Abstract: A contact grill includes upper and lower grill assemblies connected together by a hinge assembly. Contact grills of the present invention are advantageously easier to clean including components that can be submerged in water or washed within a dishwasher. In one aspect of the present invention, the upper and lower grill assemblies are fully separable from one another and from the hinge assembly so that the upper and lower grill assemblies, each comprising a housing, grill plate, and heating element, are free of electrical components so that they can be submerged or washed in a dishwasher. In another aspect of the present invention, upper and lower grill plates that are assembled with respective upper and lower heating elements are separable from an assembly of upper and lower housings connected together with a hinge assembly.

Abstract: An electrical appliance includes a controller operatively connected to a power circuit, a control circuit, a power source, a sensor for sensing a parameter level, and an active element. The controller is configured to receive an input of the parameter level from the sensor and to output a duty cycle for controlling a power level of the active element via the control circuit at various times to achieve a target set point of the parameter, the duty cycle based on proportional and integral control. The controller uses the proportional control and the integral control when the control circuit is energized, and accumulates integral error only when a parameter process variable sensed by the sensor is determined to be within an interval of the target set point.

Abstract: A modular cooking appliance includes a cooking vessel having a bowl unit, a lower portion of the bowl unit in contact with a heating unit having an electrical connection, a base unit attachable to and configured to support the cooking vessel, and a control unit operatively connected to the electric connection of the heating unit. The control unit includes one or more controls, and the control unit is configured to interface with and selectively provide power to the heating unit via the electrical connection such that the bowl unit of the cooking vessel is selectively heatable by the heating unit.

Abstract: Slow cookers are described that have multiple cooking modes that are based on user selected choices, including the cooking mode and the desired doneness or temperature of the food product to be cooked. Preferably, plural cooking modes are provided to be selected that include the use of a temperature probe to provided temperature feedback information. A control module can be mounted to the slow cooking and programmed to control the multiple cooking modes and the temperature probe can be operatively connected to the control module to provide sensed temperature data for use in the various cooking modes. Preferably, the cooking modes using the temperature probe include the heating of a cooking vessel within the slow cooker for heating the food product or a liquid within the cooking vessel to a desired temperature and to permit the user greater flexibility in cooking options and to vary option at time during the cooking processes.