A cooking appliance includes an upper housing having a first heating surface and a lower housing operatively connected to the upper housing. The lower housing has a second heating surface having a plurality of apertures therethrough for facilitating the egress of cooking juices from the second heating surface.

A griddle apparatus, includes a lower cooking plate and an upper cooking plate, where the upper cooking plate is mounted for movement relative to the lower cooking plate between a lower cooking position and an upper access position by a biasing arrangement that provides an upward force sufficient to move the upper cooking plate up to the upper access position once the upper cooking plate has been manually moved to a set raised location between the lower cooking position and the upper access position.

A device (1) for heating filled brioches preferably filled with ice-cream, comprising an upper subassembly (3) and a lower subassembly (4) linked by one or more joints or hinges (10). Each one of the subassemblies (3, 4) includes a heating plate (14) with a cavity (14a) intended to receive the filled brioche, or other similar product, in order to heat it, arranged so that in an operative position they overlap one another. Each heating plate (14) is positioned on top of a heat transfer plate (16) enclosed in a thermoinsulating layer (13), except for an opening to allow contact between the heating plate (14) and the heat transfer plate (16).

The heating plates (14) are releasable from the subassembly (3, 4) on which they are arranged by means of one or more releasable fastening elements protruding from the heating plate (14) and inserted in one or more slots (3c, 4c) of either casing of the subassemblies (3, 4).

An apparatus for heating food includes a base and a lid coupled to one another by a hinged handle. Two fluid-filled thermal fluid vessels with flexible surfaces are installed in the lid and base to form a chamber for holding a food item in a low temperature cooking container f. The thermal fluid vessels may be replaced with high temperature cooking plates to sear or brown the food items. A user of the appliance is protected from exposure to hot thermal fluid retained in the vessels during low temperature cooking.

A griddle apparatus, includes a lower cooking plate and an upper cooking plate, where the upper cooking plate is mounted for movement relative to the lower cooking plate between a lower cooking position and an upper access position by a biasing arrangement that provides an upward force sufficient to move the upper cooking plate up to the upper access position once the upper cooking plate has been manually moved to a set raised location between the lower cooking position and the upper access position.

An indoor grill comprises a plate and an additional plate. In various embodiments the plate is coupled to the additional plate via a hinge or other suitable fastener allowing a distance between the plate and the additional plate to be changed. A heating element is coupled to the plate and to the additional plate that is configured to transfer heat to one or more of the plate and the additional plate. In various embodiments, the plate includes one or more patterns of spikes that pierce a surface of food placed on the indoor grill when pressed against the food. Heat from the heating element is transferred to the spikes, so when the spikes pierce the food, heat from the spikes heats the food from below the surface of the food. In some embodiments, the additional plate also includes one or more patterns of spikes.

A hinge mechanism of a cooking device for connecting a first object and a second object to allow relative folding and unfolding movements with respect to each other, includes first and second coupling seat respectively connected with the first and second objects, and a pivot mounting seat pivotably connected with the first coupling seat by a first pivot unit, and pivotably connected with the second coupling seat by a second pivot unit. The hinge mechanism is shiftable between an open position and a first closed position, or between the open position and a second closed position to accommodate first objects of various heights.

A waffle iron comprises textured upper, lower, and perimeter heatable plates that can be assembled to create a cavity into which batter and other prepared ingredients are dispensed to cook a waffle having sufficient depth to feature a waffle pattern along its top and bottom faces as well as along its thickness and to fully contain within its batter separate, prepared ingredients which are enclosed within the waffle to make a single unit and can be eaten in its entirety by hand without having to fold the waffle around those ingredients, sandwich those ingredients between waffles, or use any other means to keep the waffle from separating from the ingredients. The waffle can be visually inspected for doneness during the cooking process or removed from the assembled unit once cooked by separating the individual plates. Electronic means may also be employed to monitor or alert of doneness.

A cooking apparatus has a user interface for selecting a cooking preference, a measurement sensor for measuring a distance between a pair of plates when a food item lies between the pair of plates, a weight sensor for measuring weight of the food item, and a control system for receiving at least one signal from the measurement and weight sensors to determine a cooking profile for cooking the food item to the cooking preference and to calculate a total amount of energy required to cook the food item according to the cooking profile and an amount of energy to be transferred per unit time to the food item, and to control power supply to the heating element based on the calculated amount of energy transferred per unit time to the food item.

A food cooking appliance such as a waffle maker, pizza maker or toaster uses a combination of sensor inputs and optional user preferences to determine an optimal cooking time.