Essential Guide to Choosing the Best Cooking Grates for your BBQ Grills When You do the Grills Designs for Your Brand.
2026-06-29
Unlock the secret to BBQ perfection! Discover the essential guide to choosing the best cooking grates that fits your barbecue grills .
Understanding Cooking Grates: What Are They?
Cooking grates are the grates or plates that placed above the burners or charcoal grates, which covers the entire grilling area. Chromed steel wire cooking grates, Enameled steel plates、Enameled steel wire cooking grates 、Cast iron grates、Stainless steel plates、Stainless steel griddles 、Stainless steel cooking grates are commonly used. A warming rack is also provided for indirect grilling, such as for baking potatoes or keeping grilled food warm.
Types of Cooking Grates: Materials and Their Benefits
1.Steel wire with chromed finishing cooking grates and warming racks
1)Material: regular carbon steel wires
2)Chrome Finishing: a layer of chromium electroplated onto it for shine, reduce food sticking ,rust resistance, and easier cleaning.
3)How to figure out: chromed steel wire cooking grates are very bright, mirror-like surface. A magnet can stick to chromed steel wire cooking grates. Scratches can leave on the surface with sharp friction.
4)Benefits: completive price . The cost of chromed steel wire cooking grates are much cheaper than cast iron grates and stainless steel grates. It is mostly applied to warming racks and economical camping grills .
5)Limitations: A shorter life time compared to solid stainless steel grates, due to the chrome layer may chip or scratch off over time, exposing the underlying steel which can then rust.
6)Maintenance：Clean gently after each use to prevent buildup and dry immediately. Keep the grates in a well-ventilated and dry place.
2.Enameled steel wire cooking grates
1)Material: regular carbon steel wires
2)Enameled Finishing: a layer of enamel, typically in powder or liquid form applied to the steel surface. Then firing it at high temperatures (around 800-860°C) in a furnace to make enamel into a durable, non-stick, corrosion-resistant coating.
3)How to figure out: enameled steel wire cooking grates have a slight glossy and smooth appearance. A magnet can stick to the enameled steel wire cooking grates.
Enameled finishing can be any color. In barbecue grills cooking grates category black color are mostly used.
4)Benefits: Medium-priced . The cost of enameled steel wire cooking grates are in the middle compare with chromed steel wire cooking grates , cast iron cooking grates and stainless steel cooking grates. So it is widely used in barbecues grills which sells at super market channels.
5)Limitations: The protective coating eventually degrades, reducing overall longevity compared to more durable solid stainless steel grates.
6)Maintenance：Clean gently after each use to prevent buildup and dry immediately. Keep the grates in a well-ventilated and dry place.
4.Cast iron cooking grates in raw or with Porcelain-Enameled Finishing
1)Material: heavy duty cast iron
2)Porcelain-Enameled Finishing for Cast Iron Cooking Grate: a layer of enamel, typically in powder or liquid form applied to the cast iron surface. Then firing it at high temperatures (around 800-860°C) in a furnace to make enamel into a durable, non-stick, corrosion-resistant coating.
3)Oil Finishing for Raw Cast Iron Cooking Grate : Brush a layer of vegetable oil to the cast iron grates to prevent the raw iron from rusting.
4)Benefits: Both the Porcelain-Enameled Finishing Cast Iron Cooking Grates and the Oil Protected Raw Cast Iron Cooking Grates have superior heat retention ability. They have a good searing function. Leading to professional-looking sear marks. Porcelain-Enameled Finishing Cast Iron Cooking Grates has a better anti-rusting ability than oil protected raw cast iron cooking grates.
5)Maintenance：
a) For Porcelain-Enameled Finishing Cast Iron Cooking Grates ,clean gently after each use to prevent buildup and dry immediately. Keep the grates in a well-ventilated and dry place.
b) For Oil protected raw cast iron cooking grates: it is unavoidable to rust if the raw cast iron grates are exposed to high temperature and high humidity area, so it is very necessary to season the grates before cooking and after cooking . Heat the grill, then brush grates with a stainless steel brush or wooden scraper to remove any rust layer before use and remove food debris after use. After the grates are cleaned, use an oil sprayer to spray the oil to the grates evenly and then heat the grill to high to bake the oil on to the grates.
4.Solid stainless steel wire cooking grates
1)Material: solid stainless steel ( high end 304 stainless steel or 316 stainless steel for options)
2)Finishing: electrolysis finishing or sand blasting for choice
3)How to figure out : if the cooking grates are made by electrolysis finishing or sand blasting finishing?
- Electrolysis finishing on the solid stainless steel cooking grates has a smooth and bright luster.
- Sand blasting finishing on the solid stainless steel cooking grates /plates has a matte grainy texture surface.
4)Benefits: Solid 304 316 stainless steel wire grates are the high premium grates/plates for barbecue grills. It has the superior durability and longevity. Solid 304 316 stainless steel is superior in rust resistance , excellent heat retention for searing ,easy cleaning, long-lasting, low-maintenance.
Manufacturing Technologies for Barbecue Grills Cooking Grates
There are four main manufacturing techniques for stainless steel
- Steel or Stainless Steel wire cooking grate : use steel wires or stainless steel wires to form and weld wires to cooking grate.
- Cast cooking grates : molds form molten steel or stainless steel to different shapes of cooking grates.
- Laser cutting cooking grates: use layer cutting machines to cut steel plate or stainless steel plates to designed cooking grates .
- All-in-one punching cooking grates : add a punching forming molds to punching machines , then put the plates to the punching machines, the punching machines will stamp the plates make them to cooking grates.
The Importance of Size and Fit for Your BBQ Grill
According to European barbecueing standard series requirements and test method EN 1860-1:2024 Norm, the clear distance between the bars of the cooking grid shall not exceed 20 mm. At Comhaus, all the cooking grates bars distances are less than 19mm. So the food like small sausages will not fall off from the cooking grates.
What are the factors that decide the price of the cooking grates
1.Materials :
- Regular carbon steel wires in different diameters such as 3mm, 5mm, 6mm,8mm etc. are the most widely used in the price sensitive market. The more thickness, the higher the cost.
- Cast steel : used in middle end grills. European markets like cast iron grates for the charcoal grills or gas grills .
3)Solid stainless steel wires or plates : the 304 stainless steel , 316 stainless steel are mostly used for high end premium grills . 304 or 316 stainless steel is the most expensive material compare with regular carbon steel and cast iron .
- There is a special material which is now used in the market to lower the cost of using 304 stainless steel grilling grates. This material is called 304 stainless steel wrapped steel. See below photo, using the machine to wrap the 304 stainless steels to the steel wire. Polishing the welding lines. Then use these 304 stainless steels wrapped steel wire to make cooking grates.
2.Manufacturing Techniques
- Steel or stainless steel wire cooking grates use construction machines to form the grates, then welding by resistance welding machines. After that is the polishing and the finishing.
- All-in-one Punching cooking grates is used for large quantity cooking grates. Invest money in opening punching forming molds, then use these molds to make cooking grates very effectively.
- Layer cutting cooking grates use high precision layers cutting machines to cut cooking grates on plates. This is usually the most expensive manufacturing technique. This technique can customize any kind of shapes or patterns on the plates such as logos on the grates . The cost is calculated based on a whole complete plate. Even though the wasted materials cannot be seen by end users, but it belongs to the raw materials cost.
- Cast cooking grates : invest money in opening molds to form molten steel or stainless steel to different shapes of cooking grates.
3.Structures of the wire cooking grates
Cooking grates made by stainless steel can be customized to different structures. In these structures round wire is less expensive than other structures such as triangle wires ( this structure is designed to have a better oil and grease falling function ) , hexagon wires ( good oil and greasing falling function and heat retention function) , quadrate wires (great heat retention function ability) .
Top Brands for Quality BBQ Cooking Grates
Below are some of the high end cooking grates:
1) Blaze Stainless Steel Cooking Grate for Professional LUX Gas Grills: heavy duty 304-grade stainless steel construction with a hexagonal design which is easy for the grease to fall off and have a good searing function.
2）Custom recteq Grill Grates from EastGeorgiaMetals : Customized High End Layser Cutting Grill Grates
3)Fire Magic Diamond Sear Stainless Steel Cooking Grids For Fire Magic Aurora A660i Gas Grills from BBQGUYS: The quadrate stainless steel wire structure has a good heat retention and sear ability.
4) NOMAD Cast Cooking Grate: NOMAD use cast stainless steel to make the cooking grate. It combines the strength & durability of stainless steel with the efficiency of honeycomb hex structure.
5) Cast Stainless Steel Grill Grates of Flammkraft :Flammkraft cast stainless steel grill grates combine the thermal properties of cast with the ultimate durability and robustness of stainless steel.
Conclusion: Making the Right Choice for Your BBQ Grills Brand
If your barbecue grills sales channels are the regular super markets and sells in competitive price, then you may think about choosing chromed steel wire grates as the warming rack and the enameled steel wire cooking grates as the cooking grates.
If your barbecue grills market positioning is middle level. Then the enameled cast steel cooking grate are recommended.
If your barbecue grills market positioning is the high-end premium markets, then the 304 or 316 stainless steel cooking grates are the must. Regarding which manufacturing techniques ( stainless steel wire in different shapes , stainless steel plate layer cutting , stainless steel plate punching , cast stainless steel etc.) should be used are decided by your final design and quantity. If you need any customization for the cooking grates, feel free to contact Helen (WhatsApp : +86 18552446992 ) from Comhaus Group.
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Comhaus Flexible Manufacturing System in our stainless steel outdoor kitchen plant can help outdoor kitchen contractors, builders ,outdoor kitchen specialists, BBQ grill brands, BBQ distributors，BBQ Grill wholesalers, importers to customize the frames, built-in grills, Cabinets, doors ect.
1298 Xiarong Street, Songling Town, Wujiang District, Suzhou City,Jiangsu Province, China
Contact person: Helen
Tel： +86 18552446992
Phone：+86 18552446992
Whatsapp: +86 18552446992
Phone：+86 18552446992
Whatsapp: +86 18552446992
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