Plancha, grate and pizza oven on one cart
Char-Broil lists the Versa-Tile under item number 140242; in the manual, the version for Germany is called model 468925225. The manufacturer describes it as a 2-zone griddle gas grill for 4 to 6 people.
The idea behind it: instead of choosing between a plancha and a grate grill, you get a cooking plate of ceramic-coated steel measuring 70 x 50 cm, plus inserts that can be swapped in the so-called tile system. Char-Broil calls this a patented 3-in-1 Tile Cooking System; no patent number can be found on either the product page or in the manual. In the product photo the lid is closed; you can see two control knobs at the front, a side shelf on the left and right, below them an open cart with two shelves, and a red hose running down on the right to the regulator.
In our price box it is listed at approx. €520 (Amazon page on 20 October 2026: €519.99). That puts it, in the overview of our gas grills, above the plain Enders plancha and also above the two Weber models we compare it with further down.
Plate, inserts, burners and cart
The parts list on p. 169 of the manual lists four parts for the cooking surface: the griddle, a griddle tile, a pizza riser and a round cooking grate. According to the product page, these are three interchangeable inserts for the large plate. You insert the grate into the tile system by hand.
On the grate material, Char-Broil contradicts itself. The features text says enamelled cast iron, supplemented by the statement that the grate is durable, rustproof and easy to clean. In the table of technical details, however, “Grates” says ceramic-coated steel. We cannot decide from the sources which statement applies to the units that are shipped. Our data sheet at the top of the page therefore gives both; if the material matters to you, we would ask customer service.
According to the manufacturer, you may also use pots and pans on the plate itself. And if you turn the pizza riser upside down, it serves as a holder for a wok. The plate has a raised edge and a drain through which cooking juices and excess oil run into a removable grease tray.
Under the plate sit two stainless steel burners that can be adjusted independently of each other. The product page speaks of a U shape and an O shape. In the parts list they are called “U” Burner Tube and Round Burner, and the round burner has its own heat tent there. Together the two deliver 8.79 kW.
Ignition is electronic via an ignition module with a button and battery. The instructions describe it like this: control valves to “OFF”, open the lid, turn on the gas at the cylinder, then press the burner knob, turn it to “HIGH” and immediately hold down the “ELECTRONIC IGNITOR” button until the burner lights. If it does not light within 5 seconds, the knob goes back to “OFF”, you wait 5 minutes and start again. You do not lean over the plancha while doing this. If you hear no ignition sound at all when pressing, check the battery and its installation. For emergencies, a match holder hangs on the rear wall: insert a match, guide it through the gap under the plancha to the burner, knob to “HIGH”.
The cart has two side shelves and further storage surfaces below. According to the manual, you may load a side shelf with a maximum of 4.5 kg. Three hooks hold tongs, a tea towel or other accessories. It moves on two large wheels and two castors with a locking mechanism.
Amazon lists the grill at 143 x 66 x 101.5 cm and 130.07 pounds, which is approx. 59 kg. Amazon does not state whether the dimensions and weight apply to the assembled appliance or to the package; they say nothing about the area of the plate.
What Char-Broil does not state
For these points we searched the product page, manual and parts list and found nothing:
- External dimensions and weight (the values above come only from the Amazon catalogue)
- Working height and size of the side shelves
- Size of the grate and griddle tile individually, and a cooking area in cm²
- Output per burner; only the total is documented
- A reliable gas consumption (more on this in the section on gas)
- Maximum temperature on the plate, grate or under the pizza dome
- Heat-up time
- Lid thermometer; neither the product page nor the parts list lists one
- Material of the pizza riser (stainless steel is only stated at Amazon)
- Material of the firebox and frame
- Battery type of the ignition
- Whether a gas cylinder is included
- Country of production
In detail: two zones under a steel plate
On an open grate, a burner essentially heats the area directly above it. A closed steel plate behaves differently. It also conducts heat sideways, so that between a zone set to hot and one set to low there is no hard cut-off but a transition. For plancha cooking this is practical: meat sears over the burner set high, finished food you slide to the cooler side, and in between a strip of medium heat remains.
Where exactly the two zones lie on the Versa-Tile, Char-Broil does not describe in words. A U-shaped tube and a round burner suggest that the heat is not split into two equal halves left and right, as on a plancha with parallel bar burners. That is our reading of the part names, nothing more. The same applies to the heat tent: on gas grills, a metal plate like this shields the burner from dripping fat and distributes the heat. That the round burner in particular has one fits the round grate, which lets fat pass downwards, while the closed plate guides it to the drain. Whether fat on the grate causes flare-ups was asked by a customer on the manufacturer’s page; when retrieved on 21 October 2026, the question had not been answered.
On output: spread over the calculated 3,500 cm² of the plate, each square centimetre receives roughly 2.5 watts. That is a rough indicator of heat input, not a temperature. How hot the plate actually gets also depends on its thickness, and nobody has measured that here.
Does the Versa-Tile work as a pizza oven?
According to Char-Broil, yes, and the setup can be documented: insert the pizza riser, the tile with the pizza side up, close the steel lid with the pizza dome. The manufacturer gives no temperature under the dome. Without this figure, the grill cannot be compared seriously with a dedicated pizza oven.
In principle, pizza relies on two heat sources: a hot surface under the dough and top heat that cooks the topping before the base burns. The dome in the lid aims at the second. That Amazon describes the pizza riser as stainless steel while the manufacturer’s page names no material, we have noted in the list above. How to approach pizza on a gas grill in general is covered in our guide Pizza on the grill. Char-Broil lists a matching pizza peel as an accessory under item no. 140127 at a recommended retail price of €34.95.
Gas, hose and cylinder for Germany
The table on p. 28 of the manual assigns model 468925225 to gas category I3B/P(50). It runs on butane, propane or mixtures of the two at 50 mbar and is intended for Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Slovakia. The two injectors are 0.88 mm.
For consumption, the table shows “6405 g/h” for the German model. That does not match the output above; for the sister model in the same table it shows 640 g/h. We consider the 6405 a misprint and therefore do not calculate a run time per cylinder.
A cylinder of at most 330 mm diameter and 450 mm height may go in the cart. According to the instructions, you place larger cylinders under the side shelf or behind the grill, and a cylinder on the floor never belongs under the heating plate. The cylinder in the cart is held by a strap, and the parts list includes a heat shield for the cylinder (Tank Heat Shield). Measure your cylinder before buying, as dimensions differ by supplier. What there is to know about size, filling and exchange we have collected in the guide Gas bottle for the grill.
For the hose: only hoses approved to EN standards, no longer than 1.5 m. Before every use you check it for cracks, wear and kinks, it must not touch hot surfaces, and a damaged hose is replaced before the appliance runs again. Before you open the cylinder valve, you check the regulator for tightness, and when the grill is not running, the control knobs are set to off. If fat or other hot material drips onto the valve, hose or regulator, you turn off the gas immediately, fix the cause and carry out a leak test.
The manual requires this test before first use, at least once a year and at every cylinder change or disconnection. The procedure in six steps:
- Set all control knobs to off.
- Make sure the regulator is firmly connected to the cylinder.
- Turn on the gas. If it hisses, turn it off again immediately; the leak is then large.
- Brush a solution of half soap, half water onto the hose connections.
- If bubbles grow, turn off the gas and check the connections. If the leak cannot be sealed, do not repair it yourself but request spare parts.
- After the test, always turn off the gas at the cylinder.
These three alternatives are worth a look
| Model | The difference | Price | Our rating | Choose this one if |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Char-Broil Versa-Tile (this one) | 70 x 50 cm plate plus grate and pizza insert, 2 burners | approx. €520 | 8.3 | you want plancha, grate and pizza in the same appliance |
| Weber Slate GP 56 cm | pure plancha, smaller plate, no grate or pizza insert | approx. €460 | 8.4 | you only cook on the plate and a smaller surface is enough |
| Enders AMARO 3 | three stainless steel burners with 9.6 kW, stainless steel plate, no grate insert | approx. €329 | 8.3 | you only want a plancha and would like to spend less |
| Weber Spirit II E-310 | classic grate grill with 3 burners and lid thermometer, no plate surface | approx. €460 | 9.2 | you mainly grill on the grate and want to cook indirectly with the lid closed |
The prices are the guide values from our price boxes and fluctuate in retail. The rating is our editorial assessment based on the manufacturer’s data; we have not measured any of the four appliances.
When the Versa-Tile fits and when it does not
Start with the simplest question: will you use all three inserts? If you mostly make plate dishes, fried eggs, vegetable strips, smash burgers, the Enders AMARO 3 gets you a pure plancha for approx. €329 instead of approx. €520. If, on the other hand, you almost only want steaks and sausages from the grate, you are better off with the Weber Spirit II E-310. It costs approx. €460, the Versa-Tile approx. €520, and it has a classic grate across the full width and a lid thermometer, which we cannot find documented anywhere for the Char-Broil.
We would recommend the Versa-Tile if your use is genuinely mixed. For example, if breakfast is made on the plate in the morning and meat with grill marks on the round grate in the evening.
Then there is space. On top of the catalogue dimensions above come the distances the manual requires, which we list below under safety. For buildings it requires more clearance there than for walls in general; both values appear on different pages of the instructions, and we would plan with the larger one. On a small terrace directly against the house, that gets tight.
On budget, the Weber Slate GP 56 cm at approx. €460 is level with the Spirit and thus below the Versa-Tile at approx. €520, with a smaller plate and no grate insert. With the Char-Broil, add the cost of a gas cylinder; it does not appear in the scope of delivery in any of our sources. And if you prefer to work with a metal turner and steel scraper, you should read the care section before ordering. Our Grill finder asks about these points one after another.
Care and safety according to the manual
Before the first grilling, you wipe the surface and edges of the plate with warm soapy water and rinse with clear water. You do not need to season it; the manual even expressly advises against it, because it damages the non-stick coating.
After that: clean after every use and apply only a minimal amount of oil. According to Char-Broil, ceramic is not completely scratch-resistant and can chip with metal utensils; utensils of wood, silicone or nylon are recommended. You loosen residues with a scraper or wooden utensil, a little water helps to release them, and finally you rub a small amount of oil into all corners and edges with a paper towel. You do the rest of the grill cleaning only once the grill has cooled down.
You wash plastic parts with warm soapy water and wipe them dry; abrasives and degreasers are off limits. What looks like flaking paint inside the housing is deposits of fat and smoke, because the interior is not painted at the factory. Oven cleaner does not belong on painted surfaces. Stainless steel too can rust on this grill depending on the environment; never clean it with steel wool, and always along the grain. You will find more on caring for gas appliances in the guide Cleaning a gas grill.
Store the grill dry. If the cylinder is connected, it stays outdoors in a well-ventilated place out of reach of children. It may only go into an enclosed space if the cylinder is turned off, disconnected and stored outdoors.
Safety and positioning
The manual has a long series of warnings on pp. 20 to 22. Those on gas, ignition and cleaning are above; the rest is here.
If you smell gas, the sequence from p. 20 applies in four steps: shut off the appliance’s gas supply, extinguish any open flame, open the lid. If the smell persists, you keep away from the appliance and immediately call your gas supplier or the fire brigade.
You may use the Versa-Tile only outdoors, never in an enclosed space, and the manual expressly counts carport, garage, porch, covered yard and any other roofing as such. You keep 3 m distance from buildings, flammable materials and other gas cylinders, likewise from ignition sources, and at least 1 m from any wall or surface. You do not disconnect or change a cylinder while an open flame or ignition source is less than 3 m away. With a connected cylinder, you operate the appliance only at its intended place of use. The holes at the sides and rear stay clear, as does the venturi outlet at the burner, and you store nothing in the cart that blocks combustion air. You do not cover grates with aluminium foil.
During operation the appliance is never left unattended and is not moved. Accessible parts can get very hot, and you keep small children away; the manual also urges particular caution with seniors and pets nearby. You never light the burner with the lid closed, and you check the burner flames regularly. After grilling, the gas is turned off at the cylinder. If you want to move the cylinder, you turn it off and disconnect the regulator. Modifications to the appliance are prohibited, including removing the injectors, and as replacements you use only authorised parts from the manufacturer.
On grease fires, Char-Broil is blunt. Closing the lid does not put it out, because grilling appliances are well ventilated. If a persistent grease fire develops, you turn off the knobs and the gas cylinder; water is off limits for oil and grease fires. If it is really burning, you keep your distance and call the fire brigade. The best prevention is regular cleaning, and when preheating or burning off residues on “HI”, someone stays at the grill.
Who is it suitable for?
For a household with a garden or large terrace that cooks plate dishes and grills on the grate about equally often and wants to try pizza occasionally. That is where the tile system plays out its advantage.
It is the wrong choice if you want to work with charcoal or smoking embers now and then. The manual prohibits charcoal and ceramic briquettes in this gas appliance. Nor can it be connected to a fixed natural gas supply, judging by the documents: the manual lists only liquefied gas categories.
If you want to push the grill into a narrow niche after the meal, you should know that on the manufacturer’s page, only one user has so far answered the question about folding side shelves, with no.
