This article was taken from the February 2012 issue of Wired magazine. Be the first to read Wired's articles in print before they're posted online, and get your hands on loads of additional content by subscribing online.

With the help of professional chef Jon Jones from the Waitrose Cookery school, we cooked five seasoned 300g serloin steaks for two minutes on each grill to asses their perfromance. The steaks were similarly seasoned and the grills set to their highest settings, as recommended by our chef, and the crucial taste test was conducted after setting the steaks aside to relax for two minutes. After taking into account the time taken to heat up each grill, time taken to clean it, its ease of use and its value for money, we awarded overall scores out of ten.

Cuisinart GR4NU Griddle & Grill (above)

The grill clips off easily and flips over to a hotplate on this design, which is a combination griddle and grill-panini maker.

Professional chef Jon Jones thought it would be perfect for cooking fish, shellfish, asparagus and halloumi. The grill had the shallowest bar marks out of the five machines tested, and was the least effective at draining fat. But this can be an advantage when cooking steak as it helps with caramelisation. "I used the grill-panini setting for the steak, and turned the heat dial up to the sear setting," says Jones. "The heat did not conduct through the meat and the gristle very well. The grill doesn't seem to get as smoking hot as the others. Our steak was only slightly caramelised, and was more fibrous and tougher to eat."

Wired: Recipes included

Tired: Dated design; no temperature-ready indicator

7/10

£100

lakeland.co.uk

Salter Precise Digital Health Grill

Smart design features include a digital temperature display, which shows when you go from 150°C to 260°C. It has a sturdy body with a compact lock feature on both sides to hold the grill lid in place, and can handle up to three steaks at one time. "With deep bar marks, the steak cooked very well," says Jones. "The lid was as hot as the base grill, which gave a consistent cook on both sides.

It cooked a perfect medium-rare steak."

Wired: Professional equipment

Tired: Small side-draining pot

8/10

£59.99

salterhousewares.com

Cookworks Signature Health Grill

This four-to-six-portion grill has a floating hinge to assist with even cooking and also a temperature-ready indicator so that you know when to begin. "It's simple but it works," says Jones. "I used the highest setting [eight] and the grill heated quickly and got very hot." The steak was bar-marked perfectly after two minutes and the top grill heated to the same temperature as underneath so it was evenly cooked.

Wired: Opens flat like a BBQ

Tired: Grill plates are not removable

9/10

£29.99

argos.co.uk

Tefal XL Health Grill Comfort

The grill plates open up 180° to give you a large, eight-portion cooking surface. Both grill plates and drip tray are removable and dishwasher-safe, but there are nooks that could become fiddly to clean. "There are three settings on this grill and I used the hottest," says Jones. "After two minutes, the steak was not bar-marked on the top and barely marked on the underside. There is no caramelisation and the steak is verging on rare in the centre."

Wired: Flat surface; oven mode

Tired: Bulky design

5/10

£129.99

tefal.co.uk

George Foreman Entertaining Grill 14054

The large plate fits four steaks comfortably, but crucially there are no heat settings - just a simple on/off. "This makes it difficult to judge how long the steak needs to cook," says Jones. "Once the steak was cooked it only had bar marks on the underside as the top grill was not nearly as hot as the bottom." The steak was still juicy, though. With no LED indicators, this is the simplest but least flexible grill.

Wired: Easy to wipe clean

Tired: Plastic lid; unsturdy design

5/10

£79.99

georgeforeman.co.uk

This article was originally published by WIRED UK