I have a Griddler and have used it many times. I've never had anything seep under the plates and onto or near the coils. How is the "mess" getting to the coils?

Thanks sowngrow for your response.

I guess it overflows although I've been diligent in the use of the drainage cups.

Perhaps you're using yours for cooking things I haven't used mine for as I've used mine mainly for making panini sandwiches and quesadillas. The only thing I've found to remove grease from metal is a Brillo pad, but I don't know if that would hurt the coils ultimately. Sorry, I'm not much help on this...

I was just googling and came upon this response..am wondering if anyone figured it out..actually calling Cuisinart now about it...I love my griddler and want it to be nice and clean!

One reason I chose a Foreman grill was that it did not have coils behind it to catch dirt and grease. Greasy air flows out from the griddle and over the coils and dirties them. Review sites say that if you use it for bacon the grease overflows onto the coils as the sides are not very high to contain it and let if flow into the drip cup.

The coils are steel, not aluminum right? I've used oven cleaner to clean the metal parts on the outside of my waffle maker and this trick might work for the coils. Just spritz the coils. Let sit. And rinse.