I was given a George Foreman grill for Xmas some years ago, the one that looks like a little iMac. I didn't use it much for a couple of years, but broke it out one day and made a great grilled cheese sandwich with it. I now use it all the time. I think it's great for grilled cheese, ham & cheese and other hot sammiches. For the cheeses, I'll use American, swiss, provolone... my grocery sells what they call "enchilada muenster", which sounds odd, but is a great soft, white cheese that melts wonderfully.
As for cooking a pot of beans, I use anasazi beans from this company:
http://www.anasazibeans.com/
Adobe Milling Co. is in Dove Creek, Colorado, pinto bean capital of the world. Their beans rock. The anasazis don't need soaking before cooking, cook faster, taste better, and produce much less erm, gas, than pintos (don't get me wrong, Adobe's pinto beans rock too). I usually cook them with three tablespoons of Adobe's bacon bean spice (which does have a good bit of salt in it), a ham bone or some ham hocks or such, a chopped onion, some garlic, and chile pequins. I do them in a crock pot set on low for eight hours, perfect every time. They're so good I sometimes put chili in them.
If you break the cheddar up some, or ideally grate it, it does fine. My cheese of choice for grilled cheese is a very sharp cheddar. A very little bit of something like parmaggian can be great as an accent but is definitely not necessary. 
