The Best Flat Top Griddles

Rust is the thing that ruins most griddles, and the Slate is built around it. Weber pre-seasons the carbon steel top and treats it to resist rust, so it's ready to cook on out of the box, and owners who leave theirs outside say it has stayed clean. One cook in South Florida put it next to a Blackstone that had rusted badly; the Weber hadn't. I'd still lay down a few thin coats of oil before the first cook.

Three burners heat 540 square inches past 400°F in a few minutes, and pancakes and fried eggs slide right off. Bacon doesn't leave that sticky film you scrape at on other tops either. The grease tray pulls out at the front, 2.5 inches deep, which is easier than pushing everything to the back. The display on the front reads the surface temperature, more or less: it can sit 60 to 70 degrees under what an infrared thermometer finds in the hot spots, and the steel over each burner tube runs 30 to 50 degrees hotter than the strip between them. Use the display as a rough guide.

Weber covers the cookbox, burners and cooktop for five years, but not rust on the cooktop. That's worth knowing, given the name.

The Daytona has the biggest cooktop in this guide, 756 square inches, and Nexgrill says that holds 12 to 15 burgers or six to eight big steaks. What it does better than the Blackstone is keep its zones apart: with half the burners on high and half on low, the hot side runs about 120 degrees hotter than the cool side, against 88 on the Blackstone. That's the gap between a seared burger and a burnt bun.

It comes with a steel lid, two side tables, a bin for spatulas and tongs, and four locking wheels. Grease goes out the side into a removable tray. The lid isn't tight, though. Rain can get in overnight, so I'd still buy a cover. Some owners also find the top isn't perfectly flat, with a slight hump toward the middle.

Most griddles hang the steel above open burners, and a breeze carries the heat away. Traeger sinks the 33-by-18-inch top down into the body instead, so the flames sit in a sheltered box, and the three U-shaped burners cover about twice as much of the underside as the burners on a standard patio griddle. The result is a cooktop with no real hot or cold spots, which is the thing pancake people care about most. Run one or two zones for a quick lunch and you save propane.

There's a propane gauge on the front, so you don't run dry halfway through a batch of chopped cheese sandwiches, and lights that tell you which burners are lit. Those need power, though: the igniter runs on a 9-volt battery or a wall plug, and the gauge and lights only work when it's plugged in. At 189 pounds it isn't going anywhere. Traeger says it takes 24 burgers and backs it for five years. Mind your hands at the grease drain in front, where hot air comes out while you cook.

Two H-shaped burners, each with its own knob, give you two zones on 361 square inches, and Blackstone says that's room for 14 burgers. Bacon on one side and eggs on the other works the same way it does on the big one. The hood closes over the top when you're done and keeps the steel from getting scratched. Setup takes about two minutes: screw on four rubber feet, drop the top on and clip the grease cup to the back.

It runs on a 1-pound propane bottle out of the box. For backyard use, buy Blackstone's adapter hose for a 20-pound tank, or you'll be swapping little bottles all evening. The feet don't adjust, so on a lopsided picnic table the grease runs where it wants. Honestly, for anyone who already has a big griddle at home, this is the second one I'd get.