The heat comes from below on the grilling plate (grilling), in the pans the heat comes from above (gratinating), as the pans and the grilling plate are heated by the same heating element. If you want to heat a pan from below, you can simply place it on the grill plate. The second lower level is not heated and is used to ‘park’ the empty pans.
RACLETTE ALL - Is there a (switchable) bottom heat setting?
