Table grills in the test: This grilling season never ends

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If you don't have to or can't use a large, smoking outdoor grill, table grills are the right choice

Photo: Funke Photo Services / IMAGO

If you want to be ready to throw a small barbecue party all year round and around the clock, electric table grills are the method of choice.

As long as there is a power outlet nearby, they will roast anything that can be roasted.

You can have a barbecue when camping, in the holiday apartment or on the balcony, as long as the landlord and the house rules allow it.

Of course, there is no campfire feeling with the Stromers.

Nevertheless, they offer a lot of grilling fun, from minute steaks to tofu skewers.

We tested four typical representatives of this category, checking the manufacturer's information on heat development with a thermal imaging camera.

Gastroback Design table grill Advanced Pro BBQ

Table grills have the dubious reputation of not getting particularly hot.

We now consider this to be a slander, because all four tested devices heat their frying zone to at least 225 °C after ten minutes at the latest.

This is enough for most common grill recipes.

However, their non-stick surfaces are more similar to frying plates (“planchas”) or fluted grill pans.

This has nothing to do with real grilling, because here almost only the direct contact heat reaches the grilled food, not the hot air in combination with strong heat radiation that is necessary for BBQ pleasure.

This requires a grate that is open at the bottom and a really hot heat source.

This is what the largest device in the test field has with 1500 square centimeters of grilling area: According to the manufacturer, the Gastroback should reach a maximum of 240 °C, in the test we measured significantly more.

Measured with a contact thermometer and a thermal imaging camera, it broke the 300 °C mark after eight minutes of heating up and briefly reached a maximum temperature of a good 310 °C.

Because it can get so hot, the grill is large enough for six to eight people and also heats up the dining room powerfully.

However, a large dining table is mandatory.

Luckily, the bottom of the Gastroback always stays lukewarm.

In addition, the two connected grill surfaces – plancha and riffle zone – can be controlled separately.

Because the electric heating wires used by most table grills, including the Gastroback, are firmly connected to the frying plates, they unfortunately cannot be put in the dishwasher.

During the tests, however, because of the non-stick coatings, they could be cleaned with a pot sponge and a few drops of dishwashing liquid under hot running water.

The chrome-plated plastic panel on the front of the Gastroback is less easy to care for and gets fingerprints that are difficult to remove even when touched lightly.

After all, the attachable splash guard and the centrally installed fat collection drawer can be cleaned in the dishwasher.

Unfortunately, the splash guard cannot be securely fixed and only protects one long side from grease splashes.

So when grilling, everyone would have to sit next to each other to benefit from it.

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Even at the edge it's more than warm: heat flow with only one frying plate switched on

Photo: Peter Wagner

The permanently installed power cable is quite long at 2.4 meters.

With a maximum temperature of more than 300 °C, the Gastroback is the only table grill in the test that can also be used to cook and crisp thicker beef steaks such as rib eye and T-bone.

That's why frying other common grilled foods - sausages, bacon, skewers, vegetables, tofu and seitan - also produces perfect results.

The ability to control the two grill surfaces separately helps keep food warm and continue cooking.

However, with full steam on one side of the plate, the second surface still gets pretty hot even if you don't turn it on at all.

Our thermal imaging sensor measured up to 170 °C on the first third of the plate when it was switched off.

Even at the far end, 90 °C can still burn your fingers in the worst case scenario.

What is that?

With a 50 × 30 cm cooking surface, it is one of the largest and hottest table grills on the market.

Who needs that?

Large families, shared apartments and anyone who wants to grill with several guests at the dining or balcony table.

What does this cost?

RRP 199, street price 160 euros.

Rommelsbacher BBQ 2003

If you, like us, have the opportunity to fire up a compact gas grill on the terrace at almost any time, you don't need a very expensive table grill for indoors.

That's why we've been taking Rommelsbacher's BBQ 2003 out of the pantry for some time now when we want to grill indoors.

There is now a successor model, but it only differs from ours in terms of visual changes.

This grill also has a two-part frying plate with a ribbed side and a smooth plancha, which, however, can only be controlled together.

The device brings a frying surface of 50 × 25 cm to the table.

As with the Gastroback, you only use the side handles to lift the frying plate and heating element.

In order to carry the entire grill, you have to carry it on the base, which fortunately isn't too hot even under full load.

Cleaning the frying plate under the tap is quick, and only the somewhat wobbly fat container and the even wobblier tip guard, which we couldn't dig out after the first few attempts, are allowed into the machine.

Unfortunately, the Rommelsbacher cannot be placed upright on the shelf; if left unsupported, it falls apart into two parts.

The BBQ 2003 consumes a maximum of 1900 watts and can be continuously regulated.

A quick look at the underside of the frying plate reveals a shortcoming that is typical for its price range: the heating element is installed in the middle and only takes up a little more than half of the total area.

The wide edges all around are not heated directly, but are only heated more or less well.

The thermal image also shows this: the path of the heating coil is clearly visible, the rest of the frying plate is significantly less hot.

After all, the Rommelsbacher reaches a plate temperature of an impressive 296 °C after just under a quarter of an hour at its hotspot in the first third of the riffle side.

Even the lowest value in the heating coil area is still 268 °C.

With a little practice you can use the less hot areas on the edge to keep warm or continue cooking.

The temperatures are completely sufficient for most tasks on a table grill.

However, beef steaks should not be thicker than two centimeters.

Bratwursts are particularly problematic because, unlike steaks or shish kebabs, they have a small contact surface compared to their overall size - especially on the grooved side of the plate.

Grills with a lot of convection heat under the open grate are better suited for this.

That's why you should use the table roaster more like a pan: heat to full heat and turn the sausage regularly.

Otherwise, the very robust “QuanTanium” coating used in the BBQ 2003 proved to be extremely suitable for everyday use: even if sugary marinade burns in, the residue can be wiped off after a short soaking time.

And as with all the grills tested here: If necessary, only grease the food a little, not the frying plates - they are so slippery that oil would immediately run into the fat drip trays.

What is that?

A solid table grill in the middle class in terms of price and quality.

Who needs that?

Casual table grillers who want a decent frying temperature for crispy grilled food with beautiful branding stripes.

What does this cost?

RRP 117, street price approx. 70 euros.

Abien Magic Grill

You can see at first glance that this stylish piece completely reinterprets the table grill theme.

The delicate structure consists of a plate with two attachable feet.

One of them contains the control of the four heating levels.

In addition, it is not only available in matt black, but also in white - for a roasting device, this is an announcement that the manufacturer is pretty much throwing out the window with.

That's why we got the bright version of the magical Abien as a test device shortly before its market launch in Germany.

It scores points with the ability to easily store the plate upright on the shelf in addition to the narrow feet and the removable power cable (1.8 m).

It is charming at the table: its 40 × 30 cm plate is large enough for a cozy barbecue for four and compact enough for small dining tables.

The actual innovation is hidden in the depths of the frying plate, which is only 1.5 cm high: a paper-thin polymer heating foil.

Their heating lines, similar to circuit boards, extend to the edge of the plate and ensure a previously unattainable temperature control across the entire frying surface.

The system is even able to detect when cool food is placed on the heating plate.

The relevant sectors are then immediately heated in a targeted manner so that there is no drop in temperature on the steak or salmon fillet, which would cause the fine food to boil rather than roast.

This is all very clever and has made the Abien a bestseller in its Japanese homeland - despite its impressive price, because the Magic Grill is by far the most expensive table grill on the market.

Money that you can at least partially recoup with frequent use, because the Abien uses only 950 watts, less than half of the competition.

This means that it doesn't quite reach the 250 °C promised in the advertising, but it is not very far below the 236 °C we measured.

This is too weak for thick steaks, chops or sausages.

But this table grill becomes more magical when you use it to fry fine and noble foods that cannot tolerate excessively high temperatures anyway.

During the course of the test, we put a lot of shellfish, fish fillets, chicken breast strips, bacon, mushrooms, onions, pre-cooked potatoes, tempeh skewers and vegetables on the plate, and fried pancakes, pancakes, omelettes and fried eggs on it.

As confirmed by the thermal image, all on almost the entire roasting surface with only slightly lower temperatures at the edge.

Important: The frying plate also gets hot on the underside.

For sensitive tables, you should place a wooden board underneath.

Of course, nothing can go in the dishwasher, but the grill surface could be cleaned with a dishwashing sponge without leaving any residue.

There is no discoloration on the white surface as long as you consistently avoid a few things: beetroot and the spices curry, turmeric and saffron.

Balsamic vinegar and dark soy sauce in marinades as well as burnt caramelizations can also leave irremovable traces.

So if you can't live without chicken tikki masala and sugary meat marinades, you'll have to buy another table grill.

An Abien Magic Grill in matt black, for example.

What is that?

The most expensive but also chicest table grill with clever heating technology.

Who needs that?

Anyone who has successful design around them and wants to prepare fine food at the table.

What does this cost?

249 euros.

WMF Lono

Despite its massive dimensions of 60 × 41 cm, the Lono is also a successful piece of design - and one of the few table grills with an integrated glass lid.

At 40 × 29 cm, the continuously ribbed grill surface is even slightly smaller than the delicate Abien, but is easily enough for four hungry grillers.

The heating controller is integrated into the plug on the device side of the power cable, which is unnecessarily short at 1.5 m.

The elegant Cromargan front quickly loses its charm due to the grease splashes that are unavoidable when grilling on the table and is difficult to clean without special cleaning products.

For this, the Lono rewards the intensive griller by allowing the glass lid and the grill plate, along with their apparently waterproof heating electrics, to go into the dishwasher.

The basic frame doesn't, but that would be too big anyway.

The huge fat drip tray, which is machine-safe on all other table grills, also has to be cleaned by hand.

However, the Lono can only be switched on when the bowl is locked - a sensible solution, because the many cutouts in the grill plate allow plenty of fat and marinade to flow downwards.

No less smart: the edges of the grill surface are raised a few centimeters so that even small grill particles such as scampi or garlic cloves cannot fall into the depths of the base.

The device does not require a tip guard because flying fat droplets cannot be held back any better than the glass plate above the grill area.

Despite the lid, classic indirect grilling is not possible as there is not enough space underneath.

In addition, condensation can form on the inside of the lid and drip down onto the grilled food, which would then be cooked rather than fried.

For open grilling, the lid can be removed with one hand or hung at a 90-degree angle, which ensures a perfect splash - as long as all guests are sitting next to each other behind it.

The Lono draws up to 2200 watts from the power line at full load, but still gets the least hot of all the table grills tested.

At its peak, we were unable to measure more than 221 °C on the grill plate after a good ten minutes of heating up.

That wouldn't be a problem - see Abien - after all, the chic device design is more suitable for gently cooking fine foods than for roasting grill torches and pork neck.

With crustaceans & Co., the Lono gave us many a culinary-appealing roasting session.

To do this, however, we had to outsmart the touch-sensitive temperature control in the plug.

When your fingers are wet or slightly greasy, it reacts slightly or not at all.

It would also have been helpful to have a note in the operating instructions that you have to remove a protective film from the control panel that is barely visible to the naked eye.

But even when this is done, the control takes on a certain life of its own.

Despite comparatively low maximum temperatures, the overheating protection intervenes early on in the grilling process and regulates the heating element.

If the plug has become warm after a long frying session, the integrated control becomes a matter of luck.

Why, dear designers and engineers, don't you just install a knob for temperature control?

One from Cromargan as far as I'm concerned.

What is that?

A large, very stylish table grill, perfect for representation and fine grilled food that doesn't require high temperatures anyway.

Who needs that?

Households with sophisticated household appliances from the Lono series.

The eyes are grilling too.

What does this cost?

RRP 190, street price 130 euros.

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