Remember the novelty “executive toy” of the 1980s, the panel of pins that could be squished onto hands, faces or any other object and the metal rods would form a 3D portrait in steel pixels? Well, this concept KitchenAid “Variable Grill” is something very similar, although you’d never want to push your face into it.
The grill is of the hinged type, and the top surface has 140 separate elements, or heat-pixels, if you will. Each pixel has a glass top which actually touches the food, and a heating element which sits behind it, providing the BTUs. Because every heat-pixel moves independently, they can settle onto the surface of the food and the elements are all the same distance from the surface. Thhe glass stopping the elements from actually touching it.
It’s ingenious, but the rendering is a little on the long-and-thin side: wouldn’t a square be better? I also wonder if the heat would really cook any more evenly than a normal grill, if well attended by simply turning the target food often.
These kinds of grills could be considered slightly gimmicky, and don’t achieve much that you couldn’t do with a broiler or a cast-iron grill=pan. On the other hand, George Forman hasn’t done too bad in the same market so perhaps the designer, Roberto Bertran, is on to something.
KitchenAid Variable Grill [Yanko]
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