Many people use the phrases “Stovetop Grill” and “Grill Pan” interchangeably; however, there are several other ways of grilling on your stove that do not involve using a grill pan.
There is a product available which is a true stovetop grill called the Minden Master Range Top Grill. I think you can pick it up on Amazon for about a hundred bucks. This is an actual grill that fits over a burner on your gas stove. There grill grates are supposed to be far enough away from the flames that things don’t burn and there is a drip pan of sorts that keeps grease from falling onto your stove. It looks like this guy even comes with a lid. I’ve never used this myself but the comments on Amazon indicate that it smokes like a chimney. It might be worth a try if you can open your windows and get some serious ventilation going.
A second stovetop grill is the Chefmaster Smokeless Stovetop Barbecue. This is a two piece, slightly domed aluminum grill designed to have the grease from your food drain downward into a rimmed water lined reservoir. You can probably pick one up for about $35 but please don’t. I have used this quite a bit and it really is awful. The grill has very uneven heat, has almost no non-stick properties and leaves pathetic grill marks. Don’t waste your money on this guy.
A third option for a stovetop grill is the wide selection of electric grills that are available. Several manufactures make a single contact grill where your food is essentially sitting on top of a heating element. If you go with a grill like this make sure you get one that comes with a lid. I’m not sure why some companies don’t offer a lid for their grills but it seems pretty obvious you would want one to both speed cooking and reduce the amount of splatter mess in your kitchen. The double contact grills are pretty popular where your food gets cooked by a heating element underneath and on top of your food. This is your typical George Foreman type grill. Some benefits of the double contact grill are that your food cooks faster and that the top element acts as a lid reducing splatter. One downside of these grills is that all of your food must be of the same thickness to benefit from the dual contact. There are lots of options to choose from for dual contact grills.
A grill pan makes a great stovetop grill but isn’t the only option you have for grilling indoors. If you just can’t get into the groove of your grill pan go ahead and try one of these other options.