Cuisinart Griddler FIVE vs Hamilton Beach Electric Indoor Searing Grill

The Griddler FIVE switches between full grill, half grill/half griddle, full griddle, and panini press — with waffle plates available as an add-on. The Hamilton Beach is a grill, full stop. If you ever want to make pancakes or press a sandwich, you'll need another appliance. That's not a knock on the Hamilton Beach, but it's a real limitation that compounds over time.

The Cuisinart's grill plates pop off and go straight into the dishwasher — done in two minutes. The Hamilton Beach has an uncoated grate bottom that Serious Eats specifically called out as harder to scrub. After cooking something fatty like sausage or a burger, that difference is the gap between a quick rinse and actual elbow grease. Over months of use, this matters more than people expect.

Epicurious testing found the Hamilton Beach took nearly twice as long to cook food as competing models, and multiple reviewers noted it produces results closer to pan-searing than true grilling — meaning inconsistent or absent grill marks. The Cuisinart's sear function hits 450°F and holds it, giving you actual char. If grill marks and a proper sear are why you're buying an indoor grill, the Hamilton Beach underdelivers.

The Cuisinart lets you set an exact temperature in 25-degree increments from 175°F to 450°F. The Hamilton Beach gives you an adjustable dial without specific readouts. When you're cooking fish at 325°F or trying to hold a griddle at 375°F for pancakes, guessing with a dial is genuinely frustrating. Good Housekeeping specifically praised the Cuisinart's digital controls for enabling more precise cooking — and they're right.