If there is a delicious snack you can make quickly for yourself or your kids then it must be a toasted or grilled sandwich. In just five minutes, you can prepare several of them on a sandwich maker, especially if you have unexpected guests. The good thing is that there are plenty of ways and kitchen appliances you can make a toasted or grilled sandwich. First, you can make a perfect sandwich with a simple sandwich maker and you can also use a Panini press. Also, you can use a toaster.
“The three appliances can make delicious sandwiches and are easy to use, however, there are a number of differences between them”, says Mack Jones, a professional chef at village-bakery.com.
So when buying one for your kitchen, you should understand what foods you will be making. Each one of them has their good sides and bad sides and is useful for different situations.
Let’s have a quick look at the main differences between a sandwich maker and a Panini press.
Table of Contents
Panini Press
A Panini press is just a small grill. It can grill a perfect sandwich. The uniqueness of this kitchen appliance is the ability to make different types of meals. For instance, you can grill fruits, meat, seafood, eggs, and vegetables. The Panini press surely offers a high-level of versatility you cannot get from any other kitchen appliance of its category.
A great advantage of the Panini press is that it can make thicker sandwiches which you cannot make with a sandwich maker (can only make a less than 2-ingredient sandwich).
You can make grilled chicken breasts, avocado slices and some layers of cheese on you Panini press without worrying about the space inside. Another great thing about a Panini press is that it can also make sandwiches with thicker bread, for instance, the thick Italian bread like focaccia or ciabatta.
A Panini press, unlike toasters and sandwich makers, is made with heavy-duty plates. Toasters and sandwich makers come with triangular plates, so your toasted bread will come out triangular-shaped.
Panini presses have heavy-duty and grilled plates so your toasted bread will have seared lines on the surface.
The upper plates are also slightly weighty to press the sandwich on the Panini regardless of its density or thickness.
Panini presses are costly than toasters or sandwich makers because the former comes with more features and functions like precision timers and temperature controls. Oil and grease is separately put in a Panini press, so your meal will be healthy with less grease.
Panini presses have nonstick plates so your meals will slide on the surface. In fact, you can decide not to use margarine or oil. That makes a Panini press the ideal appliance for people on a diet who wants to eat healthy meals.
Sandwich Maker
A sandwich maker is also an easy-to-use appliance but it cannot make thicker sandwiches.
When making a meal with this kitchen gadget, you just place it on the bottom plate and close the lid. However, unlike the Panini press, with this tool, you need to apply a light layer of vegetable or olive oil on the plates if you want a great brown toast on the bread.
A sandwich maker does not have great features such as those you can get on a Panini press (temperature settings) but it will indicate when your meal is ready.
Since it has a small space, a sandwich maker cannot make thick sandwiches. You cannot add more than 2 ingredients on your sandwich, cheese or ham sandwich.
Also, the lid of a sandwich maker does not close tightly, so your ingredients could spill out.
In less than five minutes you can have your sandwich ready for eating. That’s why this kitchen appliance is ideal for users who want to use it frequently to make simple sandwiches for your kids.
Final Thoughts
All the kitchen appliances (toaster, sandwich maker, and Panini press) are easy to use. However, a Panini press is not as fast to make meals compared to a sandwich maker. With a Panini press, you have to prepare your ingredients but overall, it’s the best kitchen appliance to have in your kitchen.
