~*~ Why did we buy it? ~*~
We bought this sandwich toaster because our last one was so difficult to clean! It was also quite a few years old and was getting to the point where it would burn the bread before the inside was cooked so we would have to scrape 'charcoal' off the bread before ... Read review
Web Special Offer Price reverts to £34.99 on 9th November 2009 Great for deep filled hot ... more
sandwiches and making great Paninis! Stylish chrome finish body Non-stick coated cooking plates for easy cleaning Indicator light Cool touch handle Stands upright ...
Advantages: Easy to clean, takes up very little space, Easy to use, makes very tasty toasties! Disadvantages: None!
~*~ Why did we buy it? ~*~
We bought this sandwich toaster because our last one was so difficult to clean! It was also quite a few years old and was getting to the point where it would burn the bread before the inside was cooked so we would have to scrape 'charcoal' off the bread before we could eat the sandwich!
We chose this particular toaster because it was large enough to toast french bread rather than just 'normal' ... ...the cheapest available but for the size its not too expensive either.
~*~ What does it look like? ~*~
The toaster itself is silver and large enough to fit two halves of french bread in it (admittedly you need a bit of perseverance to fit two halves on but it is possible!). There are two lights on the front, one red and one green.
The top cooking plate has a large silver handle attached and just ... more
~*~ Why did we buy it? ~*~
We bought this sandwich toaster because our last one was so difficult to clean! It was also quite a few years old and was getting to the point where it would burn the bread before the inside was cooked so we would have to scrape 'charcoal' off the bread before we could eat the sandwich!
We chose this particular toaster because it was large enough to toast french bread rather than just 'normal' bread, also at £34.99 it was reasonably priced, its not the cheapest available but for the size its not too expensive either.
~*~ What does it look like? ~*~
The toaster itself is silver and large enough to fit two halves of french bread in it (admittedly you need a bit of perseverance to fit two halves on but it is possible!). There are two lights on the front, one red and one green.
The top cooking plate has a large silver handle attached and just below the handle is a slide which enables you to set the temperature at which you want to cook the sandwich (there are 7 settings)
There is also a switch which will lock the top and the bottom together (the lids should only be locked when not being used)
~*~ How do I use it? ~*~
Easy! You make sure the toaster is closed plug in, and wait for the little red light to turn to a little green light! This green light tells you that the plates are hot enough to cook your sandwich in.
The time it takes to heat up will depend at what setting youve set the heat to. I generally only use between 3 and 5. 3 for 'normal' bread, 5 for french bread (or anything that thick) and 4 for everything else
Once the plates have heated up you just put your sandwich in close the lid and wait for it to cook! Unlike other toasters you dont need to put butter on the side of the bread that will touch the cooking plates as the bread doesnt stick, also you dont need to push the lids down or try to lock the lids together at all as they are heavy enough to do this themselves.
You do need to keep checking it as there is no timer to tell you when your sandwich is ready but this isnt really a problem as it doesnt take very long. The green light will go on and off while your cooking the sandwich, this is just the toaster regulating the temperature of the cooking plates.
To clean it I'd wait till its cooled down then just wipe a damp cloth over it, its as simple as that! The food doesnt stick and there are no annoying little holes for food to hide in so cleaning is probably the easiest part of it!
One final point is that, unlike some other toasters, the handle does not even get warm no matter how long you leave the toaster on
~*~ What do the sandwiches taste like? ~*~
The toaster cooks the sandwiches perfectly! The toast is cooked just enough to be crisp but without being burnt. The middle is soft, but not overdone. If your cooking cheese it will melt it evenly right to the middle of the sandwich without burning the edges or without having too much, if any, leak out of the sandwich onto the toaster itself. If your using precooked ingredients, such as ham or bacon. these do tend to get a little harder when cooked more in the toaster but they do not taste overcooked or burnt.
The cooking plates also have grooves which as the plates are so heavy these grooves are marked onto the bread to give a more professional look to the toastie (can a toastie look prefessional?!)
~*~ Price and Availability ~*~
I bought mine for £34.99 from Costco. Its also available on Amazon but at limited availability
~*~ Pro's ~*~
Makes great toasties! Stores upright and is relatively this so saves space Tells you when its reached the right cooking temperature
~*~ Cons ~*~
Cant think of a single one! Except that there are cheaper toasters available... but not of the same quality
Advantages: It does considerably more than your standard Sandwich Toaster! Disadvantages: A shame the plates can't be removed to clean.
...a reasonable price.
The Kenwood SM606 ticked all of these boxes. It has a stylish chrome finish body.
The non-stick coated cooking plates are made for easy cleaning.
It has an easily seen indicator light.
A nice sized cool touch handle.
It stands upright for compact and space saving storage.
The grill plates are ribbed, and the hinges "float" to allow additional space between the plates that a fixed hinge system doesn't allow for.
This means ... ...food (we often do vegetables) you might want to griddle in there if you wanted to. We've also done waffles very successfully on this.
You have a variable heat setting, which again is very useful and gives you some nice control over how your food cooks/toasting.
It stores nicely and looks good whether stored on a work surface or out to use. A number of friends and family have now bought one of these after seeing ours in operations.
It does 2 sandwiches ...
runetune 03.08.2007
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Kenwood SM606
Advantages: Easy to clean, easy to store Disadvantages: Makes nice toasties so it's easy to get fat!
We bought this sandwich press because we were getting fed up of forever cleaning out the toastie maker. It was really difficult to get the bits of cheese which had dribbled down the side off and it all got stuck in the hinges plus it sometimes got stuck to the nooks and crannys.
Anyway I decided to purchase one of these babies. When I first took it out of the book it was so shiny and lovely, I didn;t want to dirty it up!
Anyway I switched it on ... ...hot enough to put the toastie on. You just put the lid down and hew presto, it really is that siimple. It doesn't have a timer so you do have to keep checking it but it only takes a few moments to cook the sarnie anyway. When it's done it is so simple to clean because of the flat plates, just wipe them over with a damp cloth. Another tip is to wait til it's cooled down as it is easier then.
The machine cost 35.99 and as far as I am concerned it ...
Panda1976 21.10.2005
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Kenwood SM606
Performance
Ease of use
Durability
User's Manual
Value for money
Quick review of Kenwood SM606
A twist on the modern sandwiches. It takes all kinds of bread and i have tried it with ciabatta, focacia and even very thin pitta bread. All of these varieties are fantastic. It takes no time at all to heat up and it cooks the bread in a few minutes. I also found that if you make a mess with cheese you dont need to worry. All you need to do is wait for machine to cool and the cheese wipes straight off. The only downside to this product is that the plug doesnt stow away the well. Above all i would say this is and amazing appliance. Highly recomended. ...
joeallen10601 03.11.2008
Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Kenwood SM606
Not a bad little toaster at all, it's easy to use for one thing, with just a simple light to tell you when it is hot enough to put your food in, my old one didn't even tell me that, you just had to sort of guess!
It has a big pull down handle, which does actually stay cool - a few of the rivals handles do get hot, if you have kids you may benefit from having this over the others, just due to this reason!
It stores upright when notin use, another ...
christophe81 08.08.2005
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Kenwood SM606
Advantages: very easy to clean, makes great tost Disadvantages: none
we recently brought this product for £45 and we thought it was quite expensive at first. The product is like a professional panini maker which they use in cafes etc. i really love the way you can store it, use it with several types of bread, how you can adjust the temperature, how it is non stick and how it is easy to clean. I love it and it is the best thing that me and my mum have brought for the kitchen. i am not a type of person who has breakfast ...
hunnybunny7 30.08.2009
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: somewhat helpful Review of Kenwood SM606
