Everything we tell new Flat Top owners — the habits that make it easier, the mistakes that cost people a re-season, and the one that can warp a plate.
A Flat Top is a big piece of steel and it takes time to come up to an even temperature — but once it’s there, it stays there for a long time. Start on low and raise the heat gradually toward your target. It’s far easier to make a hot surface hotter than to bring an overheated one back down.
Budget 10–15 minutes for a full preheat, and start it while you’re getting your ingredients together.
The urge on day one is to turn every burner to full. Don’t. Most cooktops only need 1/3 to 1/2 power to take a Flat Top past 500°F — our test stoves hit 400°F at 3 out of 10.
Most chefs agree the hottest you ever need is 500–550°F for searing a steak. The Flat Top handles up to 600°F without damage, but a regular electric coil at full power can drive it past 900°F. No griddle is built for that.
Heating one section of a solid steel plate while the rest stays cold puts uneven stress across it, and that’s how a plate warps or buckles. Turn on every burner underneath it, every time — even for a small meal. Cooking for one person? Lift the Flat Top off and use a skillet.
Your burners are independent, so your surface doesn’t have to be one temperature. Run one end hot for searing and the other cool as a warming zone. Cook the whole meal at once, hold it all at serving temperature, and plate everything hot at the same moment.
The smoke point is the temperature at which a fat starts to smoke — and smoke is the least of it. Past that point the fat breaks down, releasing free radicals and acrolein, the compound behind that acrid burnt smell and bitter taste. Watering eyes, a stinky kitchen, scorched food.
| Fat / oil | Smoke point | Good for |
|---|---|---|
| Butter | 200–250°F | Eggs and low-heat cooking. Never for seasoning. |
| Flaxseed oil | 225°F | Builds a hard layer that tends to flake. We avoid it. |
| Coconut oil (extra virgin) | 350°F | Low- to mid-heat cooking. |
| Sesame oil (unrefined) | 350°F | Finishing, not searing. |
| Lard | 370°F | Breakfast temperatures. Great for seasoning. |
| Olive oil (extra virgin) | 375°F | Everyday cooking. What we use most. |
| Olive oil (virgin) | 390°F | Everyday cooking. |
| Canola oil (refined) | 400°F | General-purpose, neutral. |
| Vegetable oil | 400°F | Seasoning and general cooking. What ships on your Flat Top. |
| Corn oil | 440°F | Higher-heat cooking. |
| Coconut oil (refined) | 450°F | Higher-heat cooking. |
| Peanut oil | 450°F | Stir fry and high-heat work. |
| Soybean oil (refined) | 460°F | High-heat work. |
| Olive oil (extra light) | 468°F | Searing without the olive flavor. |
| Avocado oil | 570°F | The highest common smoke point. Searing steak. |
There are a lot of techniques for seasoning a Flat Top. Hands down our favorite is frying up a giant pile of bacon.
Bacon fat is a superb seasoning agent — it turns a new surface dark brown fast and lays down the natural non-stick coating cast iron is famous for. Cover the entire surface so the fat works into every inch, edges and corners included.
And unlike every other seasoning method, this one ends with bacon.
Cleaning takes a couple of minutes, and it’s far easier while the food is fresh off the surface and the steel is still hot. Use a metal scraper to clear it down, a little water to steam away anything stubborn, then wipe dry and add a thin layer of oil.
Let it go cold with a meal on it and you’ve turned a two-minute job into a ten-minute one.
Everyone forgets to empty the drip tray at least once. Having a clean spare to rotate in is hard to beat — ours goes in the dishwasher while the backup goes straight under the Flat Top, so there’s always one ready.
It’s the cheapest quality-of-life upgrade we sell.
3/16" American steel, made in the USA, backed by a lifetime warranty. Tell us what you cook on and we’ll match you to the right size.
