Hamilton Beach sells model 38546MN as three appliances in one box. Open the carton and you find two plates. Each plate has a smooth griddle face. Turn it over and the other face is ridged for grilling.
The third way to cook is not a third machine. It is permission to run one plate ridged and one flat together. That combination is genuinely useful. It is also the entire trick.
The awkward part is what all four faces have in common. Both plates sit on one base. They share the same 1,400 watts, and their dials stop at the same place. If flipping a plate never changes the heat, how much of the grill half is real?
1,400 wattsTotal power, shared by two independently controlled zones
180 square inchesNonstick cooking surface across two reversible plates
425°FTop of the dial, on the ridged face and the smooth one alike
$37.99One replacement plate, against around $76.79 for the whole appliance
First Impressions of the Hamilton Beach 3-in-1 Grill/Griddle
There is no assembly. The drip tray slides in underneath. The plates drop into their recesses, and metal clips hold them down. Press a clip with your thumb and the plate lets go.
Nothing screws together, and no hardware bag comes in the box. The proportions catch people out. The footprint is 20.11 inches wide by 11.02 deep, and 3.74 tall. That reads more like a long tray than a grill.
It slides under a wall cabinet without ducking. The depth is what costs you working room instead. Controls are plain in the way that ages well. Each zone has one dial and one green READY lamp.
A red POWER lamp sits alongside them. Nothing beeps. Nothing remembers a setting from last time. There is no display to outlive the appliance.
First cook was pancakes on the smooth half, bacon on the ridged half. Fat ran down the ridges and away toward the tray. The pancakes browned evenly across the whole face, with no pale edge. Bacon came off crisp, and less greasy than a pan leaves it.
Key Features of the Hamilton Beach 3-in-1 Grill/Griddle
Almost everything here follows from one decision. The cooking surfaces are not fixed to the machine. Two plates, two faces each, on a base that heats in two halves. Read the feature list as consequences of that.
- Two reversible plates, four cooking faces. Smooth on one side, ridged on the other. Flip them in place rather than storing a spare set.
- Three arrangements, not three appliances. Full griddle, full grill, or one of each together. The maker counts the mixed setup as the third way.
- Two zones on independent dials. Each half gets its own control and its own READY lamp. Work a low side and a hot side at once.
- A ceiling of 425°F. The dial is marked 200, 250, 300, 350, 400 and 425. A MIN position sits below them all.
- PFAS-free ceramic nonstick. The coating does the work on both faces. It is also the part you will eventually wear through.
- Dishwasher-safe plates and drip tray. The plates go in and the tray takes the top rack. The base stays out and gets wiped.
- No lid, by design. Nothing covers the food. That keeps the appliance slim, and it caps what the ridged face can do.
The dial marks are worth a second look. From 250 to 400 the scale moves in four even steps. Then 425 arrives after a half-sized step, right at the stop. The heat a griller reaches for sits where the scale has least room.
Judge this as what it is. An open electric surface with a griddle’s ceiling, and nothing over the top. At 425°F the smooth face does everything a good griddle should. Pancakes, eggs, quesadillas, onions, smashed patties.
Browning holds even across the plate, which is the real test. The 1,400 watts stay steady under a full load. Cold food landing on the surface does not drag the zone down.
The ridged face is a different argument. It gives you drainage, and it gives you lines. Both are worth having indoors. What it cannot give you is a crust.
A crust needs heat this appliance does not make. It also needs a lid, and there is none. A chicken thigh comes out cooked, marked and pleasant. A thick ribeye turns grey through the middle before the outside catches up.
Two zones change the everyday more than the ceiling does. Hold one half low and run the other near the top. The eggs wait while the sausages finish. That is the feature people still use once the plate-flipping novelty fades.
Mixed mode is where the two zones earn their keep. Buns toast on the flat half while patties work the ridges. Neither job waits for the other.
Build, handling and durability
It is a countertop appliance and behaves like one. The base sits flat and low. Plates seat with a click, and nothing flexes under a spatula. At this price the finish is fair rather than fine.
The maker’s parts list is the most useful thing for judging durability. A Grid Clip Set sells for $2.99. That price tells you which small part gives way first. A replacement Drip Tray costs the same $2.99.
One caution about the listing itself. The gallery does not show a single control panel. Some frames carry a different dial and different lamp labels. Trust the two clean product photographs, which agree with each other.
Those two show a READY lamp and a POWER lamp. The dial runs from MIN up to 425°F. Treat that as the panel to expect.
The drip tray is the only grease management on board. It catches what the ridges shed, and it is shallow. Empty it between cooks rather than after them.
Running costs, upkeep and value
Cleanup is the strongest everyday argument here. Both plates come out and go in the dishwasher. The drip tray takes the top rack. That removes the chore that stops people grilling indoors on a Tuesday.
Wipe the base down, put the machine away, done. The price arithmetic is more interesting than it first looks. Hamilton Beach lists 38546MN at $79.99 and ships it free. Amazon was around $76.79 when we checked in September.
For roughly the cost of two breakfasts out, you get 180 square inches. You also get two governed zones and four cooking faces. That is a lot of appliance for the money.
Then look at the replacement plate. One Reversible/Removable Grid costs $37.99. That is close to half the appliance price, for one of its two plates.
The figure is not a scandal. It does tell you where the value sits. It sits in the base and the thermostats, not in the coating. Treat the plates as long-life consumables, and keep metal tools off them.
One oddity is worth flagging before you buy. Hamilton Beach’s own page for this model carries no customer reviews and no questions at all. Whatever star rating you are reading lives somewhere else entirely.
Possible Hamilton Beach 3-in-1 Grill/Griddle Complaints
- The grill half is a griddle with ridges. A setting of 425°F is a pancake number, not a sear number. Both faces share that one ceiling. Cook thinner cuts fast, or accept the marks without a hard crust.
- The coating decides how long you own it. Ceramic nonstick wears, and no other cooking surface sits underneath it. Metal tools and scouring pads shorten that life fast. A replacement plate at $37.99 is the cost of getting it wrong.
