Eight pans, six seats, and one cable · review
A candle-powered fondue and raclette set with a pot, a dish, two forks, a spatula and four tealights.
The net of it The only candle machine on this shelf that does both jobs — a fondue pot to dip into and a raclette dish to scrape from — with four tealights in the box. Seven hundred and ten grams, no plug, and nothing to go wrong.
Fondue is a shared pot. Cheese melted with wine, held at a gentle simmer, and guests dip into it with long forks — which is why 2 fondue forks are in the box, and why fondue forks are long.
Raclette is individual. A slice of hard cheese melted in a small dish and scraped onto your own plate over potatoes, bread or meat. The word is the French for scrape, which is why a raclette spatula is in the box.
Two temperatures, two etiquettes — and the shelf divides on which items can do which:
Both: this · the GIVENEU at $109.99 and the ARLIME at $74.99, both with electric fondue pots on independent thermostats Raclette only: the Swissmar Nordic at $21.95 · the Artesà at $24.95 · the Hamilton Beach at $83.95, which despite sitting on a raclette-and-fondue shelf has no pot at all · the Swissmar Stelvio at $179.95 · the Louis Tellier at $259.99, which suspends a half wheel under an adjustable element Tableware: the two Swissmar porcelain items, which serve either
Independent thermostats are what the electric pair need and this does not, and the reason is instructive: cheese at a simmer and meat at a sear are a hundred degrees apart, so a single dial cannot do both. The GIVENEU says so directly — “Hold the cheese or chocolate at a gentle simmer on the inner circuit while running the outer grill at high heat for meat searing.”
Candles have no such problem because they only reach one temperature — which is the limitation and, for fondue, the advantage.
“Powered by tealight candles for gentle, even heating.”
A cheese fondue held too hot splits. The fat separates from the protein and you get an oily pool with strings in it, which is the classic failure of the dish.
Candles cannot overheat it. They reach the 50 to 60 °C that melts cheese and nothing like the 200 °C that browns meat — so there is no dial to get wrong.
What candles cannot do is recover. Add cold bread or a cold potato to a candle-heated pot and it takes minutes to come back, where the ARLIME’s 1800 W or the GIVENEU’s 1500 W does it in seconds.
Four is more than its candle rivals use, and the reason is that it heats two things. The Artesà at $24.95 uses 2 for one pan; the Swissmar Nordic at $21.95 uses 3 for one long dish; this heats a fondue pot and a raclette dish.
And a tealight runs three to four hours, so four of them set the length of an evening — a figure no page on this shelf publishes. The candles included will do one dinner, not a season. Buy a bag with it.
“Environment friendly” in bullet two is the one claim to read loosely: a tealight is paraffin or soya wax and burns to nothing, which is a fair enough statement next to an 1800 W appliance, and not a measurement.
The shelf, by weight:
Artesà — 300 g · Swissmar Nordic — 422 g · this — 710 g · Hamilton Beach — 3152 g · GIVENEU — 5321 g · ARLIME — 5443 g · Swissmar Stelvio — 7938 g
So the lightest electric machine here is four and a half times this, and the heaviest eleven times.
Which matters because of how often any of these is used. Christmas, a birthday, a winter evening — a handful of times a year, with the rest of the year in a cupboard. An eight-kilo appliance takes a shelf; a 710-gram set takes a drawer.
And the absence of a cord is the other half. Bullet two names the places: “tabletop cooking, picnics, camping”, and bullet four adds “outdoor dining”.
The electric machines cannot go to any of them. The ARLIME is the only one on this shelf to publish a cord length — “a 2.5 ft cord”, which is thirty inches — and a table grill thirty inches from a socket is a table grill next to a wall. No other electric item here publishes one at all, which is the specification that decides whether the thing works on your own table.
Three candle machines, three answers to the same problem, and this is the most complete: the Nordic folds to half its size for carrying, the Artesà comes in a gift box with a 5 year guarantee — the only warranty on this shelf — and this one brings both dishes and both sets of cutlery.
“Wipe unit clean with a damp cloth; handwash grill plate, raclette dish, and spatula in warm soapy water, then dry before storing.”
Hand wash only, where the shelf mostly goes in the dishwasher:
GIVENEU — the stainless fondue bowl, the forks, the raclette pans and the removable grill plate “all go straight into the dishwasher” Hamilton Beach — “The nonstick grill plate, raclette warming trays and accessories are all dishwasher safe” ARLIME — parts “detach fully for direct washing”, with “dishwasher-safe components” Swissmar Nordic — “Non-stick dish is dishwasher safe” Swissmar porcelain plates — both items state dishwasher safe
So this is the item on the shelf that asks for the most washing-up by hand — and melted cheese is the hardest thing on this shelf to wash off, because it sets to a rubber as it cools.
“Dry before storing” is the instruction that explains it. A base stand holding candles is steel, and steel left wet in a cupboard for eleven months rusts. Which is a real maintenance cost on an object used once or twice a year.
One practical habit the page does not give: wash it while the cheese is still warm. Cold set cheese needs soaking; warm cheese wipes.
Bullet three, the contents: “base stand, fondue pot, raclette dish, raclette spatula, 2 fondue forks, and 4 tealight candles.” No grill plate.
Bullet five, the cleaning: “handwash grill plate, raclette dish, and spatula.”
A grill plate in the instructions and not in the box. The likely explanation is text shared across a range — Swissmar sells several of these, including three other items on this very shelf — and the contents list is the specific one.
What it would mean if there were one is worth knowing, because it separates two classes on this shelf. A grill plate sears, and searing needs real heat. All four electric machines here have one: a double-sided plate on the ARLIME, a plate and a granite stone on the GIVENEU, a dual-texture grill/griddle on the Hamilton Beach, a granite stone / crepe top on the Stelvio.
Candles cannot sear. So even if a plate is in this box, it would be a surface to keep food warm on.
The honest reading is the title’s: fondue and raclette, with no cooking of raw food at all. Which is a complete proposition for two people, and not a grill.
No fondue pot capacity. The GIVENEU publishes 600 ml of stainless steel; the ARLIME publishes a 304 stainless steel pot. This publishes neither a volume nor a material — and volume is what tells you whether two people or four can dip from it.
No number of people. Two fondue forks is the only clue, so two. The four electric machines here all state 8; the Louis Tellier states 6 to 8; the Artesà states 2 in its title.
No dimensions beyond the catalog weight.
No candle burn time, as above.
No warranty, which nine of ten items on this shelf omit — the Artesà at $24.95 being the only exception, with five years.
No materials for the dish or the pot. “Non-stick” is not even claimed here, where the Nordic’s dish, the Artesà’s pan, the GIVENEU’s plate and pans and the Hamilton Beach’s plate and trays all are.
No fuel included beyond the first four candles, and no statement of what size tealight fits — which matters, because a stand sized for a standard tealight will not take a larger one.
Read on the day this page was built: $35 at the American Amazon shop.
Read from Keepa on the day this page was last revised; stock and price both move without notice.
Prices quoted in this text were read on 2026-10-05. The live price is at the top of the page.
Same shelf, nearest cost — where the same money else goes.
| Does both jobs | A fondue pot to dip into and a raclette dish to scrape from |
|---|---|
| Heat source | Tealight candles — four included, no electricity |
| In the box | A base stand, a fondue pot, a raclette dish, a spatula, 2 fondue forks, 4 candles |
| Fondue forks | Two, so it serves two |
| Weight | 710 g (25 oz) |
| Cleaning | Wipe the unit; hand wash the plate, dish and spatula |
| Named uses | Cosy dinners, small gatherings, tabletop cooking, picnics, camping |
| Price | $34.95 |
| Reference | KF-00448 |
| Dishwasher | No — hand wash is stated |
| Grill plate | A grill plate is named in the cleaning bullet but not in the contents |
| Capacity | Not published for the fondue pot |
| Warranty | Not published |
| Candle burn time | Not published |
| Amazon reference | B0FFCXKN83 |
| EAN | 5061005674448 |
What the cheese does and who moves it, and this is the only candle machine on the shelf that does both. Fondue is a shared pot. Cheese is melted with wine and held at a gentle simmer, and guests dip into it with long forks — which is why this set includes 2 fondue forks, and why the forks are long. Raclette is individual. A slice of hard cheese is melted in a small pan or dish and then scraped onto your own plate over potatoes, bread or meat — the word is the French for scrape, which is why a raclette spatula is in the box. Two different temperatures and two different etiquettes. And the shelf divides on which items can do which. Both: this, the GIVENEU at $109.99 and the ARLIME at $74.99, the last two with electric fondue pots on independent thermostats — necessary, because cheese at a simmer and meat at a sear are a hundred degrees apart. Raclette only: the Swissmar Nordic at $21.95, the Artesà at $24.95, the Hamilton Beach at $83.95 — which despite being on a raclette-and-fondue shelf has no pot at all — the Swissmar Stelvio at $179.95, and the Louis Tellier at $259.99, which does it the oldest way of all by suspending a half wheel under an adjustable element. Tableware: the two Swissmar porcelain items, which serve either.
Because it heats two things at once, and that is the honest arithmetic. Bullet three lists "4 tealight candles" in the box. The Artesà at $24.95 uses 2 and heats one pan. The Swissmar Nordic at $21.95 uses 3 and heats one long dish. This heats a fondue pot and a raclette dish, so it needs more flame — and bullet two makes the quality claim rather than the quantity one: "Powered by tealight candles for gentle, even heating." Gentle is the right word for fondue. A cheese fondue held too hot splits — the fat separates from the protein and you get an oily pool with strings in it, which is the classic failure. Candles cannot overheat it, which is a genuine advantage over an electric pot that has to be dialed down. What candles cannot do is come back up quickly. Add cold bread or a cold potato to a candle-heated pot and it takes minutes to recover, where the ARLIME’s 1800 W or the GIVENEU’s 1500 W does it in seconds. And a tealight runs three to four hours, so four of them set the length of an evening — a figure no page on this shelf publishes. Buy a bag. The candles included will do one dinner, not a season.
The page says both things, and the contents list is the one to trust. Bullet three, the contents: "base stand, fondue pot, raclette dish, raclette spatula, 2 fondue forks, and 4 tealight candles." No grill plate. Bullet five, the cleaning instructions: "handwash grill plate, raclette dish, and spatula in warm soapy water." A grill plate that appears only in the washing-up. The likely explanation is shared text across a product range — Swissmar sells several of these — and the contents list is the specific one. What it would mean if there were one is worth knowing, because it is the difference between two product classes on this shelf. A grill plate sears, and searing needs real heat: the four electric machines here all have one — a double-sided plate on the ARLIME, a plate and a granite stone on the GIVENEU, a dual-texture grill/griddle on the Hamilton Beach, a granite stone / crepe top on the Stelvio. Candles cannot sear. They reach the 50 to 60 °C (122 to 140 °F) that melts cheese and nothing like the 200 °C (392 °F) that browns meat. So even if a plate is in the box, it would be a surface to keep food warm on rather than a grill — and the honest reading of this set is the one the title gives: fondue and raclette, with no cooking of raw food at all.
Details checked on October 5, 2026.
Two people who want fondue one week and raclette the next, with no socket
Specifications: the manufacturer sheet for kitchen appliances and the matching Amazon product page. Prices and availability: Keepa. Every figure on this page names its source.
8 seats · 1,300 W · stepless dial
Eight non-stick pans and four wooden spatulas, 1,300 W, with a side dial giving stepless temperature over the plate and the pans together. The non-stick grill plate lifts off and HengBO states it fits in the sink; the maker also states low smoke and odor for indoor use.
Best for: Eight people around a table, in a flat where smoke matters.
12 seats · 1,650 W · 3 plates + fondue
Fonduelette XL: raclette, grill and fondue in one, for up to twelve people, at 1,650 W across three separate stainless heating elements. Three interchangeable tops — metal, natural stone and a crêpe plate — twelve raclette pans, and a lid that holds the fondue forks upright.
Best for: A long table at Christmas, where raclette, grilling and fondue all happen at once.
2–6 people · Ø 30 cm (11.8 in) stone plate
A compact raclette and grill for two to six people, built around a round natural stone plate of 30 cm (11.8 in). Princess publishes something rare in this family: a cleaning routine per component, a stated preheat of about ten minutes, an instruction not to use metal utensils, and color-coded pans so people keep their own.
Best for: Two to six at a small table, and a plate that will not lose its coating because it has none.
