Tefal Optigrill+ GC712

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!!!

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

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!

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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

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.

Great but Failed – This grill was the highlight of my cooking, until it broke down, i used it approximately 5 times. and then one day it decided not to heat up at all. I took back to JBHIFI for a replacement but couldn't because a new model came out and i would have to fork out an additional $200 + to get the new one. :(  Show details

Great Appliance – With the price of gas skyrocketing I have second thoughts about using the oven. In lots of ways, I can use the Optigrill instead. It does sausages, chops, steak, lamb, fish etc perfectly every time. Even frozen battered fish fillets that required 45 minutes (including preheating) in the oven are done perfectly in 12 minutes (not including… Read more

preheating) in the Tefal. The coloured light that changes colour over an almost infinite range lets you know when the food is cooked perfectly (along with key points of the cook having a tone played).

It is set and forget. Turn on, select the food, wait for the tone, open the unit, place the food, close the unit and wait till the Optigrill tells you it's ready. You can forget it and do other things whilst waiting.

It is a breeze to clean with removable Teflon grill plates.

A boon to the kitchen. Along with my Cuisine Companion, I can cook up great meals with ease.

Very impressed - works as advertised – My history of cooking fillet steak is that it's either bleeding or tough as leather. I've never been able to get a steak just the way I've wanted it: medium, so a little pink in the middle, tender and juicy - until now. Because the sales blurb talked about perfect steaks, it was a Scotch fillet steak that I tried first. After approximately… Read more

eight minutes of pre-heat, the cooking time to medium perfection was about ten minutes. It entirely lived up to expectations, producing a medium cooked steak, evenly cooked all the way through, juicy and tender.

Since then, we've also cooked sea scallops and barramundi, again perfectly on each occasion.

On multiple occasions we've used it to produce a basic cheese and tomato toasted sandwich, again no problems.

The cooking plates can very easily be removed from the device for cleaning. Apparently the cooking plates are dishwasher safe but I haven't tested that. Hand cleaning in the sink was a breeze because of the effective non-stick surface.

Controls are easy to use and reasonably intuitive, although a quick read of the operating instructions is recommended before first use.

Presets are available for cooking various types of food - steaks, fish, toasted sandwiches, etc, but the Optigrill+ can also be controlled manually.

The cooking status light clearly shows by the colour of the display what stage the cooking is at.

And it also beeps between the stages of rare, medium and well-done.

And if one of you likes the steak medium, and the other likes well-done, you can wait until the beep and the display shows that it has reached medium, open the grill and remove one steak, then close and keep cooking until the display shows well-done.

The only negative, and it's a very minor one, is that the beeping that takes place at the end of pre-heat and between rare, medium and well-done is quite soft. It's cleary audible if you're in the room, but if you went into the next room it would be easy to miss.

The size of the grill allows for cooking two toasted sandwiches at a time, or two medium-sized steaks. We just managed to squeeze on three Barramundi fillets. This is really suitable for cooking for up to two people. If you're regularly cooking for three or more people, you might need something larger. Apparently there is a larger version of this model available (an Optigrill+ XL) but I haven't seen it myself, and we don't have room on our kitchen bench for anything larger.

In summary, an excellent device which we've used daily (sometimes more than once) since we purchased it a few days ago. I can see this grill getting a lot of use in our household.

Best Invention Ever, at this time – This is No4, the completely new model, sent from distributor. I held off review, until now. So far it does a superb cook. Keep in mind that you will have your own variations, to observe, as it is not quite a robot, as yet. The "M" button has changed, to give variable temperatures, eg, cooking eggplant, to your liking. I do see the intelligence,… Read more ·  3

is a lot better, than the now discontinued GC702. Note my past reviews, on old model.

So, hopefully it will serve for a long time.

Massive thumbs up from me – Myer had this on sale and I had to try it Purchased this on the 1/2/17 and this work perfectly, best grilled sandwiches (better than cafe quality) cooks a mean steak (even though I prefer meat cooked on an open coal/wood fire). Just make sure you read the manual and it easy sailing from there on in, 10/10 on this product.  Show details

Wow.. Super quick grill, Extra tasty meals! – So impressed! Deliberated over which grilling unit to choose, but definitely made the right choice. Super quick cooking, that results in very flavourful dinners. I've cooked many things, burgers, chops, steak, chicken, pork belly and all were grilled to perfection. Little beeps notify you during the cooking process and a little sing song when it's… Read more

done (just light not annoying). Can fit a reasonable to large amount on the grill pads. Best part is a very quick clean. Pop out 2 grill plates with the press of a button and lightly pull the fat tray forward. All these parts are dishwasher safe too! Not the cheapest but worth the outlay...

Fantastic – The Optigrill GC712 is fantastic to use indoors instead of using a BBQ outside It is so easy to use , and even better so easy to clean The difference in cooking food in this , like kebabs, steaks , anything that normally cooks in a saucepan and sits in fat is amazing , to see just how much fat comes out. Its a healthier way to cook It also makes awesome toasted sandwiches and panini's !  Show details

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