Product review (2 stars): Do not use large pans that trap heat under the grate.
Always been hard to clean, even with various abrasives, still hard to clean. We have had this for one year and has several nice features, but 2 of the pads underneath the iron grate melted & created mess.  We had put on a grill pan that completely covered one side.  It must have gotten too hot for the pads and they disintegrated/melted leaving a black residue coating the surface requiring steel wool to remove.  While this partly our fault for putting a grill pan that trapped the heat, I am not impressed. Will replacing as soon as possible.