I've never had a panini, so my husband bought this for me. We were both blown away by how different and delicious paninis taste compared to sandwiches grilled in a skillet. I love the way this Panini maker works, it's very easy to use. I do have one complaint. Part of it is my fault because it was my first time using it and I didn't know how to put the sandwiches together before putting them in the press. I evidently either used too much cheese or put it too close to the edges of the bread. The cheese spilled out the back and got all over the connection cable between the bottom and the top plates. It took me 45 minutes to clean! That I don't like so much. There's a metal, spring-type covering on the connector between the plates. As you can imagine the cheese got in between all of the rings of the spring. What a mess. The rest of the unit was relatively easy to clean. This is the reason I only gave it four stars instead of five.