Independent comparisons. We may earn from shop links. More info

Cast iron or stainless plancha plate

Updated: 23 October 2026

You are stood between two plates that cost about the same and behave nothing like each other. One casting stays hot when you drop cold burgers on it, and it rusts if you leave it in the rain. The other is a lighter sheet you can lift alone, and UK reviews call those sheets thin, cool, or prone to twist. A cast iron or stainless plancha plate is that choice. This page does not walk through seasoning or measure your gas-grill lid. The rows are on the [plancha griddle plate comparison](/hub/grill-accessories/plancha-griddle-plate). Peter F. set this out on 20 October 2026 from the listing weights and UK review clusters. It is not a thickness test.

You are stood between two plates that cost about the same and behave nothing like each other. One casting stays hot when you drop cold burgers on it, and it rusts if you leave it in the rain.

Our top picks

GFTIME GFTIME cast iron (58.6 cm)

Best overall

GFTIME GFTIME cast iron (58.6 cm)
6.6/10about £69.99
View offer
Lodge Lodge LDP3 (42.5 cm)

Rank 2

Lodge Lodge LDP3 (42.5 cm)
7.8/10about £54.04
View offer
Onlyfire Onlyfire stainless (40.5 cm)

Alternative

Onlyfire Onlyfire stainless (40.5 cm)
6.4/10about £54.99
View offer
On this page
  1. 1.The trade-off
  2. 2.What these listings weigh
  3. 3.What went wrong in the reviews
  4. 4.When to pick which

The trade-off

Cast iron here holds heat and asks you to dry it. Stainless asks less after cooking and, on the plates listed, gives up heat hold. None of these listings print a measured 6 mm or 10 mm thickness. If you will dry the plate and add a few drops of oil, cast iron is what UK hob reviews praise for staying hot. If you will rinse and put it away, and you accept a cooler face, stainless is the lighter path. The oil steps are on the how to season a cast iron plancha page. The coated GFTIME plate lists polytetrafluoroethylene and caps itself at 500 degrees Fahrenheit. That face is PTFE, not bare stainless. Chemours say not to use Teflon cookware above 260 degrees Celsius.

What these listings weigh

Onlyfire stainless is 3.15 kg at £54.99, the lightest large rectangle, with a title and a detail line that swap the axes. WUDLEP is 4.48 kg at £44.99, listed at 58 by 40 cm. DOBADN is 4.79 kg at £66.99, listed at 58.3 by 40.5 cm. None of them approaches the heavy iron. Lodge is 4.25 kg on a 42.5 by 24.1 cm hob plate, so cast iron is not automatically 10 kg. Onlyfire's reversible plate is 7.47 kg. GFTIME cast iron is 11.4 kg. On a large gas grill the gap is 3.15 kg against 11.4 kg.
GFTIME GFTIME cast iron (58.6 cm)

Testsieger

GFTIME GFTIME cast iron (58.6 cm)
6.6/10about £69.99
View offer

What went wrong in the reviews

On Lodge, rust shows up when the plate stays damp, beside praise for heat on two burners. Overmont draws the same care complaints: weight, hot handles, and a long clean. That is bare metal with a thin oil film, not a one-off batch. On stainless, the complaints are the sheet. Onlyfire's 3.15 kg plate has 4.2 from 1,641 reviews, and a clear group still call it thin and cool. One review says it is not food-grade. No grade is printed, and there is no test in the file. WUDLEP is 3.9 from 11 reviews, with a slight warp and a dented weld. One DOBADN text says the sheet twists as soon as heat is applied. A new plate that twists is a Consumer Rights Act 2015 issue, not a reason to season harder.

When to pick which

Choose cast iron if you will dry and oil it and you can lift the one that fits. Lodge at 4.25 kg is the manageable hob iron. Onlyfire's reversible plate at 7.47 kg names gas and charcoal near 48 by 40 cm. GFTIME at 11.4 kg is the heat-hold option only if two people can move it. The title says a coating and one review says the seller called it pre-seasoned. Only two UK texts are in that file. Choose stainless if you have read the thin-sheet comments. WUDLEP at £44.99 is the lower 58 cm price, with a warp note. Onlyfire stainless has the large file and the cool-surface cluster. If you will not oil anything, do not buy bare iron. If the lid will not close, use the griddle plate for a gas barbecue page.

Common questions

Which one warps?
Both can disappoint, in different ways. Cast iron in these UK notes rusts and sticks more often than it warps. Stainless reviews include a slight warp on the WUDLEP sheet, a twist on the DOBADN sheet when heat is applied, and flex complaints on the light Onlyfire plate. Do not buy stainless on the promise that it cannot move. If a new plate warps, stop using it and take it up with the seller.
Do I have to season stainless?
Not in the cast-iron sense. Bare stainless does not build the same oil season, and you do not run it through the 240 degrees Celsius oven method as a requirement. Dry it so it does not mark, and do not dishwasher it when the field says No. Cast iron in this set does need the dry and a thin oil film. The coated PTFE plate is neither: do not season it, and do not preheat it empty.
Is the coated GFTIME stainless?
The materials field lists metal, polytetrafluoroethylene, and stainless steel. The cooking surface the title calls Teflon is PTFE, with a listing cap of 500 degrees Fahrenheit. It is not the same purchase as the bare WUDLEP, DOBADN, or Onlyfire stainless sheets. Treat the coating limit as the point of the plate. Chemours say not to use Teflon-coated cookware above 260 degrees Celsius.
Will cast iron rust in a UK garden?
It will if it stays damp. Lodge reviews in the file mention rust when the plate is put away wet, and a kamado-plate review reports rust after the first clean as well. A shed through a British winter is a wet store. Dry the plate on heat, oil it, and keep it indoors if you can. Stainless is the lower-rust choice in this comparison, with the thin-sheet complaints instead.
Does a magnet test in one review prove the grade?
No. One UK review of the Onlyfire stainless plate says it is not food grade. The listing does not print a stainless grade, and the file has no laboratory test. A magnet in a review does not identify 304 or any other grade. Do not claim a food-grade result for any plate here. Food-contact rules still apply under Regulation 1935/2004, and that is not the same as a grade stamped on the box.

Related pages

Plancha griddle plate buying guide

Plancha griddle plate

Best plancha griddle plate: hob, barbecue, or value

Griddle plate for a gas barbecue: measure lid arms

How to season a cast iron plancha the thin-oil way

Sources

Public UK sources used for this comparison. Listing prices, stars and review counts are the amazon.co.uk figures for these ASINs. Retrieved 20 October 2026.

  1. Food contact materials regulations, GOV.UK (retrieved 20 October 2026)
  2. Materials and Articles in Contact with Food (England) Regulations 2012 (retrieved 20 October 2026)
  3. Emba cast iron cookware recall 2502-0151 (retrieved 20 October 2026)
  4. Chemours, Teflon coating safety (retrieved 20 October 2026)
  5. Lodge, how to season (retrieved 20 October 2026)
  6. Lodge, griddles (retrieved 20 October 2026)
  7. BBC Good Food, how to season cast iron (retrieved 20 October 2026)
  8. Char-Broil UK, grilling with a griddle (retrieved 20 October 2026)