In the United States broiling refers to a method of cooking when the heat is applied from above. In electric ovens this is accomplished with a heating element. Sometimes the food is placed near the upper heating element to intensify the heat. The lower heating element may or may not be left off and the oven door is sometimes opened partially. Gas ovens often have a separate compartment for broiling, sometimes a drawer below the bottom flame.

The flame-grilling machine at fast food restaurants is called a 'Broiler'. It works by moving meat patties along a chain conveyor belt between top and bottom burners, grilling both sides of the meat patty at the same time. This concept was invented in 1898, when the Bridge & Beach Co. of St. Louis, Missouri, started manufacturing a vertical cast iron stove. These stoves were designed to allow the meat to be flame-broiled on both sides at the same time. Custom hinged steel wire gridirons were built for use in the vertical broilers. The hinged gridirons were slid in & out of the stoves holding the meat while it cooked evenly on both sides, like modern day oven racks. These stoves took up a small amount of counter space. These stoves were used in lunch spots to feed factory workers.
During the 1990s, double-sided grilling was popular in the USA using consumer electrical grills. US marketers of electric double-sided grilling appliances opted for the global term 'grilling' rather than the geographically isolated term 'broiler'.