The 8 Best Grease Splatter Screens

This is the plain, correct version of the tool. A thirteen inch disc of woven stainless mesh with a handle riveted to the rim, sized so it rests on the lip of a twelve inch skillet and overhangs slightly, which is the geometry that keeps oil from escaping around the edge.

The fine weave is what makes it work. Oil droplets hit the wire and stop, while water vapor passes straight through, so a cutlet or a piece of fried chicken keeps its crust instead of steaming soft under a lid. That single behavior is the entire argument for owning a splatter screen rather than covering the pan.

Because it is one piece with no hinge, no folding joint and no silicone trim, there is nothing on it to fail. Screens like this outlast the pans they sit on, and the only realistic damage is a dent from being stacked under something heavy, which stops it sitting flat.

The honest drawbacks are storage and cleaning. A rigid thirteen inch disc with a fixed handle is an awkward shape to put away, and grease left to cool in a woven mesh takes real effort to remove. Rinse it under hot water with a drop of detergent while it is still warm and the problem disappears.

Bottom line: the screen to buy if you want the job done and nothing else, and the one most kitchens should default to.

• Material: stainless steel woven mesh
• Diameter: 13 inches
• Fits: frying pans and skillets up to about 12 inches
• Handle: long, fixed
• Construction: one piece, no moving parts
• Care: rinse warm with hot water and detergent, dry before storing

Buy this if you fry regularly in a full size skillet and want the most effective barrier with the least to think about. Look at the OXO folding model instead if drawer space is your real constraint, and at a silicone disc if you want something that also covers a bowl in the microwave. If your pans are small, a thirteen inch screen will feel oversized.

Rinse it while the pan is still warm, before the grease sets in the weave. Dry it fully before it goes in a drawer, since moisture sitting at the rim and the handle rivet is the usual cause of the discoloration people report on steel screens. Lift it away from you when you remove it so escaping steam goes up rather than across your wrist, and never rest it face down on a clean counter.

U.S. Kitchen Supply builds the same fine mesh screen as everyone else and then adds the two details that decide whether a tool gets used: somewhere to put it down, and a handle you can hold.

The resting feet are the standout. Two small legs on the underside let you set a greasy screen on the counter without printing an oil ring, and they let it stand while you turn the food. Anyone who has balanced a hot screen on the edge of the sink will recognize why that matters.

The mesh itself is fine enough to stop the mist that a perforated sheet lets through, and at thirteen inches it overhangs a standard skillet the way a screen should. The comfort grip handle is longer than it looks in the photos, which keeps your knuckles out of the steam column.

What it does not solve is storage. This is still a rigid disc with a fixed handle, so it lives flat against the side of a cupboard or on a hook. The mesh also needs the same warm rinse as any woven screen if you want to avoid scrubbing later.

Bottom line: the fine mesh screen with the practical details, and the pick if you cook with the screen coming on and off repeatedly.

• Material: stainless steel fine mesh
• Diameter: 13 inches
• Underside: two resting feet
• Handle: comfort grip
• Use: frying pans and cooking pots
• Care: dishwasher safe, warm rinse recommended for greasy work

Rest the screen on the rim of the pan rather than pressing it down inside, and lift it away from you so the steam goes up. Use the feet: set it down mesh up on the counter while you turn food, then put it straight back. Over a bowl it works as a coarse strainer for pasta water or rinsing produce. Rinse it under hot water before the grease cools, and dry it before it goes away.

Choose this over a plain screen if you cook in stages and keep taking the cover on and off, since the feet and the grip are what you notice every time. Choose the folding OXO instead if the drawer is the problem. If your kitchen runs several pan sizes, the three piece set from the same brand covers them with the same mesh and handle design.

This is the same fine mesh screen as the single thirteen inch model, supplied in three diameters, and it answers a real problem rather than padding a bundle. A thirteen inch disc balanced on a small saucepan is unwieldy and does not sit properly, and that is the moment people stop bothering with a splatter screen at all.

The nine and a half inch screen is the one that surprises owners. It fits the small pan you actually fry an egg in, it is light, and it is easy enough to grab that you use it for jobs where you would never have fetched the big one.

Covering two burners at once is the other genuine benefit. Anyone who fries a protein while a sauce spits in a second pan gets the whole point of a set immediately, and it also means one screen can be soaking while another is in use.

The cost is storage, and it is a real cost. Three rigid discs with handles need a dedicated slot, and if you honestly only ever fry in one skillet, you will use one screen and store two. Buy the set for the pans you own, not for the idea of them.

Bottom line: the right buy for a kitchen that fries in several sizes, and overkill for one that does not.

• Material: stainless steel fine mesh
• Diameters: 13, 11.5 and 9.5 inches
• Pieces: 3 screens
• Handles: comfort grip
• Use: frying pans, sauciers, cooking pots
• Care: dishwasher safe, warm rinse recommended after frying

Buy the set if you cook several things at once, if your pans range from a small egg pan to a full skillet, or if a spare screen while one is being washed sounds useful. Buy a single thirteen inch screen instead if you fry in one pan and your drawers are already full, since that is the size that covers most cooking on its own.

Treat all three the same way: rinse under hot water while the grease is still soft, and dry fully before stacking. Stacking damp screens is how rims discolor. Do not nest them with anything heavy on top, because a dented mesh no longer sits flat on a pan rim, which is the one failure that ends a screen. Lift each one away from your body so escaping steam clears your hand.

OXO takes the opposite approach to everyone else here. Instead of a woven mesh it uses a solid stainless sheet punched with holes, and instead of accepting the storage problem it puts a hinge in the handle.

The perforated sheet is the more pleasant surface to live with. There is no weave for grease to sit inside, so cleaning is a wipe rather than a scrub, and the panel is rigid enough that it will not deform if something gets stacked on it. For anyone who abandoned a mesh screen because cleaning it was miserable, this is the fix.

The folding handle is the other half of the pitch. A rigid disc with a fixed handle is genuinely difficult to store, and hinging the handle flat lets the screen slide in beside baking trays. It is a small mechanism doing a job that mattered enough for OXO to build the product around it.

Physics sets the limit. Punched holes are larger and fewer than the gaps in a fine woven mesh, so very fine oil mist passes through more readily. It stops the splatters that make a mess and lets a little haze through, which is a fair trade for the cleaning and storage advantages.

Bottom line: the practical choice for a crowded kitchen, and the easiest of the steel screens to clean.

• Material: perforated stainless steel
• Fits: pans up to 13 inches
• Handle: folds flat, soft non slip grip
• Surface: solid sheet with punched holes, no woven mesh
• Care: dishwasher safe
• Storage: lies flat once the handle is folded

Unfold the handle until it locks straight before lifting, then rest the screen on the pan rim rather than inside it. Fold the handle only once the screen is cool and clean, since folding a greasy hinge is what makes the joint sticky over time. Wipe the sheet down with a cloth while it is warm and the whole thing takes a few seconds; the hinge area is the one spot worth drying deliberately.

Choose the OXO if storage or cleaning is what has stopped you using a splatter screen before. Choose a fine mesh screen instead if you want the most complete barrier against oil mist and do not mind rinsing a weave. If you fry very often, owning both is not unreasonable: mesh for the long fries, the folding perforated screen for everything quick.

Silicone changes what a splatter screen is. Instead of a rigid disc you cannot put anywhere, this is a flexible sheet that folds into a drawer and springs back flat, which removes the single most common reason these tools stop being used.

It will not rust, it will not dent, and dropping it does nothing. On a coated pan rim it is also gentler than a steel edge, and it is quiet, which sounds trivial until you compare it with metal ringing on a cast iron pan at six in the morning.

The oven safe rating opens a second use, covering a dish that spits in the oven, and the same disc works over a bowl to stop a microwave making a mess. That flexibility is why silicone owners tend to keep the thing on the counter rather than in a cupboard.

The compromises are real. Moulded holes give less open area than woven mesh, so a little more steam stays under the screen and very crisp results are slightly harder to hold. Silicone also stains, particularly with turmeric and tomato, and it has a stated heat limit that steel simply does not, so it belongs above the pan and away from a bare flame.

Bottom line: the pick if storage and durability matter more to you than the last few percent of crispness.

• Material: food grade silicone
• Size: 13 inches, fits 12 to 13 inch pans
• Rating: oven safe
• Flexibility: folds and rolls for storage
• Color: black
• Care: dishwasher safe, keep clear of direct flame

Buy this if drawer space is tight, if you have dented or rusted a steel screen before, or if you want one cover that works on the stove, in the oven and over a bowl. Choose fine mesh steel instead if you fry things where maximum crispness is the whole point, since a woven screen breathes more freely than moulded holes.

Keep the silicone above the pan and off the burner. Gas flames licking up the side of a skillet will exceed what silicone tolerates, and the damage is permanent. It is dishwasher safe, though staining from turmeric and tomato is cosmetic and will not wash out. Store it folded rather than under something heavy, and check the rim occasionally for nicks, since a torn edge is where silicone starts to fail.

Buying these in pairs turns out to make more sense than it first appears. A splatter screen goes from clean to greasy in one fry, and the moment it is in the sink you are back to splattering the stove. A second screen removes that gap entirely.

The pair also covers the way people actually cook. Frying a protein in one pan while something spits in another is a normal weeknight, and a single screen forces you to choose which mess to prevent.

Both discs are the standard thirteen inch size, so each one overhangs a twelve inch skillet properly, and the handles are long enough to keep your hand out of the steam. The red grip is a matter of taste but it does make the handle easy to find on a crowded stovetop.

Alpha Living also sells these as strainers, and that use is legitimate: rest the disc over a bowl and it holds back pasta or rinses berries. The trade-off is straightforward, since two rigid screens need twice the storage, and if you only ever fry in one pan the second will sit in a cupboard.

Bottom line: the value buy, and the sensible pick for anyone who cooks on more than one burner at a time.

• Material: stainless steel mesh
• Diameter: 13 inches each
• Pack: 2 screens
• Handle: long, red grip
• Second use: strainer over a bowl
• Care: rinse warm, dry before storing

Keep one screen at the stove and one in the cupboard rather than storing both together, so a clean one is always within reach. Rest each screen on the pan rim and lift it away from you. Over a bowl, hold the handle steady while you pour so the disc does not tip. Rinse under hot water before the grease sets, and let both dry fully before they are stacked.

Take the two pack if you cook on two burners, if you fry often enough that a screen is usually dirty, or if you want a spare that also works as a strainer. A single screen is the better buy if drawer space is the constraint, and the OXO folding model is the answer if it is the shape rather than the count that bothers you.

INYOU sells the silicone approach at its simplest: a flexible perforated disc that sits over a thirteen inch pan and blocks the oil. There is no rim, no rivet and no weave, which removes every part of a steel screen that can rust or clog.

Where it earns its place is versatility. The same disc covers a bowl in the fridge, sits over a plate in the microwave, and folds into a drawer instead of demanding a flat slot. People who buy one tend to use it well beyond frying.

Handling is pleasant. Silicone stays cooler at the edge than bare steel, it does not clang against a cast iron rim, and it is impossible to dent out of shape. For a household where the previous screen was retired because it got bent, that is the whole argument.

The compromises follow the material. Moulded perforations give less open area than fine mesh, so more steam stays under the screen and very crisp frying is marginally harder to hold. It is also light, so a strong extractor draft can lift an unweighted edge, and silicone stains with turmeric and tomato.

Bottom line: the flexible everyday cover, best in a kitchen that wants one disc to do several jobs.

• Material: food grade silicone
• Size: suits 13 inch pans
• Rating: heat resistant to hot oil
• Uses: frying pan cover, bowl cover, microwave splash guard
• Care: dishwasher safe
• Construction: single moulded piece, no rim or rivet

Buy this if you want one flexible cover for several jobs and value storage over the last degree of crispness. It suits smaller kitchens and anyone who has already dented or rusted a steel screen. Cooks who shallow fry frequently and care about crust should take a fine mesh steel screen instead, and keep silicone for the microwave.

Keep it above the pan and away from any flame that climbs the side of the pan, because exceeding the silicone rating damages it permanently. Wash it in the dishwasher or by hand; staining from spices is cosmetic. Check the edge for nicks now and then, since a small tear in silicone spreads. Store it flat or loosely rolled rather than crushed under heavy cookware.

Most splatter screens are built for the biggest pan in the kitchen, which leaves the small pans uncovered. This eight inch Homestia screen exists for those, and it fills a genuine gap: frying an egg or a couple of rashers in a small pan still throws oil everywhere.

The 304 stainless specification is worth noticing. That grade is the one that holds up to repeated contact with hot oil and moisture without pitting, and rust at the rim is the single most common complaint about inexpensive screens.

Rather than a long handle it uses a folding knob in the center. That keeps the whole thing compact and lets it lie flat in a drawer, which is a sensible design choice on a screen this small since there is nowhere for a long handle to go.

The limits are exactly what the size implies. It cannot cover a twelve inch skillet, and a central knob puts your fingers nearer the steam than a side handle does, so lift it with the pan turned down or use a cloth. Treat it as the small pan specialist it is rather than a main screen.

Bottom line: the right answer for small pans, and a poor substitute for a full size screen.

• Material: 304 stainless steel mesh
• Diameter: 8 inches
• Handle: foldable center knob
• Fits: small frying pans and saucepans
• Finish: rust resistant
• Care: rinse warm, dry before storing

Match it to a pan of about eight inches so the rim of the screen sits on the rim of the pan rather than inside it. Fold the knob up to lift, and turn the heat down for a moment before you remove it, since a center knob puts your hand directly over the steam. Rinse it warm and dry it, then fold the knob flat and it stores like a saucer.

Buy this as a second screen for the small pan you use every morning, not as your only one. If you own a single pan and it is a full size skillet, buy a thirteen inch screen instead. If you want both sizes covered in one purchase, the graduated three piece set is the more economical route, at the cost of drawer space.