Quote Originally Posted by love2save View Post
I got my first George Forman grill this last christmas and I LOVE it! Could somebody tell me why they wear out so fast? I was hoping it would last a long time.

I guess it mostely has to do with how much you use it and how well you take care of it.

Obviously someone who uses theirs three to four times a week is going to wear it out faster than someone who uses theirs only once or twice a month.

The taking care it has been trial and error for me, there are a lot of things they don't mention in your owner's manual.

They usually instruct you to condition the non-stick surface before the first use, but after that cooking oils and sprays are not necessary. What they should say is that if you really feel you must use something to brush your meat or the grill plates (while cool) with cooking oil, but never use cooking spray. The chemicals in cooking spray that makes it spray is very harmful to non-stick surfaces, that with continued use your non-stick will start sticking.

Of coarse you know not to use metal on non-stick, but I recommend not using anything abrasive or scratchy regardless of what it's made of. You can use a plastic scrubby or a Scotch-Brite pad on a new car and it won't remove the paint but you would easily be able to see the scratches it makes on the shiny finish every time you do it until the finish is no longer shiny. Non-stick surfaces work best when the finish is slick with no scratches.

To clean my grill now I simply place a wet soapy cloth on the grill, close it, and let it set while I wash the rest of the dishes. When I'm ready to clean the grill I open it and use the same soapy cloth to whip the grill plates. I then rinse the cloth and go over it again. That's usually all it takes.