About six months ago I purchased my first sandwich maker as an impulse buy.I'm a bit of a gadget guy so i succumbed to the impulse.My usual weekly routine was to stop by the McD's on my way to work and buy a McMuffin with egg or sausage each day. The coffee comes with me from home, so its a single purchase stop.My first attempt at making a sausage sandwich at home was mediocre at best when compared to my drive through experience.The issues were;1. The muffin was too small and did not contain the egg and sausage properly.2. The egg stuck to the maker leaving a mess to clean up.3. The egg leaked a bit around the sliding plate making a small mess.4. The precooked sausage and Canadian bacon was not heated properly.5. The egg was tough from over cooking.After a bit of experimenting all the issues were solved and I have been enjoying breakfast sandwiches each morning, and know whats in them.Here is what I learned.The first problem of too small a muffin was solved by carefully selecting which brand you buy.From my experience, the cheaper the muffin, the smaller it is.You want a full size muffin that will fill the makers cooking chamber.Since I live down the street from a restaurant supply company, I buy my muffins there.They are full size and come in 10 packs.Surprisingly, they are cheaper per muffin than my local grocery store.The next problem was solved by giving the egg cooking chamber a spritz of cooking spray after preheating the maker.This means the sliding plate as well as the sides of the ring.I use an olive oil based spray I get at the local Wally World.No more sticking and torn eggs.The leaking was solved by first preheating the maker a little longer.I plug it in first and then go get my ingredients.The extra minute or two of preheat after the green light turns on makes a difference.Another thing that helped was the cooking spray.I apply it when the maker is hot.This seems to make a seal between the plate and ring.The sausage not being hot enough was solved by not using a frozen patty or bacon slice.I now keep the ingredients in the refrigerator so they are cold, but not frozen.This change eliminated the issue completely.Again I have found the best deal on the ingredients at my local restaurant supply, but the Wally World sometimes beats them.If you buy a big package, just take a weeks worth and put them a plastic bag in the refrigerator and keep the rest in the freezer.Finally the tough egg.This issue was a show stopper for me.I hate tough eggs and not solving the problem meant the maker was getting returned.It turns out the solution was rather simple.Preheat the maker a bit longer as mentioned earlier and shorten the cooking time to 3 minutes.The result is a perfect egg (for me) with the rest of the sandwich thoroughly heated.Clean up was a breeze after using the cooking spray.I remove the cooking rings and wipe down with a damp cloth or place in the dishwasher.The maker body gets a quick wipe down and that it.If you are a bit adventurous, try making lunch or dinner sandwiches by substituting the breakfast meat with corned beef or pastrami from the deli.In the egg chamber place a thin slice of onion and a bit of swiss cheese.After six months, I am thoroughly satisfied.In fact I have bought a second so I have one at home and one to take with me for my regular extended hotel stays required by my job.The cost savings was amazing.This product paid for itself after two weeks just in drive through savings.Good Job Hamilton Beach.Since my initial review, I have found one more trick to using this product.If you load the maker as recommended, you will have the cheese against the egg.This makes the egg want to slide aroundon the meat especially just after cooking.I now place the cheese between the bottom muffin and meat.Problem solved.Another tip for those using it in a hotel room or at work, I have found that Wally World sells small bags of pre diced onions, bell Peppers and jalapenos.I keep some in my hotel room fridge and instead of a plain egg, I will scramble and add some veggies.Either zap the veggies for a moment to defrost first or just not keep them in the freezer.To mix things up a bit, I have been using sour dough, wheat, and cinnamon raisin breads instead of English muffins.The rings make a great "cookie cutter" when pressed into the bread slice.After shaping the bread I spread a small amount of butter on the side of the bread contacting the heating surfaces.The result is a nice crunch!Try spreading a bit of pesto on the other side for a savory treat.Use little to no butter when using pesto otherwise it gets a bit soggy.My favorite is sour dough, pesto, havarti cheese, sliced roast beef, and shaved onions.Heavenly lunch/dinner sandwich!Have had a few questions on my comment regarding the size differences in english muffins.In my experience the ones I buy at a restaurant supply arelarger and usually cost less per muffin than those I get at the grocery.To compare, I have uploaded a photo of each loade

I absolutely love this sandwich maker. It works best with English muffins, not so well with home made biscuits. I wanted to try with bagels, but it's hard to find bagels small enough to fit. That's ok, I am completely OK with English muffins. One morning I'll add my own bacon, cheese, then egg. Another morning I'll add ham or a sausage patty, then cheese & an egg. Add ingredients, set a timer for 5 mins, and there you got a great breakfast sandwich, hot & ready to eat. If I had a complaint, it would be that I can't do two at once. Did I mention I love this thing? Don't overthink it...buy yourself one and see for yourself! Simple to use, easy to clean, and I'll never visit McDonalds again. The only thing that kept me going there was their Egg McMuffins. Now I make my own, and I think they're better anyway...and definitely cost less!

These devices do what they do, not much to add. I finally purchased one and have used it dozens of times in the past few months. Cleans up fairly well but the reason for the 1-star ding is that to clean the base they advise a damp soapy cloth. Yeah right…..that just doesn’t work well with dried melted cheese in drips around the sides. Although I’m not supposed to I rinse it under the faucet while wiping it down and let it dry thoroughly. I realize that might kill it at some point but leaving it messy is not an option. One tip—to clean the Teflon sections, cold water helps take dried cheese and egg bits off much more quickly than hot water does, so I begin with cold tap and finish with a hot soapy wash. Using hot just kind of melts the food further vs having it quickly come off.