Hamilton Beach Durathon Reversible Ceramic Griddle Review

First Impressions of the Hamilton Beach Durathon Reversible Ceramic Griddle

Unpacking is the whole of the setup. The plate simply sits on the base, and the drip tray slides underneath. Dial to MIN, cord into the griddle, then the wall. Hamilton Beach is firm about that order, appliance first and outlet second.

What catches people out is the shape. Measure 26.5 inches of bench for it, by 10.7 deep and 3.5 tall. That is two feet of worktop and a hand’s width front to back. A wall cabinet clears it easily, but the run beneath it does not.

The surface is a flat grey rather than the usual black. It reads more like a bakery slab than a cooking appliance, which suits it. Nothing on the panel beyond a dial and a single lamp. No display, no beep, no memory of last Sunday.

First cook was the obvious one. Blueberry pancakes at the left end. Bacon and sausage in the middle, potatoes at the right. All four came off together, which is the argument for a griddle this long.

Key Features of the Hamilton Beach Durathon Reversible Ceramic Griddle

Read the feature list as answers to one design problem. Hamilton Beach built a very long, very shallow cooking surface. It then had to live on a real counter. Most of what follows exists because of that shape.

• One cooking face, smooth. No ridged side, no grill plate, no waffle insert. The 200 square inches are continuous from end to end.
• The plate is what reverses. Lift it clear and set it down turned around. Power then enters from whichever end suits your socket.
• The dial rides in the cord. Hamilton Beach lists it as a removable power cord with the dial built in. Unplug it and the appliance is inert.
• A scale that stops at 400°F. Below the top mark sit 350, 300, 250 and 200, with MIN beneath. Six positions, and nothing in between them.
• An indicator that reports by going out. The lamp burns while the plate climbs and switches off on arrival. You wait for something to stop.
• Durathon ceramic nonstick. Hamilton Beach calls it four times more durable than traditional nonstick. No test is named.
• A grease drain into a removable tray. The booklet forbids running the griddle without base and tray in place.
• Wood or plastic tools only. No pans or dishes on the surface either, and no metal scouring pads afterwards.

One of those bullets deserves a second look. The packaging and the product page do not agree. The gallery badge says the surface is PFAS free. The product page and the retail listing both say PTFE and PFOA free instead.

Those are different claims. PTFE and PFOA are two named compounds, while PFAS is the whole family they belong to. Neither statement is wrong on its face, and only one of them is the broader promise. Take the narrower wording as the one Hamilton Beach repeats most often.

That four-times claim deserves the same caution. Hamilton Beach names no test, no comparator product and no period over which it holds. Read it as a promise about scratching, not a guarantee about years.

Heat and cooking performance

Judge this against what the dial admits. The top of the scale is 400°F. Nothing above breakfast heat is on offer here. Pancakes, eggs, grilled cheese, onions and hash all sit comfortably inside it.

The unbroken face is the real advantage, and it is easy to undersell. Rival griddles at this money often split the area across two plates. A seam runs between them. Nothing here interrupts the run, so a row of pancakes can sit wherever there is room.

What you give up is choice. One element sits under all 200 square inches, and one dial governs it. You cannot hold eggs gently at one end while sausages work hard at the other. The plate can face either way; the heat only ever faces one.

Set expectations accordingly. Anything thick will be done inside while the surface is still only tan. The browning is the gentle kind, closer to a frying pan than a fire.

Build, handling and durability

This is moulded plastic and a coated plate, at a price that buys exactly that. The base sits dead flat and low, which makes it stable under a spatula. Nothing latches the plate down, though. It locates on the base and stays there by weight alone.

The interesting mechanical detail is the socket in the side. Every heat this griddle makes arrives through a plug-in probe. The reversal feature has you handling that connection often. It is the one moving interface on an appliance with no other moving parts.

One detail argues quietly for durability. The predecessor model is marked no longer available. Both of its service parts still list at the same prices. Hamilton Beach has been selling this shape for a while and still stocks it.

Running costs, upkeep and value

Around $63.45 at Amazon buys 200 square inches of continuous ceramic. On Hamilton Beach’s own page the number is $63.99, and orders past $50 ship free. That same store shows the model as coming soon, not in stock. Buy from a retailer that can actually send one.

What Hamilton Beach sells as spares tells you more than the sticker does. A replacement drip tray is $2.99, and a cordset with probe is $19.99. That is no ordinary spare part. It is the thermostat, the dial and the whole control system, sold as an accessory.

Upkeep is where this griddle gets confusing, and the confusion is Hamilton Beach’s own. The product page says to set the cord aside. That leaves plate, tray and base for the dishwasher.

The booklet that same page links says otherwise. Wash griddle and tray in hot soapy water, with a plastic pad. The dishwasher is granted to the tray, and to nothing else.

One of those instructions sends a mains-powered plastic base through a wash cycle. The safe reading is the booklet. Plan on hand washing, and treat the box copy as optimistic.

Coating life is the other running cost. Canada gets five years of cover here. The US gets one. Coating wear sits outside both, as ordinary use.

Possible Hamilton Beach Durathon Reversible Ceramic Griddle Complaints

• The name sets the wrong expectation. Shoppers reading reversible on a griddle expect a ridged face for grill marks. That is what the word means on nearly every rival. Anyone hoping to sear a burger indoors feels it on the first cook.
• Hamilton Beach’s page and Hamilton Beach’s booklet disagree about washing it. One says the base is dishwasher safe, the other sends it to the sink. That gap sits on the task you repeat most. Following the wrong document could ruin the appliance, and washing by hand avoids it.