Outdoor Flat-Top Grills

A FLAT-TOP GRILL is similar to a traditional grill (it’s propane powered and meant for outdoor use), but it features a carbon-steel sheet instead of cooking grates. In recent years, the popularity of flat-top grills has surged. A 2018 article by Popular Science reports that manufacturers have seen a 150 to 600 percent increase in sales.

To find out which model was best, we selected four grills, priced from about $170 to around $350. Three models had four burners under their rectangular cooktops, and one model had just two burners and a round cooktop. On each grill, we made pancakes, bacon, and eggs over easy;