store. I place them under the heating element. I, then add some of the liquid drained from the soaked wood chips to the drip cup. I put a sheet of foil on the grill and stab slits for the smoke to come through. I set the grill between medium and high. With the use of a digital thermometer I purchased from QVC, I can smoke my meat for 2 – 4 hours at the approriate temperature, occasionally spraying my meat with apple juice to prevent drying. The result is meat that is flavored and grilled just like it was done on a charcoal grill.

Tips: Do not put the screw in the heating element aparatus. This makes for easier cleaning. Spray the grill surface with Pam for grilling.

Review by Reader Rabbit:

This grill seems inspired by the smallest George Foreman grill, the “Champ.” But there are some significant differences: (1) The Champ has a square grilling surface. This one’s is oval, with perhaps a slightly smaller area.

(2) The Champ has an open front, with a separate little splash tray that’s supposed to catch drippings. This grill has a lip surrounding most of the front, except for a 2″ well that drains into an integrated drippings drawer. (3) The Champ is tilted forward to force liquids to drain out. This grill is basically level, with drip channels.

So I bought this one, which seems less messy — especially for gooey stuff like cheese panini — and more flexible. If you block the well with a strip of cardboard, you can even use it to cook omelettes or a kind of waffles. The only downside to the lipped front (vs. the Champ) is that you need to scoop veggies off the grill, rather than simply dragging them out the front. There is no timer or on/off switch — you just plug/unplug it.

The upper plate floats maybe about 1″ above the lower plate. If you want to press thicker panini, consider the Hamilton Beach 25450 Panini Press, available on Amazon for about 2-1/2x the price. It similarly doubles as a contact grill, but it’s larger in all dimensions, with about 3″-4″ of vertical float. (Its plates have pinstripe ribbing, though, so don’t try using it for eggs or waffles.) Or the similar Breville SG620XL, which has flat plates that can be used for fried eggs or pancakes.

Review by P. Sherman:

This grill has a smaller surface than the smallest Foreman, but so far everything I have wanted to grill has fit (steak of any size might be a problem). Fat drainage is far better than the Foreman, with the little drawer beneath catching the drippings. I don’t find this any easier to clean, though (too bad the grill parts aren’t removable). Only real complaint is that the drippings drawer is not in any way attached to the grill, so when you pick it up to remove it from a cupboard to use it, or to return it to the cupboard, you have to grab it in such a way to hold the drawer in place (or go back to get the drawer separately). Can’t imagine why they didn’t include some slides on the side to hold the drawer up with the unit. Otherwise, a nice little grill. Certainly well worth the price.