Short answer
Get a griddle if you cook eggs, pancakes, smash burgers, sandwiches or anything small that needs a flat, even surface. Get a charbroiler if you want grill marks and a flame-grilled flavour on steaks, burgers, chicken and vegetables. Many kitchens with a varied menu run both side by side, because they do different jobs.
A griddle cooks by contact with a steel plate, sometimes chrome-finished. Thicker plates hold heat better when you load cold product, and thermostatic controls hold a set temperature, which suits busy lines, while manual controls simply set the flame or element.
A charbroiler cooks over gas burners with radiants, lava rock or ceramic briquettes, or over electric elements, below a grate, so fat drips onto the heat and flares, which gives the grilled flavour. It produces more smoke and grease vapour than a griddle and needs regular grate and radiant cleaning.
Both normally sit under a hood with fire suppression. A salamander or cheese melter is a third option when you need top-down heat for finishing rather than a cooking surface.
Updated · By Norpex