Steelmade Flat Top

A plate is not an appliance, and that is the point

If you own a gas grill or a gas range, you already own burners, a frame, a gas supply and a footprint. The only thing missing from a flat top is the flat top.

A steel plate supplies it at a fraction of the cost of a dedicated griddle, with no second appliance to store, no second propane tank, and no additional patio or counter space consumed. For a lot of people searching for a griddle this is the right answer, and the industry has little incentive to say so.

Thickness is the only spec that matters here

A plate has no burners of its own, so BTU and heat density do not apply to it. What applies is thermal mass: how much heat the plate is holding, and therefore how far its surface temperature falls when cold food lands.

That is a function of thickness, and these plates are genuinely thick:

• Outdoor grill plate — 3/16 inch
• PRO Series Junior (30″ gas range) — 5/16 inch, around 51 lb
• PRO Series Original (30″ gas or electric coil range) — 3/8 inch, around 62 lb

For comparison: a Pit Boss Deluxe cooktop is 4.7 mm, roughly 3/16 inch. A 3/8-inch plate is about double that, and thicker than any freestanding griddle cooktop in this guide. Steelmade states its standard plate is 50% thicker than most dedicated griddles, which is consistent with those numbers.

The range plates are the most capable indoor flat top there is

An electric griddle is capped at roughly 1500 watts by the outlet. A plate on a gas range inherits the range’s full burner output, which is far more, and adds more thermal mass than any electric griddle has.

Which makes ventilation, not power, the binding constraint indoors — a flat top produces a lot of smoke, and this one can produce a lot of heat to go with it. Under a proper range hood it works well; on an unvented island it does not. Stovetop griddles in full.

What you give up

• The grill or the cooktop, while the plate is on it. Swapping needs somewhere to put a hot, heavy steel plate.
• Burner layout designed for a solid surface. Your grill’s burners were spaced for grates with gas flowing between them, so hot spots follow that layout more strongly. Mapping them matters more here than anywhere.
• Purpose-built grease management. The outdoor plate uses half-inch drain holes along the front edge — which at least puts grease where you can reach it, unlike rear-drain griddles — but you supply the catch.
• Weight. 51 to 62 lb on a range top is a load worth confirming your range can take, and a two-handed lift at an awkward height.

Which plate

Outdoor grill: the 3/16-inch outdoor plate. 30-inch gas range and you want maximum mass: the PRO Original at 3/8 inch. 30-inch gas range and 62 lb is too much to handle: the PRO Junior at 5/16 inch and 51 lb. Electric coil range: the PRO Original, which is the only one rated for it.

All of them are bare steel, so the full seasoning routine applies exactly as it would to a Blackstone top.