Nexgrill’s operation manual is unusually blunt about how this griddle heats. The two main burners are side ported, and they reach across the entire cooking area. Full coverage is the pitch. It is also the ceiling.
The Daytona 28” 2-Burner Gas Griddle, model 720-1115C, hands 532 square inches to two knobs. Around $229 buys that, against three-zone carts asking several times more for insulated partitions.
So the review turns on one question. When both burners already reach everywhere, what is the cook actually steering?
34,000 BTU/hrTotal output, 17,000 per burner
532 sq inGriddle plate, 28 by 19 inches
117 inWall to wall, cart plus its clearances
1 yearWarranty on the plate you cook on
First Impressions of the Nexgrill Daytona 28-Inch Griddle
Standing finished, the Daytona is a plain black cart, 45.2 inches wide and 37.3 tall. An oversized shelf hangs off the left with tool hooks along its edge. A bare handle sits on the right. Underneath runs a rack for the bottles and tools a flat top collects.
The plate is the object, and it turns up already oiled. Nexgrill coats the hot-rolled steel for the journey. Then it asks you to wash that coating off with hot soapy water. It is the only time soap is ever allowed near this surface.
Then the standing job begins. Oil goes onto the hot plate, spread thin with a paper towel. Nexgrill asks for that after every cook, for as long as you own it. The routine is the price of a bare metal cooking surface.
One thing deserves a look on arrival, and it is the data sticker. Nexgrill prints 720-1115C for this griddle, and both its own manual and Home Depot use 720-1115. The Amazon listing’s details block says 720-1150, in the same block that spells the name “Daytone”. Order parts against the sticker, not the listing.
Key Features of the Nexgrill Daytona 28-Inch Griddle
Almost nothing here is clever, and that is the design. A plate, two burners, a lid that is not a hood. A cart holds the lot. What Nexgrill does do is publish the numbers behind each piece.
- Two burners at 17,000 BTU/hr each: They run side ported beneath the plate and reach the whole cooking area. Open both and the total comes to 34,000 BTU/hr. Nexgrill publishes the per-burner split, which many griddle makers never do.
- Hot-rolled steel plate: 532 square inches, which works out at 28 inches by 19. Under California’s AB 1200 disclosure Nexgrill declares seven metals in it, iron and manganese among them. Bare steel is what takes seasoning, and what rusts without it.
- Stainless steel: Nexgrill spends its stainless on the burners and nowhere else. Cart, firebox and lid are all painted black. Burners are the part that lives inside the heat, so that is where it counts.
- Electric Igniter: The spec sheet calls it push and turn ignition, and the lighting steps match. The warranty page instead covers electronic ignition. Troubleshooting asks whether the battery is seated. Nexgrill never reconciles the two descriptions.
- Match-light fallback: If a burner will not catch, the manual documents lighting it by hand. Wait five minutes for gas to clear. Clip a match to the lighting rod, then push and turn. Few makers still print that procedure.
- Heavy duty lid: It closes over the plate to keep weather and dust off between cooks. The manual then says to keep it open the whole time you are cooking. This lid is a raincoat, not a hood.
- Grease funnel and cup: Fat runs off into a funnel and down into a cup held in a bracket. The cup lifts out for washing in warm detergent. Nexgrill even suggests a little sand in the bottom to soak grease up.
- Two casters, four legs: Wheels sit under one end and plain feet under the other. You lift the leg end and push. Parking is wherever you set it down, since nothing locks.
Begin with what the two burners are, because everything downstream follows. Each burner carries a 17,000 BTU/hr rating. Both are side ported and run the length of the plate. Neither sits as a small pad under one region.
That layout buys coverage and spends control. Drop the right knob and the right end cools slowly. The steel between the burners is continuous. You get a warm end, not a cool zone.
Three-burner carts sell insulated partitions for exactly this reason. Coverage alone will not hold a line. For most flat top cooking the Daytona’s trade is still right. A big even plate lets a full breakfast land at once.
Holding a finished batch warm is the job that suffers. Nexgrill also publishes no heat range for this griddle. The product page is silent, and so is the manual. You learn this plate by watching how the oil creeps.
A bead of water vanishing tells you the rest. Cheap flat tops all leave this to the cook. It is still a gap in the paperwork.
Build, handling and durability
The cart makes no claim to be anything more than a cart. Four legs, casters on one end, a handle on the other. It rolls when you tip it and stops when you stop.
Clearance is the specification nobody quotes and every buyer should. Nexgrill requires 36 inches from the sides and 36 inches behind to anything combustible. A 45.2 inch cart therefore wants 117 inches of wall. Get a tape measure onto that patio before ordering.
The warranty draws a line right through the middle of this griddle. The burners carry five years against perforation, which is generous at this money. The griddle plate and the ignition carry one year apiece.
Read the exclusions and the split gets sharper. Rust, surface corrosion, scratching and chipping are all named as not covered. So the plate you re-oil after every cook has the shortest cover. It also carries the most exclusions.
Running costs, upkeep and value
Fuel is a standard 20 pound propane cylinder, and it is not supplied. It hangs on a bracket beneath the cart, held by a wire. Nexgrill supplies the hose and regulator and forbids substituting either.
Upkeep costs minutes rather than money, and skipping it is not really an option. While the steel is still hot, scrape, wipe, then re-oil. Stuck food lifts with hot water or a quarter cup of table salt. Emptying the grease cup takes as long as carrying it indoors.
The value case is easy to put into words. Our check of the Amazon listing today put it around $229. That buys 532 square inches and two stainless burners. It also buys a maker willing to print clearances and a warranty table.
Two details from that same check are worth knowing. The listing carried 5.0 stars from a single rating. A sample of one tells a buyer nothing. It was also marked non-returnable that day, because shipping falls under hazardous materials rules.
Possible Nexgrill Daytona 28-Inch Griddle Complaints
- There is nowhere on the plate to park food: Both burners reach the entire cooking area. A low knob cools an end rather than clearing a space. You feel it the moment one batch finishes early. A warming tray or foil solves it, since Nexgrill says the lid stays open.
- The warranty covers the burners far longer than the surface: Five years against perforation is a real commitment on the parts that burn. The plate you actually cook on carries one year. Rust and surface corrosion sit on the exclusion list. No registration and no receipt means no replacement part.
