Tefal Optigrill+ GC712/22

Cooks meat way better than I can – Used it twice so far and I love it. The pork sirloin and lamb leg steaks, cooked on auto programs, both came out absolutely perfect. So much more tender than usual. Show details ·  1

Expensive Junk – I purchased one of these and it was amazing, cooked perfectly, loud audible beeps, but a lightning strike close to my house blew it amongst other appliances. So i decided to replace it. The new one doesnt heat evenly and means the cooking times are out, coupled with the fact its beeping is barely loud enough to hear over the rangehood noise. Would never buy tefal again Show details

Just Grilled My First Steak on Automatic - Impressed ! – Ok - so firstly there are quite a few dated reviews on here that clearly aren't reviews of the 722. They are probably reviewing the 712 as the 722 is only a relatively recent release within the last couple of months. In fact if you are going to buy online or in-store be careful because I know some places are quietly selling off the 712 a bit… Read more

cheaper at the moment (Dec 2020) so don't get the wrong model - especially if you need the 33% larger grill. I don't know whether there are any electronic differences between the two models but the 722 certainly has a far bigger grill surface. In fact I bought mine through an online Ebay retailer and got it for $150.00 delivered whereas one major retailer is currently asking for $399 delivered. I reckon I was very lucky to get mine at that rock-bottom price because the other bidders probably didn't realise it was the bigger and newer model.

The above said and out of the way it's a great grill and it is pretty smart and it cooked my steak "well-done" to perfection for me on the "automatic" steak setting. I did not interfere in the process from the time I put the steak in until the time I took it out to eat it. In fact I left it in until the machine switched over to the "keep warm" function. If you like your well-done steak charcoal and crunchy then you may need to manually cook it as the machine doesn't go that far and that's probably a good thing. I have only just received the grill so haven't had a chance to use the defrost setting yet or cook sausages, other meats or vegetables on it but given the great job on my steak I'm optimistic it will do a good job with other foods as well.

You can cook a variety of foods including fish and vegetables with it and it does it automatically keeping you informed of progress with a bright light "button-style" display that changes colour as the food cooks over time. I probably would have preferred an actual digital readout to tell me where the cooking was up to but it doesn't really matter as the light is really just a sliding scale of cooking time ranging from green through to red (well done) so a coloured light may be easier for others. I am not a reader of manuals but I would recommend reading the manual first as it steps you through all the settings quite clearly - the grill initially is a little daunting - looking like a Space Shuttle dashboard whereas my deceased griller had a single light for power on and off.

So all-in-all I am very happy with the 722 but then I only paid $150. $399 is blatantly overpriced at one major retailer and if I had bought it at that price and then seen it at another retailer for $ 259 delivered I would definitely have been well annoyed. I personally would not pay any more than $240 for it so barter them down in store. Even $240 seems a lot of money for what is essentially an electric "grill" but when you compare with other products it seems that prices are generally a lot higher these days for appliances. I will report back if I have any further thoughts or issues with mine over time.

One thing I did forget to mention is that the griller plates themselves are detachable making them super easy to clean compared with fixed plate grills. You simply take them off and just wash the lightweight griller plates by themselves instead of trying to wash the whole fixed grill plate units over the kitchen sink. This is a really good feature and apart from easy cleaning means you can safely keep water away from the electrics.

Awful, Awful, Awful customer service and poor product! – I bought a Tefal XL Optigrill in July 2018 and arrived in August 2018. It was used once per week at most, and more often more like once per month. In July 2020 the machine started belting out smoke every time it was turned on. Everything was taken apart, cleaned of grease (not that there was much there) and put back together, but the smoke… Read more

continued. In August I got round to contacting Tefal. TWO months later they got back to me. At that point the item was in the local recycling centre. My wife (who is the only one who feels the need to have this item in our home) asked me to order a new one. I then received communication from Tefal looking for the receipts...which I sent to them. Shockingly, they said they could do nothing about it as the warranty exceeded the two years by one week (from when I received it to when I contacted Tefal). They offered for me to post it to a local maintenance centre (on my own dime, which would have cost £30 one way, as the nearest maintenance centre is 300 miles away, in what is 'technically' a different country). I advised that this was ridiculous, as I'd have to pay for the return post of another £30+ and the cost of parts and repair) and the fact it took them TWO MONTHS to get back to me, meant that I no longer had the appliance anyway!! I was and still am irate about their petty decision that one week outside the warranty nullified it. I'm also irate about how long it took for anyone to communicate with me. To add insult to injury, they offered me 25% off any other item should I buy a Tefal appliance. I will only ever buy an appliance from any other manufacturer in the future!! Shame on you Tefal...shame on you!!!

Grill meats every day – We bought this grill recently from Myer. We have a small family only one kid , so we wanted to cook all the pieces of meat at once and for that reason we bought the XL one. The first few times , it was great and perfect ! Then it went on Manual mode and there was no clear instructions on it’s booklet on how to fix the issue! There is not enough… Read more

videos on Youtube on this model and none of the available videos addresses this issue! The details for Tefal customer service in Australia was also not on the booklet. Then accidentally I watched a video in Youtube for another issue with this grill and tried that solution and it magically worked on my grill and Ive got the Automatic options back ! Since then we use it every day and it cooks the meat to the perfection and its super east to clean! Its one of those appliances that you have to read the instructions before using it and perhaps even watch videos before you use it as the instruction manual is not very well written.

One of the best and most useful appliances I own – I bought this grill two years ago and since then I've used it on a regular basis to grill meat, fish, veggies and chicken. The grill is very easy to use, I usually use the pre-programmed setting for grilling fish although I only leave it in until the colour code is for medium. Same I was doing with the meat as if you leave it too much it might dry… Read more

up a bit too much. It is a very convenient piece of equipment to have in the kitchen especially if you love grilled food and you are in a hurry to cook. It is also quite easy to clean and the drip tray is excellent. After two years of use there is a slight wear on the grill plates and they are becoming a bit harder to clean but with some extra effort all is good.

Best grill I’ve used – I replaced my Sunbeam grill press with this awesome beast of a machine. It cooks the perfect steak, chicken, sausages, schnitties , kebabs and burgers and it takes all the guess work out for you. I love the colour coded lights that tell you when it’s rare, medium or well done etc and it beeps when it’s up to temperature and beeps at every… Read more

moment it hits a state of doneness and also beeps a little tune when it’s finished.

The removable grill plates are so easy to clean and there are little bumps on the bottom plate to hold your meat in place.

It does give nice grill marks but doesn’t char your meat as such, but that’s neither here nor there for every day cooking.

It’s a great appliance and I wouldn’t hesitate in buying another one.

Cooking made easy – The OptiGrill makes certain meals super easy to prepare, especially if you're cooking for 1 or 2 people. You obviously don't get the same flavour compared to grilling on a BBQ but it's a convenient alternative. It's fast to heat up and to cook. Clean up is relatively easy (be sure to give it a quick wipe down as soon as you're done). If you're looking for a grill and have more than 2 people to cook for I'd recommend getting the larger version. Show details

Grill plates not built well – We have used this Tefal model for some days now and the settings are easy once you read through all the instructions. We havent tested meat or fish (except sandwiches) yet so I cannot really review it properly. However, I found some issues with the grill plates. The upper plate is not built well as one side is loose and also the bottom grill plate… Read more

does not hook and its very loose. Seems like it is being built cheaply which is a shame foe the name of Tefal.

Burned out very quicky – Shorting power after 18 months. Can no loner use it. Previous grill George Foreman lasted 10 years. Very poor value for one of the most expensive grills of its type. Show details

Heaps of smoke when heating up – I use the grill mainly to toast sandwiches and grill lamb cutlets. While I have no complaints on how it cooks the food, the grill plates emit heaps of smoke when the grill is heating up, before the food is put in it. I always clean the grill plates, so I know the smoke is not caused by food residue. Tefal response is that it is an internal issue,… Read more

not faulty grill plates, and gave me a list of authorised repairers. Nothing worse than being treated like an idiot. When heating up, without the grill plates attached, there is no smoke whatsoever. Only had it two years, so no warranty available. Have bought another cheaper brand grill and thrown out the Tefal as god only knows why the grill plates smoke profusely when being heated up. Smokes out my kitchen and sets off smoke alarm.

Amazing and no oil splatters – Tefal opti grill XL This grill is amazing and gets used on a daily basis it makes everything nice from toasties to poultry and meats , I was very happy with how perfect it made my medium rare porterhouse steak , but only down fall is it dosnt sear the edges of a thick piece of steak but if you open the grill at the end you can still sear the edges… Read more

while it’s open, that’s what I do only if I need too as I prefer just to cut all fatty bits off before I cook it. Grills beautiful Turkish bread , sour dough or just plain bread toastie better then from a fancy shop comes out really crunchy and the cheese never sticks . The grill comes in two sizes make sure you get the XL grill as it cooks a lot of things at once, I’m glad I did! I also love how it never makes a mess in the kitchen especially when cooking steak.(no oil splatters on my kitchen splash back, most important thing to me is that it really is a health grill as your food never comes out oily it drips into the drip tray also does veggies carrots ,zucchini ,capsicum very nice like it’s been cooked on a barbecue. Got mine from Myer at a good price ,delivery and service was excellent. Good luck hope this review helps

I'm very disappointed with Tefal's lack of customer support and repair facilities – I bought my Tefal Optigrill+XL GC722 in 2017 at Harvey Norman and it worked really well for the first 2 years. Unfortunately, just after the grill was out of warranty it started to revert to the manual programme every time I tried to cook on an automatic programme. I spoke with Tefal customer service three times and was given different… Read more

recalibration instructions to fix the problem but nothing worked and the instructions didn't appear to be for the XL GC722. In an attempt to learn more about the problem with the grill, I spoke with Nambour Electrical Services. This is the only certified company in Qld that can repair the grill and I would have to travel to Nambour from Jimboomba to have the machine inspected and possibly repaired. For people in Queensland who have an issue with their Tefal products, to have to travel to Nambour to seek a repair is totally unacceptable!

I was a fan of Tefal products; I own the Tefal Cuisine Companion with accessories, the Tefal Cook4me, the Tefal Oleoclean Deep Fryer, the Tefal Versalio and the Tefal Expert Precision Steamer but after this recent experience, demonstrating the lack of customer support and service, I will not be buying another Tefal product because if anything goes wrong with the appliance it is very, very difficult to get appliance repaired.

Drys burger – It squeezes all the juice of the burger because of heavy lid makes it dry. Cooking from frozen is not good. not easily store-able , you have to dismantle to clean every time to store. Show details

Well! Well! Well! – I bought this for simplicity and ‘cook and forget’ use. The very first raw meat I cooked on this was 3 frozen chicken drumsticks. Salt, pepper tiny bit of butter and put them in the grill when it gave the go ahead. (Alarm) I then let it defrost and cook till the red light for well done appeared and then removed them. I was very surprised. Cooked… Read more

all the way through yet very succulent and juicy inside. I think it took about 20-25 minutes from freezer to fully cooked. Chicken literally melted in my mouth. I didn’t baste them so not much crunch. This is on the grilled not the baking tray which I bought also.

When I saw all the gunk that came out that I had been putting in my body for years I knew I made the right decision in buying this from a health as well as great taste point of view.

This was a perfectly professionally cooked scrumptious healthy meal that an absolute dummy could pass off to anyone as being cooked by an experienced chef.

I didn’t expect chicken drumsticks to turn out so well on the flat griller but after eating them I don’t really feel the need to use the baking tray I bought also, unless I want to cook a large number.

I bought mine from Amazon Australia. Not sure how to verify my purchase but I highly recommend this to people who want to eat tasty yet healthy and fat reduced food. I’m very, very happy with this. I have a bad back so I can’t stand and cook. With this little beauty I just put the food on the griller and sit down and have a coffee while the master chef cooks my meal. No need to guess when it’s ready or stand and watch over it. Awesome!

Perfect – I just made a Turkish bread with filling and made it perfect, it's magic couldn't go wrong with a tefal optigrill. I'm going to try some fish tonight on the grill. Show details

Piece of crap – I paid big bucks for this product. I’ve tried and tried. I’ve contacted Tefal many times only to be given the runaround by an Indian bloke who keeps apologising for the piece of rubbish I bought. I have bought Tefal products in the past and they allow end up in the bin. Abosulte rubbish. Please don’t waste your money buying a Tefal product.  Show details

Magic Grill – The is the best ever grill I've ever owned! The electronic settings for various types of meats are excellent and adjusts the heat level and duration of cooking which results in perfectly cooked meats. Beef tends to be a fast cook, while pork/lamb is a slower cook. It automatically senses the thickness of the meat for a perfect result every time.… Read more

The meat ends up perfectly cooked.

There is a alert sound which beeps when the meat reaches warm, rare, medium, well done. This is really handy so you can walk alway from it, also handy because it cooks faster than a BBQ or pan.

I suspect that the weight of the top of the grill presses the meat a little which pushes out some of the moisture but the meat is still tender but maybe not as juice as say a BBQ or a pan with nothing pressing on the top of the meat.

I have used it for grilling pineapple, asparagus, eggplant, all with quick and great results.

I have used it as a sandwich press, also a great result.

The cleaning is super easy, just press a button and the grill plates release and I put them in the dishwasher and they come out clean. Occasionally, I have to give one light wipe to remove the excess but this is very minor and easy. Definitely no difficult or messy in any way.

Wanting your Meat Cooked to your Requirements – I have used the Opti Grill for a Few Months and have found it to be all but Perfect for getting my Woolies Scotch Fillet Steak to be Cooked to Medium on Nearly every occasion. The Indicator Lights are a Bit Strange to get used to compared to an OLD Breville Griller which was used to cook for 2.5 mins once pre heated but once you get the hang of… Read more

the OPTI GRILL you can get consistent results without much trouble and you get an audible warning at each stage. I am very particular about not having the steak over cooked and enjoy getting the medium cooked steak regularly.

The Best – I bought the Tefal Optigrill+712 just this week and so far so good. Im very impressed. The various colours that correspond to your preferred amount of cooking (eg. rare to well done etc) could be seen as a bit of a gimmick but i personally think it makes it easier to gauge where yr cooking is at especially when youre busy with other things. The… Read more

grill makes an audible sound every time the cooking level (and the colour) changes and you can take yr food out or leave it in longer if you like. Its extremely easy to clean because the grill plates just click off. I previously had a kmart brand grill which I threw out because it would take forever to clean. Im also aware that not all grills have plates that click off and one major reason why I bought the Tefal Optigrill+712 is because of this, I was NOT going to put myself through that again. And the reviews from Product Review definitely helped me make my decision also

Good, not perfect – I wasn't sure about this purchase. Have used it for chicken, steaks, vegetables, sandwiches. Most everything cooks as expected.A steaks cooked on this grill sure is good but I think it hasn't the same taste as outside grill. That Optigrill is quite large and so takes up storage space when not in use.  Show details

Now I will know that Tefal is a terrible company – I bought it two years ago and I used it very rarely. Now it does not work as it should. First I preheat it as expected. Then I try to put something in. And at this moment the grill turns into the "chicken" mode and begins to give a signal. All the buttons are locked and I can not even turn it off. I have to unplug it. This is not a cheap product.… Read more

I was forced to pay a lot of money to get this very poor quality product. And it has a guarantee for only one year. I can not even replace or fix it. I thought that I was dealing with a solid respect company. Now I will know that Tefal is a terrible company. I am disappointed.

Not bad – I have used it a few times and had reasonable results. Likes: Easy to clean thanks to the removable plates Suitable for quick meals for one or two people. Don't need to fire up the big BBQ, with all the mess that goes with it, for just a couple of steaks. Can cook veges right after the meat so you can have a complete meal without extra… Read more

washing up.

Dislikes:

The power chord is way too short. I find this limiting and annoying.

The operation can be quite confusing. Perhaps I will get the hang of it at some stage.

Amazing product, quick,and actually non-stick!! – So I bought this as it was on super specials on Amazon, and did not expect much from it as I am a vegeterian and mainly just have sabndwiches to be grilled. This product is a gem for it!, a lot of cheese dripped and was easy and spotless to clean it off the press. Just a kitchen tissue wipe does the job. No mess no fuss. Perfect bell rings when… Read more

done the way you like it. Have multiple settings even for sandwich so you dont have to stand next to it monitoring the crispyness.

Perfect buy!!

Love this grill so much – I use this grill for nearly everything & absolutely love it. I cook all meats, sandwiches, chicken nuggets, chips & vegetables on this grill. Everything taste amazing & super healthy as no oils are needed. I also love how you can cook things from frozen seed o of I forget to take meat out to defrost it's ok.  Show details

Almost perfect – Before going into details, it is important to emphasize that there are several variants GC71x of this product. One noticeable variant is the XL one which is a bit wider. Other variants may have some minor differences on the programs (the preset cooking programs) especially missing on the toasted sandwiches (you can still do toasts manually). … Read more

This is an almost perfect product and I will definitely recommend it. The main advantage is that the plates are detachable. They are non stick by design and don’t require any extra effort to be cleaned. It is recommended to wait until they cool off prior to cleaning not only due to burn injuries but to preserve the non stick coating. I carefully disassemble them after the dripping stops and put them aside to cool faster.

The dripping tray is really perfect as it goes deeply below the lower part of the device and catches whatever needed.

The plates are tilted and cannot be leveled. This means that some slippery foods will tend to fall into the tray. There are several small pointy pegs which are part of the lower plate which are supposed to stop the food sliding down but they seldom do the job properly and actually disturb the cleaning process as the cleaning cloth tends to get stuck on them.

Regarding the preset cooking programs, this is a nice gimmick but I almost don’t use it. The reason is that after a short while you will find the right manual settings which will work for you and it is really cumbersome if you cook multiple portions. To be more specific, if you finalize a first round, you will need to close the upper plate on top the lower one in order to ‘reset’ the program and then wait for a while for the beep (plates reheated). This can be really annoying... and as stated it’s much easier to set the temperature manually and do your own plan.

Note that this model has a baking tray option which replaces the lower plate. This gives you some more cooking options which I find useful. Some recipes will make your regular oven toaster and frying pan. The tray option is unavailable for the XL model.

The bottom line is more or less repeating the title and the insights previously shared. This is a recommended product and myself and my family enjoy it very much.

Taking the guesswork out of cooking MK2 – Having given a positive review on the previous model three years ago we have now purchased a new one as the other had stopped holding on the individual settings for different foods and reverted to manual mode around 6 months ago. Even though we would like to have got longer use from the first one we decided to buy the same model again as we liked… Read more

the different temps it uses and that you can wash the cooking plates manually or in the dishwasher. Hopefully we’ll have this one for longer.

Tefal optigrill gc712 – Best grill I've ever used! You can make complete meals in this. The colour coded cooking level sensors allow you to cook your foods to your liking. Rare to well done etc & lots of other foods. So easy to clean as the 2 grill plates just pop out with the press of a button for hassle free cleaning. Comes with a drip tray too. I highly recommend this product.  Show details

It's foolproof - once you understand how it works – It's foolproof - once you understand how it works. It took me a couple of goes before I fully understood how it works. It does Salmon perfectly and even my FUSSY Wife who likes her meat well and truly DEAD (welldone) is now content. I highly recommend this device but really read the instructions before use.  Show details

Good but could be better – I have had this for a while now, but also think it cooks very slow, needs more power. I have the XL version. Great idea draining away all fat from meat, can be a pain to clean. I use my airfryer to cook meat in most of the time now instead of this, easier to clean & cooks quicker & drains away all fat as well.  Show details

I like it – So far I have only tried it on fish, and I must say it does a very good job. I never had any luck frying fish, but the grill works to perfection. Looking forward to expanding my cooking & trying steak, sausages and chicken. The grill plates are very easy to clean.  Show details

Amazing Results! I can now Grill to perfection – This amazing product makes grilling to perfection so easy. My steaks, chicken, sausages and salmon fillets are cooked so perfectly now and it is so easy to use. I love that it that it beeps to tell me when tells me when my meal is ready, so no longer do I run the risk of overcooking and ruining my meats. I recently grilled garlic prawns with the… Read more

shell still on and it was so succulent and juicy that everyone was licking their fingers clean. Even toasting sandwiches is great, I use sourdough bread and love getting the cafe perfection grill lines result. I also bought the snack baking accessory, and have used it to make frittata and even a lasagna. Looking forward to cooking the mac cheese in it next. Plus it is so easy to clean as the plates are removable and I simply place them into the dishwasher. If you are looking for a grill, nothing beats the uniqueness of the OptiGrill.

Disappointingly Slow – I love Optigrills! And to prove it, I have 3 of them - the latest being the +XL. I thought long and hard about whether to award it 3 or 4 stars but decided on 4 because perhaps I was hoping for too much. The "ordinary" Optigrill is a great machine and the extra features and 30% cooking space were just too good to ignore.... BUT, it appears… Read more

as though there is no extra power to go with the extra space, so the additional capacity just means a MUCH longer wait for it to reach cooking temperature. Once it gets there, it performs as one would expect so I guess that one just has to put up with the delay.

In addition, whose penny-pinching idea was it to reduce the length of the flex by 30%? That is really annoying and means that it can't be used directly under my extractor - c'mon, Tefal, a higher price and a shorter cord is just cheeky!!

Over cooks – We got one and it worked good a few times but know when a yellow light is on. The meat should be rare but ever time it comes out well done Show details