Panini presses are less common here only* because they take up more kitchen real estate than a smaller upright appliance and can be reasonably replaced by a skillet. "George Foreman grills" were in vogue for a few years in the 2000s, but I rarely ever see them now.

*Probably also because American bread is awful.

> Probably also because American bread is awful.

Except grilling it is the best thing you can do to oversugared white bread.

I disagree. Throwing them away is the best thing you can do. These things are nasty.

You can buy proper bread here, you just need to stop shopping at the cheapo grocery stores.

In North America you would be more likely to encounter a panini press.

I have seen that fancy horizontal mitsubishi toaster on youtube but never one in store.

Yup. And we put 2 slices of bread with some cheese in between into them all the time. Easy to clean too.

The only thing that seems weird to me is "uncooked bread" reference by GGP - did their 12year old put a dough in the toaster?

We have one too. It's great. You can put anything in them. Super simple, though I suppose it lacks a timer.