Best Grill Prep Trays That Nest Into One Another

How the Five Compare on the Numbers

Every purchase in this pool is a pair: one tray for raw meat going out to the grill and one for cooked food coming back. That means the cabinet question is not how big a tray is but how many objects it has to hold. Four of the sixteen listings state that the two trays nest into each other, which turns two objects into one, and the rest leave the pair as a pair.

The second figure is the published thickness, and it varies by a factor of thirty across the pool. Tovolo publishes 0.1 inches on a 10.5 inch square tray. TasticTotes publishes 0.8. Cuisinart publishes 0.6 in words on its large set and 1.0 on its medium. Czlizdyt publishes 2.0 inches because its trays are marinating dishes with lids. Tiangrid publishes 2.76 and the OXO system 3.05.

The row that would settle this page is missing from all sixteen listings: what the nested pair measures. Four makers say the trays nest and none says how thick they are once they have. On the Czlizdyt, with 2 inch trays, the difference between the nested figure and twice the single figure is the difference between fitting a shelf and not.

Who Says the Trays Nest

Cuisinart Says It Twice

Cuisinart’s medium set puts nesting in the product name, as a 2-Pc Nesting Set, and repeats it in a bullet: the prep trays nest together, transitioning from prep to serving while saving storage space. It publishes 17 by 10.5 inches at 1.0 inch and 1.0 pound, and it is the only listing in the pool to publish a load rating, support for up to 20 lbs of shatter-resistant melamine.

Its large set publishes the same claim on a bigger tray: 18 by 14.5 inches, two interchanging trays that nest together, both dishwasher safe and nesting for even easier storage. The useful detail is the thickness, which the maker gives as 0.6 inches in its own bullet against a field reading 0.8, so the larger tray is the thinner one.

Two More, Said Differently

TasticTotes publishes the same idea with a figure attached to something else: portable and stackable, the trays nest neatly for compact storage, on a published 17.2 by 10.5 by 0.8 inches, and the melamine is heat-resistant up to 248 F. It is the only listing among these five to publish a temperature at all.

Czlizdyt describes nesting from the other end, saying the black serving tray stacks perfectly into the red marinating tray so the set minimizes space in a kitchen, RV, tent or patio. Both trays are 2 inches deep with snap-on lids, which makes the pair thicker than anything else here and is also the only way in this pool to marinate in the tray you carry.

The Tray That Does Not Nest

A Tenth of an Inch Instead

Tovolo publishes no nesting claim anywhere. What it publishes instead is 0.1 inches of thickness on trays measuring 10.5 inches square, with built-in ridges and grooves to retain meat juices and stop toppings sliding, a textured bottom for grip while carrying, and two color-coded trays the maker says separate easily.

Two trays at 0.1 inches stacked flat on a shelf take less room than one 2 inch Czlizdyt tray, which is why it is on this page. The published weight is the odd part: 1.7 pounds for a pair of trays a tenth of an inch thick, which is heavier than the 0.8 inch TasticTotes pair and heavier than Cuisinart’s 1 inch medium set.

Where Nesting Stops Mattering

The pool holds two sets where nesting is beside the point. OXO publishes a six-piece grilling prep and carry system with a cutting board, a deep tray and two trays with lids, at 3.05 inches and 4.0 pounds. Tiangrid publishes a four-piece stainless steel set with a grill pan, a cutting board and two marinade containers with lids, at 2.76 inches and 3.25 pounds.

Both are useful and neither belongs in a minimalist cabinet, because the purchase is four or six objects rather than two. On a page that ranks by how many things the cabinet ends up holding, a set that includes a cutting board and a cleaning pack is going the wrong way, which is also the one mark against the Czlizdyt.

What the Trays Will and Will Not Take

One Load Figure in Sixteen Listings

Cuisinart’s medium set publishes support for up to 20 lbs and names whole chickens or large cuts of meat. That is the only load rating in the pool. Nothing else publishes one, including the two stainless sets, and on a melamine tray carried one-handed from a kitchen to a grill it is the figure that decides whether the tray flexes.

The rest publish adjectives. Shatter-resistant melamine from both Cuisinart listings, sturdier melamine from Czlizdyt, thick and sturdy from TasticTotes, durable BPA free melamine from Tovolo. All of those are probably true and none of them is checkable, which is why the single 20 lb figure is worth more than the five claims around it.

Heat, and Which Trays Should Not See Any

TasticTotes publishes 248 F and says the trays are strong enough to handle hot, heavy foods. Czlizdyt publishes no figure but makes the comparison, saying melamine does not get as hot as a metal tray or a sheet pan. Cuisinart’s large set says its trays will not get hot to the touch when cooked meat is put on them.

That is the whole of the heat information on a product designed to carry food off a grill. Melamine is not an oven material and none of these listings claims it is, so 248 F is the ceiling to plan around and four of the five picks do not publish one at all.

Which One Fits Your Kitchen

One object in the cabinet, and a heavy joint to carry. Cuisinart’s medium set publishes nesting in its own name, 17 by 10.5 inches at 1.0 inch, 1.0 pound, and a 20 lb load rating nothing else here matches.

The largest surface that still nests. Cuisinart’s large set publishes 18 by 14.5 inches at 0.6 inches in the maker’s words, dishwasher safe and nesting. Its field says 0.8, so allow for that.

You want a temperature on the box. TasticTotes publishes 17.2 by 10.5 by 0.8 inches, nesting, and heat resistance to 248 F, at 1.37 pounds with a raised textured surface.

You marinate in the tray you carry. Czlizdyt publishes snap-on lids on two 2 inch trays, one stacking inside the other, plus a bamboo board and a cleaning pack. At 6.02 pounds it is the heaviest of these five.

Nothing in the cabinet is allowed to be thick. Tovolo publishes 0.1 inches on 10.5 inch square trays with ridges and a textured base. It publishes no nesting claim, so plan for two flat objects.

What We Could Not Verify

Every figure above is a manufacturer’s own published number or sentence. These are the things we went looking for across all sixteen listings and did not find.

• A nested thickness from any of the four listings that state the trays nest, which is the figure a shelf gap meets.
• A load rating for four of the five picks. Only Cuisinart’s medium set publishes one, at up to 20 lbs.
• A resolved thickness for Cuisinart’s large set, published as 0.8 inches in its field and 0.6 in the maker’s own bullet.
• A heat figure for four of the five picks. Only TasticTotes publishes one, at 248 F.
• Any nesting statement from Tovolo, whose trays are published as separating easily and nothing more.
• A tray depth for the Tovolo or either Cuisinart set, so how much marinade an open tray holds before it spills is unstated.