the Breville smart grill and griddle is like owning three appliances in one for starters it's a fantastic panini press but it also opens all the way flat so you have both a griddle and a grill surface now what makes this machine different from others is that both of these plates are completely removable and dishwasher safe makes for very easy cleanup you'll also notice on the back of these plates typical Breville technology the heating element is embedded a combination of that and the smart element IQ will let your grill and griddle plates heat up much quicker and retain their heat once your food is placed on top of it combine all that with 1800 watts and you've got one powerful machine your food like steaks and burgers are going to cook that much faster another feature that differentiates the smart grill and griddle from other appliances is the variable temperature control as you turn the dial you can see the temperature displayed in degrees all the way from 320 to 450 today I'd like to make a steak and eggs breakfast so I'm going to sit at the highest setting at sear the heating will blink as it preheats will come back when it's ready my grill is ready to go so I'm going to place my preseason steaks right on top listen to that sizzle fantastic I'm also going to set my timer to four minutes and I will flip them to the other side when the timer goes off now you notice what a generous cooking space this is roughly 260 square inches obviously plenty of room for two large states and whatever else you'd like to cook on the other side another feature I really like about this grill and griddle is the adjustable cooking surface now it's very subtle but right now both of my plates are tilting in towards the middle that is adjusted with this little dial on the other side now the benefit of that is when they're tilted toward the middle any extra fat will run off to the full in the middle that is removable in this drip tray very easy cleanup just a few more minutes to go and I'll flip my stakes to the other side alright my steaks are ready to flip ooh look at those grill marks and you can see the nonstick surface of my grill releases the food very easily just a few minutes on this side and then we'll start our a I've removed my steaks and we'll let them rest for a bit I've also lowered the temperature to the lowest setting 320 degrees another great benefit of having this variable temperature control now right now my cooking surface is still on that tilt so using this knob over here I'm going to make it completely horizontal for cooking my eggs and really you can use this grill griddle for cooking all sorts of your favorite breakfast foods the panini press function is where the Breville grill and griddle really shines and this is why I always prepare an extra steak I've sliced it and has both these gorgeous steak and egg paninis I've buttered the tops of my bread and added a little cheese for good measure put them right on the hot griddle now you can see the temperature dial has been adjusted to the panini setting takes a lot of the guesswork out of making these gorgeous sandwiches one of the really nice features about this Breville is that there are six adjustable height settings for this top press right now it's at the highest setting which would be great if I had an open-faced sandwich because then this plate would act like a broiler but on the side arm over here you could adjust it to six different heights depending on how much force you'd like to press on your sandwich maybe a little bit lower perfect you can really start to hear that sizzle as my panini is getting nice and roasted on the outside a few minutes and we'll check back in it's been just a few minutes and my paninis look finished I love that golden brown color they get on top and those beautiful grill lines my Breville smart grill and griddle always has a place in my kitchen counter as I never run out of creative great ways to use it