Best Indoor Grills of 2026

The second plate is the whole argument for this grill. Swap the grill plate for the flat griddle and the same machine turns out pancakes, eggs and smash burgers; swap back and you have 500F of sear for a strip steak. Of everything here, it is the one we reach for when a kitchen has room for exactly one hot appliance.

Both plates are 14 inches across, which the listing puts at half a dozen burgers or pancakes, and both go in the dishwasher along with the perforated mesh lid. That lid is the smoke control: it cuts splatter and knocks down a lot of the haze, though this is not the cleanest-burning grill in this group when you are rendering fat at 500F. Keep the vent fan running and do not wander off.

At 7.8 pounds and roughly 15 inches across, it tucks onto a shelf with the plates stacked beneath it, which we appreciated more than we expected, since two 14-inch plates take up more cupboard space than one. Edge-to-edge heating also means a full load of vegetables browns out to the corners rather than just in the middle.

Smoke is the reason an indoor grill ends up in a cupboard, so it was the first thing we paid attention to. Hamilton Beach's answer is a hinged hood that closes over the grate: it keeps spatter off the backsplash, holds heat around the food, and lets the bars press proper grill marks into a steak instead of leaving pale stripes.

Under the hood sits a 118-square-inch nonstick grate and a dial that runs to 450F across six settings, hot enough to brown a chop and low enough to cook chicken through without charring the outside first. Power and preheat lights take care of the guesswork. Think of it as a two-to-four-person surface: a couple of steaks, a tray of thighs, a pile of peppers with room to turn them.

Cleaning is where it quietly wins. The grate, the hood and the extra-large drip tray all lift off and are dishwasher-safe, and the coating is PFAS-free. The housing is stamped metal and wipes down in seconds. Nothing here feels premium, but nothing has to.

Where it stops: if you mostly want pressed sandwiches, a clamshell is quicker and tidier. For a household that wants a real sear indoors without opening every window in the house, though, this is the grill we keep coming back to, and the one we hand to friends who ask what to buy.

Twenty-five pounds and 16 inches tall is the first thing to know: this is an appliance that claims a spot and keeps it. If there are cabinets above your counter, measure the clearance before you order, because you will want room to open the lid without pulling the whole unit forward.

What that bulk buys is capacity. The grate takes six steaks or two dozen hot dogs, and the same machine air-fries, roasts, bakes, broils and dehydrates at up to 500F, with cyclonic hot air doing the work of a fan oven while the grate holds a sear.

The smart thermometer is the real differentiator: four protein settings and nine doneness levels, aimed at people who do not want to poke at a pork loin. It is also the part we trust least out of the box, so check it against an instant-read thermometer on the first cook and you will know whether yours reads true.

For a family that wants grilled chicken on Tuesday and air-fried wings on Friday without lighting anything outdoors, this is the most capable machine here. For grill marks alone, the Ninja Sizzle does the same sear with a fraction of the bulk and the cost.

There is no dial on this one, it is on or it is off, and that single fact shapes how you cook on it. The floating hinge lifts to take thicker food, the plates close on both sides at once, and 60 square inches is a genuine dinner for two, whether that is burgers, chicken breasts or a very good grilled cheese.

What makes it the budget pick here is the plates: they pop off and go in the dishwasher, which is the difference between a contact grill you use and one you avoid. That is what separates it from the fixed-plate clamshell further down this list, and with 1,800 watts it comes up to heat quickly.

Two things to know before you buy. The sloped surface that drains fat also lets thin slices slide toward the drip tray, so keep an eye on bacon. And with no heat adjustment, thick cuts want a thermometer and a look at the clock rather than a setting. Neither is a dealbreaker at this end of the price range: the trade buys you speed and plates you can actually wash.

At 15 by 9 inches, this is the biggest cooking surface in the group, enough for a full batch of kebabs or four burgers with room to turn them. It is also 21 inches wide, so it wants a stretch of counter rather than a corner.

The smoke control is a water-filled drip tray. You fill it, the fat drips in, and the water keeps grease from burning onto a hot plate; the pyramid-pattern grate lifts food clear of the runoff. Heat is adjustable from low to high, and the whole unit is 5.4 pounds, light enough to lift into a cabinet when you are done.

For the money, this is the most surface you can put on a counter, and it is what we suggest to someone feeding four people from a small kitchen. Treat the smokeless claim as a starting point rather than a promise, since anything that sears will smoke a little, and remember the tray needs filling before every cook.

Hamilton Beach's other indoor grill is the mirror image of our top pick: a clamshell that presses both sides of the food at once instead of an open grate under a hood. Ninety square inches, a floating hinge that adjusts to thickness, one heat setting and 1,200 watts.

For a sandwich, a thin chicken breast or a reheated slice of pizza, the contact design is quicker and neater than an open grill, and it is the one we hand to people who want dinner in ten minutes and do not care about char. It will not put a crust on a thick steak, because closing the lid steams more than it sears.

Cleaning is the catch. The plate is fixed and does not go in the dishwasher, though the drip tray does. Wipe the plate with a damp cloth while it is still warm and it takes a minute; let it cool with the grease on it and you will be scrubbing.

If you are buying a first indoor grill for a small kitchen and you are not sure how much you will use it, this is the low-risk way in. A 13 by 10 inch nonstick plate, five heat settings, and a body under four inches tall that slides onto a shelf or into a cabinet without a fight.

The plate and drip tray come off and are dishwasher-safe, the handles stay cool, and at four pounds it is the lightest grill here, which matters if your counter doubles as prep space and has to be cleared twice a day.

For occasional cooking, sausages, peppers, a couple of thin steaks on a weeknight, it is enough, and it is the least expensive way onto the counter here. Buy it as a first grill or as a second one for a small apartment, not as the machine you will build weekend dinners around.