The best sandwich toasters, from toastie makers to grills

Best sandwich toasters at a glance

• Best sandwich toaster: Cuisinart Sandwich Toaster, £97.96
• Best deep-fill sandwich toaster: Breville Ultimate Deep Fill Sandwich Toaster, £34
• Best sandwich toaster with removable plates: Cuisinart 2-in-1 Grill and Sandwich Toaster, £95.01
• Best sandwich toaster grill: George Foreman Steel Grill, £39.99
• Best budget sandwich maker: Daewoo SDA1389, £23.99

Jump to:

• Best sandwich toasters to buy in 2025
• How to choose the best sandwich toaster
• How we tested sandwich toasters

Best sandwich toasters to buy in 2025

Cuisinart sandwich maker

Best sandwich toaster

Pros:

• Sleek
• Attractive
• Well designed
• Great stand-alone recipe book
• Choice of three heat settings

Cons:

• Expensive

Solid, sturdy and stylish, this is a sandwich toaster that’s built to last. It comes with clear instructions and a well-designed recipe book. The machine is the only one we tested that allowed us to choose whether to cook our sandwich on 'low', 'medium' or 'high', which is perfect if you're fussy about such things.

We tested the Cuisinart using standard bread and paninis. The sandwich toaster coped well with the deeper fillings and there was no problem securing the latch. The sandwiches were very brown after four minutes on high and really crispy.

This is a product that really does cater for all tastes. The plates are easy to remove for cleaning and, joy of joys, fit into the dishwasher to make clearing up quick and easy. Read our full review of the Cuisinart sandwich maker.

Breville two-slice deep fill sandwich toaster

Best deep-fill sandwich toaster

Pros:

• Well-built product
• Easy to clean

Cons:

• On the expensive side for a single-purpose machine

Breville is probably the best-known brand of sandwich toaster out there. This is a solid and substantial machine and one you'd expect to last for a long time. Despite the misleading name, it actually makes two sandwiches at a time, making it ideal for a small family.

It comes with detailed instructions and heats up quickly, plus it has a high hinge so you can make deep-filled toasties. It created the perfect sandwich in four minutes – well browned with a good seal. Read our full review of the Breville two-slice deep fill sandwich toaster.

Cuisinart 2-in-1 Grill and Sandwich Maker

Best sandwich toaster with removable plates

Pros:

• Grill plates are interchangeable
• Dishwasher-safe
• Dial control for different temperatures
• Materials good quality
• Small footprint

Cons:

• Takes a long time to heat up
• Only space for one panini

This high-quality and stylish sandwich maker from Cuisinart features grill and toastie plates, making it a versatile piece of kit. The plates are easily changed thanks to the release buttons on the side of the machine. The plates are also dishwasher safe for easy cleaning.

In test, both the toastie plates and grill plates produced fantastic results. We enjoyed deep, generously filled toasties and crisp paninis with well-defined grill lines. There is also a comprehensive manual and useful recipe book with some delicious sounding dishes. It’s quick to cook, but like our first place Cuisinart, it’s slow to heat up. Read our review of the Cuisinart 2 in 1 Grill and Sandwich Maker.

George Foreman Steel Grill

Best sandwich toaster grill

Pros:

• Floating hinge sits flat on food
• Plate has large surface area
• Slim
• Easy to use

Cons:

• Plates cannot be removed
• Toasts a little unevenly

This is a classic George Foreman grill; it has a floating hinge and slanted plates with a non-stick coating. There’s little set up required and it takes just two minutes to heat up. There's also a floating hinge that sits the lid lightly on sandwiches.

Our toasties and paninis were super crisp and perfectly melted. There’s a large surface area to play with and we found we could comfortably fit 4 sandwiches on the grill at once, however we did find that this model browns bread a little unevenly. Read our full review of the George Foreman Steel Grill.

Daewoo SDA1389

Best budget sandwich maker

Pros:

• Affordable
• No set-up needed
• Cord storage

Cons:

• Plates cannot be removed
• Plates are very large
• Some more information needed in instruction manual

This cheap and cheerful toastie maker from Daewoo produces toasties with a neat scallop design. Like a couple of other models on the list, we found the toastie plates a bit too large for standard supermarket bread. Despite this, all sandwiches were tightly sealed.

Both our classic cheese toasties and deep filled toasties took around six minutes to cook. They were relatively well-browned with no leaks. We’d have like to have seen a little more even browning, but for the price, it produces great results. Read our full review of the Daewoo SDA1389.

How to choose the best sandwich toaster

Before making a purchase, consider what you want to use your toastie maker or sandwich toaster for. Are you looking to make bog-standard cheese toasties or are you after a multifaceted machine that can be used a couple of different ways?

Toastie maker vs sandwich maker

A cheese toastie is one of life’s simple pleasures: crisp bread plus oozing melted cheese, what’s not to like? For these timeless classics, opt for a toastie maker. If you’re a fan of thick bread or like lots of filling, choose a ‘deep fill’ toastie maker.

If you’re looking to make deli-style toasted sandwiches, best choose a sandwich maker. These wont seal your sandwich like a toastie maker, but will impart those tell-tale chargrilled lines. A sandwich maker also allows you to be a lot more generous (and creative) with your fillings.

Size

Consider how many people are in your household and how much space you have to store your machine. On the whole, toastie makers tend to make 2 toasties at a time and are generally compact and easy to store. Sandwich makers are bigger, but are great for larger households.

Clean-up

Molten cheese and other greasy ingredients can be difficult to clean. Some machines have removable plates that can either be hand washed or even popped in the dishwasher. Others have plates that can’t be removed, so will need to be cleaned with a damp cloth.

How we tested sandwich toasters

We tested a range of sandwich toasters and toastie makers and used them to make a simple cheese toastie, a deep filled toastie, a filled panini, and if a model came with waffle plates, we made Good Food's plain waffles, too. We used all plates supplied to test against the following criteria:

Ease of use
Sandwich toasters and toastie makers are designed to do a simple job. We made sure that each model tested was straightforward to use.

Versatility
Many of the sandwich toasters and toastie makers we tested come with different plates for different tasks, such as grilling plates, waffle plates, and even flat plancha-style plates. We tested these out to see how well they performed.

Cooking results
We looked for toasties that were evenly browned and crisp. Fillings, such as cheese, should be totally melted. For those machines with waffle plates, we wanted to see waffles that were fully cooked, soft and evenly browned.

Value for money
We scored each sandwich toaster for its value for money, taking into account the accessories provided and its performance.

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This review was last updated in January 2025. If you have any questions, suggestions for future reviews or spot anything that has changed in price or availability, please get in touch at goodfoodwebsite@immediate.co.uk.

Do you use a toastie maker? We'd love to hear your product suggestions…