The 4 Best Tabletop Grills That You Can Take Anywhere

A tabletop grill can be a great addition to your BBQ party or camping trip. Unlike regular grills, tabletop grills are compact enough to be carried around and set up on a counter or table. This’ll allow you to cook your meals to perfection no matter where you are. But which tabletop grill is the best one for you?

In this article, we’ve included the 4 best tabletop grills on the market today so that you can enjoy cooking or grilling wherever you go.

How to Pick The Right Tabletop Grill for Your Home?

One person’s needs always differ from another’s and that’s why you should consider the following aspects when picking a tabletop grill that suits you and your needs:

Size

The best thing about tabletop grills is that they can fit in tight spaces. So what you need to keep in mind is the space you intend to use your grill in. Make sure that the grill is not too big or bulky for your tabletop.

Also consider if you’ll be taking the grill with you camping, for example. You wouldn’t want a heavy grill if you plan to carry it around a lot.

Heating Method

We’ve included one grill in this article that is heated through charcoal, not gas. This can give your food a nice smoky flavor. However, it’s definitely harder to clean and maintain than gas grills. So think about whether or not you’d be bothered by having to clean charcoal ash out of your grill every time you use it.

Heating Distribution

Simultaneously grilling a few items at the same time could save you a lot of time. However, sometimes you may need different temperatures for each item and that could be a problem if your grill only has one burner. Buying a grill with multiple burners could give you more control over what you’re cooking.

You also want to make sure that if the grill has multiple burners, that they are distributed well throughout the cooking area. The proper heat distribution will spare you the inconvenience of having some of your food cooked and ready while the rest of it remains undercooked.

Cooking Space

One more thing that’s very important to consider before making your choice is the size of the cooking area your grill provides. This mainly depends on the number of people you usually cook for. The larger that number, the larger you’ll need your grill to be.

How We Picked The Best Tabletop Grills

Here are some of the criteria we’ve considered in our choices: cooking area, number of burners, price, rating

4 Best Tabletop Grills – The Reviews

After tons of extensive thorough research, we’ve compiled a list of the strongest 4 contenders of the title of the Best Tabletop Grills. Fully-Detailed reviews can be found below.

Cuisinart CGG-180T Petit Gourmet Portable Tabletop Gas Grill

Features:

• Cooking area: 145 square inches
• Number of burners: 1
• BTU power: 5,500 BTUs

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This tabletop grill from Cuisineart is light and compact enough to fit in and onto small spaces. It still has a large cooking space of 145 square-inches, regardless, and can take up to 8 burgers at the same time.

The stainless steel burner is large enough to provide even heating for the whole cooking space while the porcelain-enameled grate retains heat well for a nice sear.

The grill has foldaway aluminum legs that make it very easy to store while keeping it stable while in use. It’s also designed to mimic a large briefcase in terms that it can be locked closed and carried around using the attached handle.

Pros

• Very light at only 13.5 lbs in weight
• Comes with porcelain-enameled grates
• Provides even heating throughout the cooking area
• Has foldable aluminum legs
• Carrying handle makes it easy to carry and move around
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Cons

• The lid and handles may warp from extreme heat
• Burners don’t light up on the first try
• Flimsy due to the thin stainless steel construction

Cuisinart CGG-306 Professional Tabletop Gas Grill

Features:

• Cooking area: 276 square inches
• Number of burners: 2
• BTU power: 20,000 BTUs

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This larger model form Cuisineart has almost double the cooking space and almost 4 times as much heating power. The grill is equipped with a powerful burner system of two burners that provide 20,000 BTUs in total.

The grill requires no assembly on delivery. It’s actually fully made out of stainless steel which makes it extra rugged and durable. All that while remaining light at only 22 lbs.

Since the burners have separate control knobs, with this grill you could simultaneously grill two different items next to each other at the same time. It’s very easy to control the heat since the grill has a very wide temperature range fitting for different foods.

Pros

• Has two separate burners with separate controls
• Heats up fast
• Has a powerful burner system that delivers 10,000 BTUs per burner
• Sturdy construction made out of stainless steel 
• Allows for simultaneous grilling

Cons

• The shallow bottom could accumulate grease before it’s drained
• It can be difficult to maintain low temperatures
• The thermometer may start to cloud from the heat
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Coleman Roadtrip 225 Portable Propane Grill

Features:

• Cooking area: 225 square inches
• Number of burners: 2 (concentric)
• BTU power: 11,000 BTUs

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This Coleman grill doubles as a stovetop. You can remove part of the cast-iron grate – or all of it – and place a girdle in. On that girdle, you could place a pan or a pot and cook a delicious stew next to your BBQ.

The 225 square-inch cooking area is equipped with 2 burners that loop around each other to cover the whole bottom pan. This allows you to get a good sear on your meat while also allowing you to grill at very low temperatures for juicy meals.

The water pan below catches the grease so you never have to worry about it accumulating and giving your food a burnt flavor.

Pros

• Has a removable water pan that collects grease
• Comes with cast-iron grates
• Grates are interchangeable with girdles
• Doubles as a stove
• Can maintain very low temperatures for slow cooking

Cons

• Burners are concentric and cover the same cooking area
• Emptying the drip pan tends to get messy
• The lid latch fails to stay locked

Char-Griller E22424 Tabletop Charcoal Grill and Side Fire Box

Features:

• Cooking area: 250 square inches
• Number of burners: non-applicable
• BTU power: non-applicable

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This Char-Griller grill is a bit different in the sense that it’s not powered by propane. Instead, it heats up the old-fashioned way – with charcoal. It has a barrel design that can allow you to turn your grill into a horizontal Texas-style smoker.

The grill provides a 250 inch-square cooking space within its heavy steel construction. It has a removable ash pan that collects the charcoal’s ash and slides right out for easy cleaning.

The grill box has two air vents on either side; one at the bottom and one at the top to ensure proper air circulation when needed. The vents can also be shut whenever you want to use your grill as a smoker.

Pros

• Can be used as a horizontal Texas-style smoker
• Comes with a removable ash pan for easy cleaning
• Has two air vents for air circulation
• Can be fitted to other fire-boxes
• Lid handle remains cool to the touch

Cons

• The whole grill’s paint isn’t heat-proof
• The steel tends to rust by time
• Very little temperature control

Wrap up

Tabletop grills can be very convenient and handy, but ly if you pick the right model. After considering the points mentioned above and all the models we’ve included, picking a suitable grill should become a much easier task.

We personally think that the Char-Griller offers the best value for its price. It’s not a gas grill, however, and you may lean towards buying a gas grill instead, simply because of how much easier it is to clean and keep the mess contained.
In that case, we recommend the Cuisinart CGG-306 stainless steel grill. It’s by far the best grill on this list. It’s durable, has adequate cooking space, and is compact enough to be conveniently portable.