I like flatter. Thicker burgers tend to cook less consistently throughout the patty, and I don’t like that at all.
You don’t put tomato, cheese, mustard, etc. on a burger to hide the taste of the beef. You put them on to complement it.
'd never even thought to try and make them that thin. The beef just doesn’t look like it would be that compressible. The premade frozen patties you get are always much softer when thawed out than regular hamburger meat.
I don’t see how you would get the same amount of meat, though. Your bread is certain size, so patties are going to have the same diameter. You make 'em half as thick, that’s half as much.
Uh, PHRASING!
Just smashing it down with a heavy pan will get you about a quarter-inch-or-so-thick patty. If you’re using fatty meat (like I do), it will shrink inward quite a bit while cooking. I lose a good inch to two in diameter while frying them up.
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Thick or thin, I’ve gotten into the habit of using the broiler to cook burgers. No muss, fuss, or waiting for coals to turn white. One 14" by 11" broiler pan can turn out 8 to 10 burgers, depending on diameter. With two pans, proper preparation, and no assistants, I can turn out a pan of thin burgers every 6 minutes and thick burgers every 10. It always seems to take longer than that if I have a helper getting in the way. 
Number one son here. Here is the actual burger that reignited our ongoing burger-shape debate, while this is more or less my idea of perfect patty proportionality (not taking into account doneness or other aspects of construction here–just patty:sandwich proportionality).
I complain that Dseid makes his burgers too much like meatballs. It’s a ratio thing: I find them too narrow in terms of circumference, and too tall overall. The specimen pictured above was the widest option among a tray of even more narrow burgers all of about the same width. I find this problematic in several ways:
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The bun is often much wider than the patty (even moreso than in the example pictured) so you end up folding the the outer edges of the bun around the meat. It tends to become a soggy, folded up mess.
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The patty circumference is not wide enough to accommodate the condiments. For example, a slice of cheese is significantly larger than the patty and drips down all around the burger onto the grill when one attempts to melt it
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The whole thing is so tall that it’s difficult to actually take a bite out of it. And should you succeed in biting off a complete cross-section in one fell swoop, the balance of ingredients is off: it’s mostly meat.
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My ideal burger is 0.5-1" inch. As others have mentioned, a burger of this width cooked on a very hot grill results in a nicely charred exterior with juicy pinkness through to the middle. I agree with others that this is quite difficult to achieve with burgers of >1.5"; as the outside tends to get grey, dry and crumbly by the time the middle is no longer raw. That being said, I have no qualms with the doneness of the burger pictured above: it was somehow cooked perfectly throughout, despite being extremely lean (bison) and ~1.5" thick.
I don’t generally go for burgers as thin as 0.25", as suggested in the original post. At that point, the whole patty is essentially surface area so it’s hard to get any pinkness at all in the middle. That said, I do think that there’s a time and place for such burgers; it imparts a sort of 1950’s diner aesthetic, and supports the inclusion of more cumbersome, interesting toppings like pineapple or fried egg (which would make the sandwich too tall and bulky on a thicker patty).
I do agree with the indentation or “red blood cell” technique referenced by araminty to counteract the inevitable expansion of the center. I feel that many amateur burger chefs form their raw patties into the shape they generally want the finished product to be, without taking into account the high degree of contraction that the meat will undergo as water and fat is cooked out of the patty (hopefully not too much fat 
). It bears mentioning that Dseid is not among this class of amateur chefs. He makes these meatball burgers intentionally and remorselessly.
In my humble, burger loving opinion, you are 100% correct. The first burger, though it looks like it would taste good, is far too thick for my tastes. The burger in the second picture is a ratio I enjoy much more.
I voted other; because I like thick but the thickness has to be in relationship to the width. If your patty is thick but not wide enough it will turn into a meatball on the grill.
Going with Sepiachoice on this.
Me, too. Sepiachoice’s perfect patty proportionality pic is ideal for most burger situations: Thick enough that you can have some pink in the center, enough surface area to ensure tasty browning, enough meat that it won’t get overwhelmed or drowned out by toppings but not so much that it’s impossible to actually get a proper bite.
Dseid, I’m sure that it was a delicious burger, but that is THE WORST shape/size of burger patty. It’s grossly out of proportion and there’s so much (what looks like) nearly raw meat that I find it completely unappetizing. Sorry, dude.
Sorry DSeid number one son wins this one hands down. I’d probably want a bit thicker than his picture, but nothing close to the dimensions of yours. I even voted for “thick” but there is a big gap between 1/4" and what you made. Maybe if you used almost a pound of meat and at least made it burger shaped I could get on board.
Don’t get me wrong… if you want to make me one of those and invite me over I’ll be glad to eat it. Just would be better wider and thinner.
Thin. 20% fat, no more than 25% or the meat shrinks too much and the fat can become slimy. Just prior to cooking, place about 1/3-1/2 pound loosely formed ball between two sheets of waxed paper, smack it with a heavy skillet once or twice (tops) so the patty is about 3/8" thick. Season with salt, but no pepper (add it at the end, if you like).
Grilling is for losers. 
If you must grill, place a cast iron pan or heavy griddle on the grill first. Get it very hot, then plunk the patty on and sear it good for about two minutes, until the first side is well-caramelized. Flip it over and 2 minutes more for a nice med-rare hamburger that is juicy and has all that lovely browned surface. I prefer stovetop with either a stainless steel or cast iron pan. Get the pan really hot over medium heat, pour in a bit of cooking oil, heat until it shimmers, then ease the patty in.
Thick burgers should be eaten without a bun, IMO, much like a steak.
I’m afraid you leave me no choice but to report this post and request your user name gets changed… I’m thinking BadCookGuy as an option. 
There are two “models” of burger… grilled and fried. Why would you fry a burger on a grill?
Most of your advice was spot on, but I “smash” the fried burger when in the frying pan. I put a spatula in my right hand and something that I can apply pressure to the spatula in my left. Smash until it is nice and thin. Flip… let it get those nice browned edges like you get in a diner. Makes a wonderful burger done indoors.
But to say you shouldn’t grill a burger is just wrong. Did you not grow up with memories of Dad wearing a “kiss the cook” apron fussing with the Kingsford briquettes until finally pulling off the platter of amazing burger patties on a warm summer day?
Meh. I grill burgers sometimes, but they aren’t nearly as good as the ones seared on a griddle.
Exactly. The fat should render into the pan, so the meat sears in it.
Spud: If my father had ever cooked anything whatsoever, I would have assumed that an alien had possessed his body and I would have gone to get my shotgun. Most grilled burgers are overcooked, which is the fault of both the method and bad cooks, IMO. I think thicker burgers may fare better on a charcoal grill than do thinner ones, but the smashburgers I prefer are absolutely best in a pan. The best burger chefs on the planet dismiss grill cooking as a poor substitute
The only time I would fry in a pan on a grill is if I didn’t want to heat up the house on very hot day, but it’s a common practice in some circles. Oh, and I have no problem with mashing the meat after it’s in the pan; same effect, basically.
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Between the two choices, I would prefer your thinner burger. But I would enjoy eating your Dad’s burger, also.
My secret to delicious burgers that never receive any complaints is to only serve them to very hungry people.
(Correction to my previous post - I confused my broiler pans. An 11" by 14" pan can hold 4 - 5" burgers, 6 - 4" burgers, and 8 - 3" burgers.)
A good burger should have enough thickness so that it is juicy enough to drip down your forearms.
That is the polar opposite of everything a burger ought to be. No balance between the meat and bread, a notable circumference differential between the meat and bread, far too underdone for my tastes, and a person would have to unhinge their jaw like a snake to eat the thing. If you want a steak and a little dab of bread, just cook a steak and have a roll, already. Stop insulting me with the pretense that you want a sandwich.
I agree with your list of reasons why this burger is Wrong! ALL WRONG!!! whole-heartedly and would add the objection that when you try to pick up a giant burger, so much of your hand is taken up spanning the thickness of the burger that very little of your fingers and thumb are left to span the width of the bun and hold loose condiments like pickle slices in place. So when you tilt the burger up, a lot of stuff falls out onto the plate. I hate having to restuff my burger after every bite–it’s just obnoxious.
Then he is evil and must be destroyed.
Yeah, for that bun, yours looks perfect. I tend to use squishy white buns and make what I’d call 50s style fast food burgers, but for that bread, which looks a bit more substantial, but not annoyingly heavy, something more like a quarter pounder or slightly heavier looks exactly right. And that way you can still get a reasonably pink center. I really don’t like the over-meated burgers, and there has been such a trend lately to have huge frickin’ burgers. Luckily, it’s been balanced off the last few years with more quality fast food burger-style places, so there’s a decent selection of burgers styles now.