Product test
Quiet, economical, effective: the Renew from Airthings keeps the air clean
by Martin Jungfer
Severin Sevento: This raclette grill promises more than it delivers
3.2.2026
Translation: machine translated
Pictures: Martin Jungfer
Raclette without the smell of cheese? The Severin Sevento is supposed to do the trick. But when tested, the downdraft technology fails miserably. Why the 200 francs grill doesn't deliver what it promises.
Spoiler: It doesn't work - at least when I look at objective data and the structure. But first things first.
When I take the Sevento out of the box, it makes a solid impression. The 4.7-kilogram weight makes quite an impression. It is a well-made device. The housing is dominated by plastic and thin sheet metal, but everything is nice and smooth and solidly screwed together. The grill plate alone weighs around 1.2 kilograms. It is coated with Xeradur 3. This is a marketing term used by ILAG AG from Wangen in the canton of Schwyz. It is a material without the permanent chemical PFAS and without PTFE (Teflon). Tests have shown that nothing sticks to the surface and the grill plate is easy to clean - by hand or in the dishwasher. If you are just a table grill fan, I can recommend the Sevento because of the grill plate. If only because the 30 x 30 centimetre surface offers enough space for cipollata and prawns or onions and courgettes.
But basically, the Sevento wants to be a raclette appliance. So it has to melt cheese. And it does - but only when it heats at the highest level, with an impressive 1900 watts. Only then do the heating coils below the grill plate and above the pan insert get hot enough. The distance between the heating element and the pans is around four centimetres. This also provides enough space for a «German raclette», where a pile of stuff is often layered in the pan and topped off with a slice of cheese.
The only problem is that the grill plate also gets very hot at the highest level 3. The temperatures cannot be regulated separately. This means that if someone at the table wants to melt cheese, the grill plate requires extra attention to ensure that nothing burns. Unfortunately, it doesn't help much to switch down from level 3 to 2. The top of the plate then cools down quite quickly from around 220 to 160 degrees. The cheese at the bottom sweats slightly at best.
In the price range between 150 and 200 francs, there are certainly appliances with two separate heat sources (for example the Stöckli pizza grill). They also impress with a stepless control dial. I would also prefer the Sevento to have a touch display in one corner that beeps annoyingly every time you tap it.
It sucks and blows
So far, the Sevento is not an outstanding raclette grill, although it is not particularly bad. The difference is supposed to be the suction mechanism, the «innovative downdraft technology», as the manufacturer boldly calls it. Well, it's basically a fan that draws the air through filters and then blows it out again. The fan is located at the bottom centre of the appliance. It works in two stages: weak and very weak.
In our household, there is a hob extractor on the cooker. When I cook something there, I can see the smoke being sucked in. I can feel the draught, a sheet of paper is sucked in quite firmly. With the Sevento, I feel nothing. Even a feather or a quarter of a grammes of darning wool lying on the grill surface right next to the round intake hole just stays put. Only when I nudge it does it make its way towards the intake filter.
The draught can be felt at the four small outlets at the corners. The air that has been blown through the two-stage filter comes out of these vents: a grease filter made of a stainless steel grid and an activated charcoal filter.
It is commendable that the manufacturer Severin includes two activated charcoal filters as replacements. It is recommended to clean the filter by hand with washing-up liquid after three to five raclette events - depending on «frying behaviour and grease development», as Severin wrote to me on request. «After prolonged use» it should be replaced.
Comparing the Severin filter with the filters on the hob or in the air purifier, I notice that it is comparatively coarse-pored. This means that it offers less surface area for odour molecules or grease to adhere to. Rapid saturation combined with low suction power may also explain why I can hardly detect any improvement in odour when testing.
The subjective feeling is confirmed by the measurement with air quality sensors. During grilling and melting, the fine dust content (PM 2.5) in the air in the living room increases significantly. If the Sevento were an effective vacuum cleaner, the curve would not rise so steeply.
The same is true for VOCs, harmful volatile organic compounds that are produced when frying with fat. Compared to raclette evenings with our appliance without the extractor function, there is no significant difference in particulate matter and VOC emissions. It may be that a small effect could be measured in a laboratory. In the everyday test and with the measured values described above, I don't see any.
Due to its design, the Sevento can hardly extract odours that arise when the cheese melts. To do this, the odour would have to find its way from the pan towards the surface of the grill plate to the suction opening. There is simply no extractor on the cheese level.
Lots of noise and space
Even if the Sevento were to work, you should bear two disadvantages in mind. Firstly, the appliance is quite a hulk. It needs space on the table. While a two metre long and 90 centimetre wide table would normally seat seven people very comfortably, with the Sevento there are only six. At almost 40 centimetres by 40 centimetres, it can hardly stand in the middle of the table.
Secondly, the fan is not exactly a quiet performer on the higher setting. I measured between 59 and 60 decibels. The humming and whirring is so loud that people at the table automatically speak a little louder to drown it out.
Ventilation and air purifier
If you want to have good air in your home again quickly after the raclette, the best thing to do is to ventilate. A large air exchange with open windows and doors will get rid of most of the odour
Alternatively, I recommend air purifiers that are equipped with fine dust filters. Good devices are equipped with sensors that ramp up the power in the event of increased pollution and capture all kinds of particles, including those with stinky molecules. The advantage of such cleaners is that they ensure permanently clean air, regardless of whether the problem is raclette, grass pollen, changing a pet's fur or pizza in the oven.
In a nutshell
Nice try, but nothing more
It may well be that the flat smells after a raclette evening. But the Sevento from Severin is not the solution to this problem. At best, it is a good idea to suck in odours directly at the source and filter them. But then it should also work. The suction power of the Severin is a joke. For the price, the space it takes up on the table and the noise it makes, I expected much more. The fact that it still gets two stars is due to the good, large grill plate and the fact that the appliance is very easy to clean.
Pro
- Space for eight pans, including parking space
- Can be cleaned in the dishwasher
- Replacement filter included in the scope of delivery
- Grill plate with non-stick coating and without PFAS
Contra
- No separate heating circuits
- Cheese only melts at the highest heating level
- No deduction on the cheese floor
- Odour and grease are hardly absorbed and filtered
- Takes up a lot of space on the table
- Loud when the fan is running at the highest level
Martin Jungfer
Head of Content
Martin.Jungfer@digitecgalaxus.chJournalist since 1997. Stopovers in Franconia (or the Franken region), Lake Constance, Obwalden, Nidwalden and Zurich. Father since 2014. Expert in editorial organisation and motivation. Focus on sustainability, home office tools, beautiful things for the home, creative toys and sports equipment.
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