It's that time of year again, toastie machine reccomendations

[Nousernameforme]

In our house it has been declared toastie and soup season. Off I went to brave the depths of the cupboard of forgotten kitchen gadgets only to find our old toastie machine has either been binned or given away.
So I am looking for recommendations, who has a good toastie machine. Is it worth going for one with interchangeable plates? Should I splurge on a breville or save with a cookworks?
I know I dont want a panini press as that isn't a proper toastie to my mind. They don't offer the crispy edged sealed pocket of molten cheese experience that I am after.

I've had a Breville for years and love it 😊

We have one of the ones that goes in to microwave.. much much easier to clean and actually works really well

Breville. I have the toastie maker which is ace as the plates pop off for washing, but recently bought the breville with the interchangeable toastie, panini and waffle plates for DD when she went off to uni. Was only about £40 in Costco.

I dont actually have a microwave 😱.

Regarding the removable plates, although the easy wash feature is appealing, I live in a house of neurodivergent people and we lose things very easily, so I can imagine us being stuck with a plateless machine and no way to use it.

Use a pan

Fry the sandwich

I use a George Foreman grill thingy and wrap the toasties in greaseproof paper before toasting them. It keeps the grill plates clean so you only have to wipe them with a damp cloth occasionally.

It also means you have loads more cooking options on the bigger plates.

Air fryer cheese toasties are the best 😬

You have to get one of the original Brevilles with the ridges imho. Butter the outside of your bread. Nothing can replicate the deliciousness of the melt in the mouth charred ridges and crusts and piping hot cheese inner. Oh my, I need one NOW.

I have one of the crap ones that makes triangle sandwiches which is fine but the edges are really hard and I don’t like cleaning it so most of the time I just use a toastie bag and put it in the toaster. I don’t like buttering the outside of the bread as it’s too many calories so I’ve started to put it in the toaster without butter (but you can’t put it in for long as it burns quickly) and then into the airfryer for a few minutes to melt the inside.

Anything that requires 2 steps is not going to happen. Just no.

I do make them in the pan ala Chef the film, a must watch if you like food and haven't seen it. However that doesn't deliver the required crispy edges that an official toastie does.

Air fryer!! Best toasties and easy to clean

But the children crave edges

I use mayo instead of butter, and use the air fryer.
Although I used mayo in our old triangle toastie maker and the bread stuck fast!

Funny enough I was reading this earlier (jumped to it from the other Filter column of Christmas trees) and the Breville came top.

https://www.theguardian.com/thefilter/2025/sep/30/best-toastie-maker-sandwich-toasters-uk

Amazing thank you, I'll have a look

We have one by Salter which has three options as it has removable swappable plates. Panini press, classic triangle toastie and waffle maker.

I love a classic triangle toastie but I actually use the panini press more because for the triangles you need the exact right bread size and I never seem to have it in. Panini press is much more flexible.