Nexgrill 4-Burner Gas Powered Flat Top Griddle Grill

As my cooking interest has grown over the years, I realized I needed more cooking options to be both prepare the different dishes and save time. I have a propane infrared grill which has been great, but it just can’t do some of the things I wanted to do, namely smash burgers and breakfast. So I purchased this Nexgrill 4-Burner Gas Powered Flat Top Griddle Grill from BJ’s Wholesale Club.

My absolute favorite meal is a nice juicy hamburger with a side of fries and I wanted to be able to make a varied style of burgers. 1/3 lb burgers on the grill are still going to be my go to, but it’s nice to switch it up with a crispy, cheesy smash burger now and again.

My family, however, demands pancakes and bacon virtually every weekend. Cooking breakfast is quite the multitasking process when you’re cooking 3 different things for 6 people. Preheat the oven. Get the bacon on two baking sheets because they don’t fit on one. Get two skillets heating up on the range. Put the bacon in the oven. Make the pancake batter. Butter one skillet and get the sausage in the other skillet. Oh, wait I forgot the homemade blueberry syrup. Get that started… you get the point. Doing all the steps in the right order so all the food finishes at the same time and dirty about 15 dishes. But not anymore.

Look at that. I can cook everything at the same time, in the same place. No more running laps in the kitchen or forgetting about the bacon in the oven to burn it. The convenience factor is huge for me and this griddle exceeded all of my expectations. Not only was it easier to cook, everything cooked faster, too.

Next, I tried my hand at being a hibachi chef. Who hasn’t wanted to catch an egg in their hat and make an onion volcano?

This was another fun easy experience. I chopped and seasoned everything with salt and pepper before throwing it on the grill. I piled the veggies up, poured come water on them, then covered them with the metal dome. That steamed them very nicely in just a couple of minutes. Then I let them get some color on the grill. As for the chicken, I cooked that almost completely then covered it in Bachan’s Japanese Barbecue Sauce (which is excellent) and let it finish cooking in that. I put all of that on top of rice in a dinner bowl. And the best part is the whole thing is under 700 calories!

In truth, I also tried my hand at some smash burgers, but I broke one of my spatulas halfway through. Don’t buy cheap spatulas on Amazon if you can avoid it…

Conclusion

Pros

• Affordable. Only spent $250 at BJ’s Wholsale Club for this grill, which is much cheaper than some counterparts.
• Easy to put together. Most of the grill comes assembled but a few parts need to be attached.
• The grill top makes the whole thing a little heavy though, about 130 lbs.
• Low maintenance and easy to clean. Wash with soap and water before first use. After that you wipe off all of your cooking residue into the trap, which is huge to catch anything you would have in one cooking session. Then just season with oil.

Cons

• Hot/cold spots. There are definitely spots on the grill that get hotter than others. When I first seasoned the grill there was one corner that basically got no heat and was still wet with the oil. There is quite a large gap between the cooking surface and the gas which lets out a lot of heat and let’s air pass through. If you’re trying to use it in a particularly windy day, you may have trouble keeping the griddle hot.

Overall: 4/5
This grill is fantastic, especially for the price. While the one con may not a big one, I haven’t had much trouble overcoming the heat dispersion issue. Highly recommend for someone looking to cook more outside and keep the cooking smells out of their house.

I also found the same grill at Home Depot here, a slightly smaller 2-burner one here, and an upgraded one with a lid here.

Cheers and happy grilling!