Solis 977.49 Table Grill 5 in 1, Stainless Steel, 1400 W

We ordered this and it arrived very quickly, well packaged.I opened it all up and tested it.The heating element was clearly faulty, see images.You can clearly see the difference in the elements, the fully lit element is the replacement which functions well.The seller was very quick to refund, rather than replace, which would have caused an issue if it was no longer on sale.If you buy this Raclette, please initially check the heating element !We got the replacement, which I had to re-order, within a couple of days, so no drama.Now to the performance.As a basic raclette, it is very good indeed.I have an infrared thermometre gun and I can reliably state that the grill top has zones which are differing in heat.The hottest zone is about 220c and the coolest is about 200c, more than enough to fry anything.The heat required to fry things is 150c to about 230c generally.It takes about 15 minutes to reach top temperature and then it switches off and on to regulate the heat. This is good as you have a non-stick surface.Got a Parrot, or small pet in the house?This will not kill it.The non-stick surface will not get to the 310c that causes toxic issues.The device regulates it, and even if it didn't, 310c is a lot to expect from a 1400w element, so don't worry.Now to cooking food on it..We initially tried a basic normal raclette.We have another one, from many years ago, and the difference was immediately clear.This is a wonderful device!It does everything damn near perfectly.Not too hot, as raclette is a social event, not a race to the finish.But hot enough to have perfect results.The grill does meat perfectly, I have no complaints, and I am hard to please..What seperates this from the competition?I can tell you easily.It has a bottom heating element.This provides 200w of heat to the bottom of the unit.If you activate this, (you can choose not to) it will heat the bottom of the little trays you put under the heating element. This is a big plus!Not turning the bottom element on, will not affect the top element's performance.After the evening, the clean up was done the next day.Very easy process.There are a lot of bits to this raclette, so expect to have a bit of room to accomodate it.Now on to the next weekend..Pizza night.I really didn't expect this to be any good.For me, a pizza is a Napolitan pizza, requiring a 450c gas oven.This raclette made some damn lovely pizzas! (ok, not Napolitan pizzas..but I didn't expect that)It's due to the bottom heat.My tip is, put the pizza dough on the trays, and put them under the raclette heat for a couple minutes until they start to puff up, then remove and load your little pizza, put in under again, and in a few minutes, you have a very tasty little pizza and a happy family.I will update this review after we try the little Woks.I really can't see them being hot enough for a stir fry, but this device have surprised me already, so lets see.As far at the pancake function goes, I will not be using that for a while, but don't imagine any problems as the non-stick plate should not have any issues with this.Just be sure to check that element, and if it's OK, you have a great product!