If your winter lunch is usually a cold sandwich eaten over the sink, a panini press is one of the cheapest upgrades you can make. The Breville VST025 is the one I’d point most people towards, mainly because it’s flat-plated and roomy rather than one of those sealed triangle toastie makers.
Panini press or toastie maker?
A classic toastie maker crimps the bread shut into pockets. Great for molten cheese and beans, useless for anything that isn’t sliced white bread. A flat press like this one just squeezes and toasts whatever you put between the plates, so ciabatta, a halved bagel, a wrap folded in two or a slab of leftover sourdough all work.
Breville also lists tea cakes and crumpets, and warming pittas, tortillas and naan. The crumpet one sounds odd but it’s genuinely nice: they come out crisp on both sides in a couple of minutes.
The plates fit three sandwiches side by side, which is handy at weekends when the kids want one too. My favourite detail is the floating top plate: the lid rises to sit on whatever’s inside, so a fat ciabatta gets pressed evenly rather than flattened at the hinge end and barely touched at the other.
The plates are flat, non-stick aluminium, and escaped cheese wipes off once it’s cooled a bit. It’s 1000W, with a stainless steel body, a cool-touch handle and non-slip feet. When you’re done it stands on its end with the cord wrapped round the built-in storage, which is a big deal if your worktop is already full.
The catches
The plates don’t come out. That’s the trade-off for a simple, sturdy press, and it means cleaning is a damp cloth job rather than the dishwasher. We’ve got a whole guide to keeping a panini press clean if that puts you off.
There’s also no temperature dial. It’s on or it’s off. In practice that’s fine for sandwiches, but if you were hoping to cook chicken breasts or halloumi on it like a proper grill, look at something with adjustable heat instead.
And because the plates are flat, you won’t get those deep ridged grill lines. If that’s a dealbreaker, fair enough, but they’re mostly for show.
A few lunches worth trying
Leftover roast chicken, stuffing and a bit of cranberry sauce in a ciabatta is the obvious one after a Sunday roast. Cheese and pickle on thick bread. A folded tortilla with grated cheddar and whatever’s left in the fridge. Or a buttered hot cross bun in spring, if you’re still using it by then (you probably will be).
My verdict
If you work from home or make lunches for the family at weekends, yes. It’s quick, it doesn’t take up much room standing on its end, and it does more than a toastie maker. If you only want the classic sealed cheese toastie, a cheap sandwich maker will do that job just as well.
Check the Breville VST025 on Amazon UK
Taking lunch out instead? Our pick of food flasks for hot soup at work might suit you better.
