8 Best Grill Presses of 2026

A pound of cast iron, 6.5 inches across, one piece, no coating to wear through: this is the press most people picture when they think about smashing a burger, and the reason it turns up in so many kitchens is that there’s nothing to go wrong. No assembly, no seasoning out of the box, no parts to lose.

At 16 ounces it’s roughly half the weight of our top pick, and you feel that at the griddle. The iron doesn’t press for you; you press with it. For a single patty in a skillet that’s fine, and the flat rim lets you work the edges down for the lacy, caramelized border that makes a smash worth the trouble. In a small pan, though, the 6.5-inch face fills most of the cooking surface.

The handle is cast iron too, cast in one piece with the plate, so it heats along with everything else. A folded towel stays next to the stove when this one comes out. It’s hand wash only, and a bare patty sticks unless you oil the face or slide parchment underneath.

What we think of it comes down to volume. This is the press for someone making two or three burgers at a time who wants a solid tool without much outlay. If you work a big flat top with a row of patties, a heavier, wider press saves your wrist. We keep this one as the honest, simple option, as long as you don’t expect it to thin a patty without any effort from you.

Steel rather than iron is the whole argument for this one, and it’s a good one: 304 stainless, 2.5 mm thick, with a silicone-covered handle, and none of the dry-and-oil ritual that comes with cast iron. We’ve watched iron presses go furry in a damp kitchen. This one gets rinsed, dried when we remember, and occasionally thrown in the dishwasher.

The 5.5-inch face is the smallest in this guide, so it’s a one-patty tool: a quarter-pound ball spreads nearly to the edges, a half-pounder climbs the sides. At 14.4 ounces it won’t press for you the way a two-pound iron will, and you supply the muscle. The plate itself doesn’t flex when you lean in, which is what separates a real smasher from a flimsy disc.

It’s also the one we hand to someone who has never smashed a burger. The polished face releases better than raw iron, cleanup is a wipe, and there’s no learning curve around seasoning. The trade is thermal mass: iron keeps the surface sizzling when cold meat lands on it, and thin steel doesn’t. On a hot griddle that barely matters. On a cooler pan, press and lift rather than leaving it sitting.

Ten inches by five and a half is a lot of cooking surface in one hand, and that’s the point. This press covers two patties at once, or a full row of bacon, or four sausage links, without you shuffling it around the griddle. On a flat top it’s the piece that turns cooking into batch cooking.

The bottom is smooth rather than grooved, which is what you want for a smash: full contact, no ridges cutting into the crust. The iron comes pre-seasoned, so it behaves like a well-used skillet from the first cook. A heat-insulated rubber handle keeps your hand out of the worst of it, though the listing caps the press at 500 °F, which is worth remembering before you park it on a ripping griddle with the lid down.

Where we land: this is the press for someone who already owns a griddle and cooks for a crowd, not the first press for a two-person kitchen. At close to three pounds, the iron does the pressing while you get on with the next thing, and that’s a genuine luxury on a wide cooking surface. Check that the plate sits flat against the counter before the first cook; a slab this wide has to be true to press evenly.

Seven inches of cast iron at 2.82 pounds, and the lowest price of any heavy round press in this guide, is a strong opening for a tool that lives in a drawer. It presses as well as anything we used: the weight lands, the patty spreads, and you don’t have to lean on it. The grooves are the catch. They leave faint lines, drain a little fat, and give a bare patty more edges to grab, so this face sticks more than a smooth one does.

Cast iron being cast iron, it wants drying on the spot and a thin coat of oil, which is the routine that keeps rust off every iron press in this list. The wooden handle stays comfortable and cool, though it has to come off for a full re-season. For a first press, or a second one for the camp grill, this is where we think the value sits.

Small is the first thing to know. At 6.75 by 4.5 inches this covers two rashers of bacon but not their full length, and it won’t span a wide skillet. Set against that, it’s the press that fits where the big rectangles don’t: inside a cast iron pan, over a sandwich, across a couple of pork chops. At 2.9 pounds you place it and walk away.

We like it best as a sandwich and bacon press rather than a smasher. The rectangle is narrow for spreading a patty, and its weight is better at holding food flat than at driving it down. The spiral handle is comfortable and, on a stovetop, stays cool enough to grab bare-handed. On a closed gas grill it doesn’t; the handle gets hot enough to sting, and a glove stops being optional.

Two bolts hold the handle on, and it arrives needing assembly, a two-minute job that some people find fiddly. The iron is pre-seasoned with vegetable oil and made in the US, and like every press here it wants drying and a wipe of oil after washing. If your cooking happens in skillets rather than on a flat top, this is the shape to own.

No grooves, no rim, no design pressed into the face, just a flat disc, which is exactly what you want under a smash. The 6.5-inch face matches the patty size most of us cook, and the pre-seasoned iron is smooth enough that a burger releases cleanly once the plate is warm.

At 1.74 pounds it’s light enough to lift and set down repeatedly without thinking about it, and the wooden handle stays cool through a batch. That’s the appeal: a plain, well-finished smasher for less than the big sets, with nothing on it you don’t need. It’s not the press to choose if you also want to flatten bacon, since six and a half inches of round iron doesn’t cover much, and it spots if you leave it wet. As a second press for a small kitchen, we’re glad to have it in the drawer.

If the two-piece idea appeals and the top pick’s price doesn’t, this is the same shape of kit: a 6.9-inch round and an 8.2 x 4.2-inch rectangle, 2.1 pounds of cast iron, wooden handles, no chemical coatings. It’s the set we point to when someone wants both jobs covered cheaply.

The differences are in the face and the finish. Both plates are grooved, which is fine for bacon and steaks and less ideal for a smash, because the ridges break contact and give the patty somewhere to grab. The iron also arrives wanting a proper coat of oil before its first cook, and cast iron this size will rust on a rack if you leave it wet.

Where it earns its place is coverage: two presses, two shapes, one purchase, and a broad wooden handle that sits comfortably in the hand. Where it loses to the top pick is the flat face and the peace of mind. Neither is a dealbreaker if you’re the sort who dries tools before putting them away.

Our take after using both: the round here smashes well enough for a weeknight burger, and the rectangle earns its keep on bacon and grilled sandwiches. If the choice is this set or nothing, buy this one. If you can stretch to the flat-faced pair, that’s the one we reach for.