• We ranked double cheeseburgers from 13 fast-food chains to see which one reigns supreme.
• 7th Street Burger, the smallest chain, blew me away with its saucy smash burger.
• I thought In-N-Out's famous Double-Double was great value and undeniably delicious.

Practically every fast-food chain sells a double cheeseburger, but which one is the best?

Burgers remain one of the most popular foods in the US throughout the rest of the year. A 2023 report by Cargill Meat Solutions Corporation found that 79% of Americans order burgers at restaurants at least once a month. And, while chicken tenders may be the hottest fast-food menu item of the coming year, burger chains like McDonald's and Burger King still trump most chicken chains.

Over the years, I've tried practically every fast-food double cheeseburger on the market. For a definitive ranking, I tried double cheeseburgers from McDonald's, Wendy's, Burger King, Shake Shack, White Castle, Whataburger, P. Terry's, Five Guys, Cook Out, Checkers, Sonic, 7th Street Burger, and In-N-Out.

Here's every fast-food double cheeseburger ranked from worst to best.

My least favorite double cheeseburger was from Burger King. It cost me $3.89.

The burger was under $5, but I'm not sure it was worth the price.

It comes with two of the chain's beef patties, American cheese, pickles, mustard, and ketchup on a sesame-seed bun.

It comes with one slice of cheese.

This burger was super filling, but I liked the other burgers I tried more.

Right away, I tasted the thick beef patties. The burger had traveled a little more than 15 minutes from my local Burger King to my apartment, but the meat was still juicy and the cheese nicely melted.

The pickle slices were thick and crunchy, and I enjoyed the sesame-seed bun, which added a nice textural element. But I thought there was just a little too much ketchup, which will likely vary depending on who's making your burger that day.

It was also a little heavy for my liking. It filled me up a little more than I had anticipated before jumping into the rest of the burger comparison. Still, for a burger that costs just under $4, that might be more of an asset than a hindrance if you want a filling, inexpensive lunch.

Next was Wendy's double cheeseburger, which the chain calls a Double Stack. I ordered it for $4.49.

It was about the same price as the burgers from McDonald's and Burger King, though it landed squarely in the middle in terms of value.

A Wendy's double cheeseburger comes with two junior-size hamburger patties, American cheese, ketchup, mustard, pickles, and sweet onion.

The toppings looked a little stingy, and they were clustered in the middle of the sandwich. I would have liked to see them more spread out.

The burger bun was fluffy and light, and the toppings had a ton of flavor.

But I had to get a few bites in to reach the toppings in the center.

The toppings themselves were amazing. I thought the pickles were the most flavorful out of the burgers I tried, and I liked the use of an onion ring rather than diced onion, although I would've liked more.

The McDonald's double cheeseburger cost me $5.79.

It was slightly more expensive than Wendy's version but had more toppings. It came with an extra slice of American cheese plus chopped onions, and I thought it was still relatively affordable.

The double cheeseburger from McDonald's comes with two beef patties, pickles, chopped onions, ketchup, mustard, and two slices of American cheese.

I was interested to see if the added toppings would amp up the flavor.

I thought the ingredients came together well in this burger, but the bun was a little lackluster.

The bun held everything together and was a good size, but it was a little too soft and didn't have a lot of flavor on its own. But I enjoyed the amount of condiments and didn't find them overpowering.

The chopped onions added a lot of flavor, and the burger patties were juicy despite being thinner than the Burger King ones. I liked the added cheese but didn't think it was necessary.

Next up was the double-meat Whataburger with cheese.

It costs $9 at a Whataburger in Austin, excluding tax and fees.

I ordered it with a large bun, American cheese, grilled peppers and onions, pickles, and ketchup.

The burger was a decent size and I could see the gooey cheese peeking out from underneath the soft potato bun. 

Unlike the other double cheeseburgers, this burger had sliced jalapeño peppers that I imagined would add quite the kick.

The ingredients definitely set this burger apart from the others.

I thought the burgers had a delightfully crispy texture to them, and the toppings added a ton of flavor.

The bun was light and fluffy, but I did think the burger patties could have been a little thicker and juicier.

Coming in ninth was the double cheeseburger from P. Terry's Burger Stand, a regional chain I visited in Austin.

The burger cost only $5, making it one of the cheaper burgers I tried.

Despite being less expensive than the Whataburger double cheeseburger, the P. Terry's burger was larger.

I ordered it with pickles, onions, ketchup, mustard, and American cheese.

I again thought the cheese could have been more melted, but the size definitely made up for that small detail.

One of the benefits of ordering from P. Terry's is that you can easily customize your burger and add a number of toppings including grilled onions, the chain's special sauce, tomato, lettuce, and more.

I thought the burgers were juicy and the pickles had a tart crunch to them.

The bun was slightly underwhelming, but I thought it was an excellent, large burger with tons of flavor, especially for the low price. I also thought the mustard really came through and added a lot to the burger.

The double cheeseburger from Shake Shack was the second most expensive burger I tried.

I paid $12.49 for a double cheeseburger. I could customize my toppings, but I went with pickles, onions, and Shack sauce.

Right away, I thought the burger was massive.

The burger patties were perfectly crispy on the outside and covered in gooey melted cheese. The pickles also looked large and homemade. It was even heavy to pick up.

The toppings were generous and the chain's signature Shack sauce, which is a mayo-based sauce with a slight mustard flavor, made it really tasty.

The cheese was thick and perfectly melted.

However, biting into the Shake Shack burger was a little overwhelming, in my opinion.

The burger was huge, which was both an asset and a hindrance. I struggled to get through more than a few bites.

However, despite being the second most expensive burger, I thought it was worth the price. The burger patties were much thicker than the other burgers I tried, and the toppings took it over the edge in terms of flavor.

Overall, I was impressed ... but stuffed.

In seventh place was the double-decker burger with cheese from Checkers.

The burger has since been replaced with the Big Buford, which has all the same ingredients but a bakery-style bun instead of a sesame-seed bun. The burger costs $7.69 at my local Checkers in Brooklyn.

I thought this burger was a little pricey for the size.

It was smaller than my hand, though it did include a variety of toppings like tomato, lettuce, and red onion. The burger also comes with American cheese, dill pickles, ketchup, mustard, and mayonnaise on a toasted bun.

The burger patties were very juicy and the toppings tasted fresh.

I also thought the American cheese was very tangy and flavorful. Overall, I enjoyed the combination of flavors. However, the price prevented this burger from ranking higher. 

I also tried the double cheese slider from White Castle.

White Castle sliders tend to be eaten in pairs, so I ordered two. Each burger cost me $3.55, so I ended up paying $7.10.

The burgers were small but packed with flavor.

The burgers smelled strongly of onions and condiments the second I removed them from the bag.

The amount of toppings on each burger was generous.

The pickles were crunchy and flavorful. Though the burgers each had a bun sandwiched in the middle of the burger, it wasn't too bready — instead, it allowed the flavors to really come together while still being filling.

I was blown away by the cheeseburgers from White Castle, a result I admittedly wasn't expecting.

As the cheapest and smallest burgers, I was expecting them to be a little lackluster. However, I found that good things definitely come in small packages. The onions, condiments, and pickles were flavorful, but it was the beef that really impressed me.

The small-but-mighty burger was one of the most flavorful out of the ones I tried, easy to eat, and perfectly priced. 

My fifth-favorite double cheeseburger was from Five Guys.

Five Guys doesn't technically have a "double cheeseburger" — its regular cheeseburgers already come with two slices of cheese and two beef patties.

My burger cost $13.55, excluding taxes and fees, making it the most expensive burger I tried.

I was able to customize my toppings, but I ordered the burger with pickles, grilled onions, ketchup, and mustard.

Right away, I noticed that the toppings were generous. The pickle slices were large, and none of the toppings cost extra to add.

The burger was large without being too intimidating.

I thought it was a perfect size. It required two hands to pick up and eat, but it wasn't as heavy as the burger from Shake Shack. Slices of melted American cheese coated each burger, and there wasn't so much sauce that it dripped out from underneath the sesame-seed buns.

The burger patties were crispy on the outside but juicy on the inside.

I thought the pickle slices were thick, crunchy, and tart. I also really enjoyed the choice of a sesame-seed bun — it added a bit of texture to each and every bite.

The grilled onions also really impressed me. They were soft and almost caramelized, adding a lot of flavor that I didn't get from any other burger.

My fourth-favorite double cheeseburger came from Sonic Drive-In.

The SuperSonic double cheeseburger was the only burger I tried that came with lettuce and tomato. Since this was the default option, I decided to try it with these toppings rather than specifically remove them. 

The burger cost me $9.75, excluding taxes and fees.

The burger came with a hearty serving of shredded lettuce, tomatoes, two slices of cheese, diced onions, pickles, mayonnaise, and ketchup.

Unlike Sonic's quarter-pound double cheeseburger, which comes with two junior patties, the full-size burger has a combined half-pound of meat. 

The bun was perfectly soft but still held the sauce-covered burger together.

The ingredients tasted fresh and vibrant. The tomato wasn't too watery, the lettuce was crisp, and the burgers tasted well-seasoned and juicy. Plus, the burger was a very generous size. 

However, despite all these accolades, I thought the price was a little steep compared to what I got from Cook Out and In-N-Out.

My third-favorite double cheeseburger came from Cook Out, a regional chain I visited in South Carolina.

You can order a "big double" from Cook Out any way you wish, but I ordered mine with cheese, ketchup, mustard, onions, and pickles. It cost me $4.99, not including tax.

The burger came wrapped in foil and featured two juicy patties.

It also had thick slices of fresh onion and large pickle spears layered on top of the burger.

For the price, I thought the burger was out of this world.

The cheese slices were thick and tangy, and the burger was perfectly moist and medium-rare. It was also very large, and, after already eating dinner, I struggled to get through more than a few bites, though I kept wanting to go back for more.

At an amazingly low price, this burger definitely earned the second-to-top spot on my ranking.

My second favorite came from 7th Street Burger, a smaller chain based in New York City.

7th Street Burger is a small chain of quick-service burger restaurants with 19 locations in New York, New Jersey, and Washington, DC.

Since it opened in 2021, the chain has quickly grown a reputation for its no-frills approach to smash burgers, which feature crispy patties, gooey cheese, and the chain's signature sauce.

I ordered a double cheeseburger, which comes with two beef patties, American cheese, onions, pickles, and house sauce on a Martin's potato bun. It cost $9.50, excluding tax and fees.

There wasn't much customization to do for this burger — you can't order it with lettuce or tomato.

However, this burger was perfect exactly as the chain designed it. The burger patties were delightfully crispy on the outside yet managed to stay juicy.

Melted slices of cheese oozed between the two thin, expertly griddled, and charred beef patties, all smothered in the chain's signature sauce, a creamy, tangy take on classic burger sauce.

The burger was served on a pillowy-soft potato roll, which kept things simple.

There were no lettuce or tomato slices to cut through the rich, savory indulgence, but that only added to the burger's savory flavor. I didn't miss the opportunity to customize my burger with additional toppings. It was probably the best smash burger I've ever had.

With pickles and onions to round out the flavor, the double cheeseburger offered a satisfying, nostalgic flavor that elevated the classic smash burger experience.

In my opinion, the best double cheeseburger I tried was the famous Double-Double burger from In-N-Out.

It cost me $4.90, which I thought was an excellent deal for the large burger sitting in front of me. One of the first things I noticed was how thick the burger patties were — they were much thicker than other burgers I tried at a similar price point.

Most Double-Double burgers come with lettuce, tomato, onions, and spread.

To keep my burger similar to the other burgers I tried, I ordered it with onions, pickles, and spread, which I thought tasted similar to Thousand Island dressing.

The first thing I noticed about the In-N-Out burger was how juicy the burger patties were, followed by the incredible layers of cheese.

The cheese slices were perfectly melted and coated each part of the burger, something I couldn't say about any other burger I tried.

The bun was perfectly soft and held everything together perfectly, while the special spread had my mouth watering for another bite.

Of all the burgers I tried, I thought the In-N-Out double cheeseburger packed the most flavor for the best price.

When it came to a double cheeseburger, the West-Coast chain really nailed it. The burger was beyond flavorful, the perfect size, and, in my opinion, very good value for money.

The next time I'm in a state with an In-N-Out, I know where I'll be filling my burger craving.

• My group of 20 went on a multigenerational trip to Austria and stayed in a castle for a week.
• Our stay cost about $151 per person per night, which felt surprisingly affordable for all we got.
• We had a great time and especially enjoyed exploring the spacious grounds and castle amenities.

The average price of a hotel in Austria tends to be over $200 a night — even higher if you want a five-star experience.

But if you get a group of 20 together and everyone chips in, you'll each pay around $151 a night to stay in a castle for a week.

That's about what my family did last summer when our large group booked a stay in Castle Wasserburg, a 12th-century marvel in Austria.

As expected, our multigenerational family vacation in a European castle ended up being pretty wonderful.

We were after the castle life, and we got it

To be clear, castles are not palaces.

Castles were traditionally built to defend people and places, whereas palaces were built as symbols of extreme wealth. Still, castles tend to be large and impressive, often with incredible grounds.

The castle we rented sleeps up to 20, with 10 bedrooms and seven bathrooms. The rental comes with a staff member who does basic cleanup and prepares a breakfast every morning for guests.

Redesigned in baroque style, Wasserburg's ground floor opens to a small entrance hall, a great hall with an open fireplace, a small salon, a sauna, and an elevator.

On the first floor there's a large, gilded salon we nicknamed "the WiFi room" because it had the best cellular reception.

There was also a library with a fireplace where the older generations liked to gather, and a secret back room adjacent to the library that my son discovered one afternoon.

Most memorably, the castle has an enormous dining room with a table that seats 24, a vast balcony overlooking the grounds, and a kitchen with an external dumb-waiter that lowers down to the grill area.

The dumbwaiter proved to be an invaluable tool so we could avoid running up and down narrow stairways with heaving platters of dishes. Even the youngest members of our clan had fun operating it.

Otherwise, we spent most of our time in the kitchen playing cards, creating nightly feasts, sampling too many local libations, and oversharing.

But our time enjoying the grounds was arguably the most memorable part of our trip.

The castle is situated on a large park with a moat, pond, private swimming pool, tennis court set in a rock garden, small forest, horse stables, and gravel-lined walking paths throughout.

There was a lot of charm and fun to be found nearby, too

Although we could've spent days around the grounds, the castle's prime location in St. Pölten meant we were within driving distance of some exciting spots.

One of our favorite excursions was to the Wachau wine region less than an hour from the castle. There, we explored vineyards producing full-bodied, fruit-forward but razor-sharp riesling and Grüner Veltliner.

Austria's capital city, Vienna, is also less than an hour away and worth visiting for at least a full day. We also visited Salzburg and Bratislava, both a few hours' drive from the castle.

I'll never forget our incredible stay

We would've had fun no matter where we stayed, but our time in the castle still resonates with me.

The castle was the destination and it's one of my favorite spaces we've rented as a clan over the years.

Staying in such a fascinating place helped us embrace the history of the region we were visiting — its culture, traditions, food, and drinks.

Living, cooking, traveling, and laughing together, even just for a week, reminded all of us of our shared history and traditions and gave us hope and energy to face a future united despite everything that may distract and divide us.

• Kevin Smith's SModcastle Cinemas is a shrine to the filmmaker's career.
• Located in Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey, Smith often hosts events and introduces movies.
• BI spoke to Smith at SModcastle about his most personal venture yet.

Entering SModcastle Cinemas, the New Jersey movie theater owned by filmmaker Kevin Smith, is like approaching the altar of a giant shrine to raunchy slacker-cinema.

Gracing one wall is a mural of memorable characters from Smith's movies, like Elizabeth Banks and Seth Rogen in "Zack and Miri Make a Porno" and Mark Hamill as Cocknocker in "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back." Posters from his films and live podcast events line the hallways leading to the five screens mazed through the building. On at least one of them, a Kevin Smith movie is usually playing.

It's the perfect destination for Gen X movie fans, who grew up obsessed with Smith's signature low-budget artistry and unabashed embrace of R-rated antics.

Yet, to my surprise, the first patron I see in the SModcastle lobby one Friday afternoon is a young boy of no more than six years old with his mother.

When Smith walks through the door shortly after wearing his usual outfit — backwards cap, suit jacket, and shorts — he fills me in on a secret. Yes, SModcastle is a physical space devoted to the View Askewniverse, a reference to his production company's name, View Askew. But there are other ways he keeps the lights on.

"Birthday parties are one of our biggest moneymakers," he says.

Over his 30-year career, Smith has been called many things, but shrewd businessman is not one of them. Yet his artistic appeal has helped Smith turn himself into a viable brand.

Though modest by design, SModcastle Cinemas is the latest testament to the power of the grassroots-level hustle that propelled Smith to stardom with "Clerks" in the 1990s.

From filmmaker to podcaster

Smith released his 1994 debut feature, the black-and-white comedy "Clerks," at the height of the US indie film craze, when movies like "Pulp Fiction" and "Hoop Dreams" were showing audiences that there was more to see in theaters outside of what major studios had to offer.

Shot at the actual convenience store where Smith worked, Quick Stop in Leonardo, New Jersey, "Clerks" introduced the world to wiseass New Jersey twenty-something characters like Dante Kicks, Randal Graves, Rick Derris, and, of course, Jay and Silent Bob.

Thanks to its countless pop-culture references and crude humor, "Clerks" found instant acclaim, making Smith, who also played Silent Bob, the "It" young filmmaker in the burgeoning indie film scene.

Smith went on to make movies like "Mallrats," "Chasing Amy," "Dogma," and "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back." Though none were as universally praised as "Clerks" — especially the doomed "Jersey Girl" — they built Smith a loyal and enduring fanbase.

The movies laid the foundation for the most lucrative aspect of the Kevin Smith brand: himself. From a strain of marijuana to SModcast, a podcast he started with his former producer Scott Mosier in 2007 (the "P" in podcast is replaced with the first letters of their last names), Smith has been honing his public persona for decades. In 2010, this led to Smith finding a venue where he could perform in front of a live audience whenever he wanted: He called it SModcastle.

The first version was in Los Angeles at a 48-seat location on Santa Monica Blvd.

"Scott and I had just gone out to do a SModcast tour, and I wanted to be able to do it live whenever I wanted," Smith tells me while laying on his chest on the stage of the 230-seat main theater at SModcastle's current location.

Though SModcastle 1.0 on Santa Monica always sold out when Smith was in attendance, that was the problem: whenever he wasn't there, the place was empty.

Though the business model was far from perfect, Smith says it was the incubator for what would become the SModcast network of podcasts, which is now the backbone of his brand. Shows like "Hollywood Babble-On" and "Jay & Silent Bob Get Old" were birthed at SModcastle 1.0 and have since built loyal audiences and sold out live shows.

Smith finally closed down the Santa Monica SModcastle in 2011. Then in 2021, he learned of an opportunity to rent space in the same building as the Quick Stop where he shot "Clerks."

"Great, we're doing it again, and it's right next to Quick Stop, where we know people come there as a tourist trap. This will be fantastic," Smith recalls thinking.

But the same problem that befell the LA location crept up in New Jersey: if Smith wasn't in attendance, the place was empty.

In 2022, Smith and his business associates (including Ernie O'Donnell, who played Rick Derris in "Clerks") learned that the movie theater Smith used to go to as a child, Atlantic Cinemas in Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey, was going up for sale.

As a kid in the 1980s, Atlantic Cinemas had been Smith's home away from home, where he saw the then-new releases like "Raiders of the Lost Ark" and "Blade Runner" that would go on to shape his life and work.

"I instantly thought, this makes more sense," Smith says. "I can monetize every piece of this, I can show whatever I want, and, if I own the place, I can make a movie there."

SModcastle Cinemas is a home for all things Kevin Smith

Set in the middle of 1st Avenue in Atlantic Highlands, the location has a deep history in the town. Smith tells me that in the early 1900s, the building was the stable for the horse the mailman used to deliver mail. In 1921, it became a 670-seat single-screen picture house. By the 1980s, when Smith was a fixture there, it had two screens. In 1992, it expanded to three screens, and in 1999, it became a five-screen multiplex.

For Smith, SModcastle Cinemas is his grandest creation yet. Not only is it a place where he can show his movies anytime he wants, but it's also a first-run theater where local moviegoers can see everything from "Beetlejuice Beetlejuice" to "The Wild Robot" (the birthday party was there for the latter).

Smith is the first to admit that he isn't raking in the cash showing these non-Smith movies, but it helps when he's not in town. And he's hoping that when you show up, you're buying something from the concession stand, which, like any movie theater, is its lifeblood.

"I knew we weren't going to get rich, but it's simple math. If people are here watching a movie, a movie we will only get max 50% of the box office receipts for. Our only hope is they are going to buy some fucking snacks," he says. "I don't care if you're here the whole day watching movies and only bought one ticket; as long as you're buying snacks, we're good. We're like the Catholic Church: we can't be picky anymore, we let everyone through the doors."

It's when Smith is at SModcastle that business really takes off.

Tickets to screenings with Smith in attendance or events that take up all 700 seats on the five screens are upcharged, with prices ranging from $25-$60 depending on the event (a general adult ticket to a regular movie is $11).

Smith also begins every event he attends by auctioning off memorabilia from his films, like an autographed "Mallrats" script or a prop from the set of "Jay and Silent Bob Strikes Back" to help raise money to keep the theater in business. (Some items have sold for as much as $5,000).

The building's historical significance also enabled SModcastle to became a non-profit, a move that Smith hopes will qualify the theater for grants and other financial support that will allow him to offer filmmaking classes for kids and adults.

The evening I meet Smith, he's introducing a screening of his latest movie, "The 4:30 Movie," which uses SModcastle as the film's setting. The story follows a teenage boy named Brian (Austin Zajur) as he plans to sneak into his local theater with his friends for a day of movie watching, topped with seeing an R-rated movie with the girl of his dreams.

It's Smith's most personal movie in years, as he takes a pause from the View Askewniverse to tell a story that's a love letter not just to cinema but his own childhood at the movies.

"Hanging up behind the counter here, there's a note that Kim, my high school girlfriend, had written to me, and it says, 'Dear Kevin, will you take me to see 'Dirty Dancing' at the Atlantic Highlands Twins Cinema?'" Smith says. "And it's from 1987, when 'Dirty Dancing' came out. Whenever I come to this place, that's what I'm reminded of."

Because "The 4:30 movie" was predominantly shot in a theater he owns, Smith didn't have to pay costly location fees. But while the road to profitability might not ultimately be quicker (the film's financier, Saban Films, still has to make its money back) the connection between the movie and the physical theater is one Smith hopes will have a lasting impact on the profitability of both.

"This place fucking starred in a movie," he says. "So the demand to see it will diminish over time, but we own five screens; ain't no reason why every Sunday at 4:30, this can't be playing on one of the screens even if three people show up." 

With a passion project like SModcastle, Smith is banking on the power of nostalgia not just for his old movies, but for the ritual of moviegoing itself. Along with showing his own movies, Smith is booking hard-to-find titles to screen in hopes that the theater becomes a destination for cinephiles. He also offers his screens to filmmakers who want to buy out a showtime, known in the industry as "four-walling," to show the movies they made.

By the time I leave SModcastle, the birthday party has ended, and there's already a line stretching down the block for that evening's screening.

Smith and I part ways in the lobby, and he goes over to say hello and take selfies with some fans.

It reminds me of something he told me earlier: Yes, it's hard to Kevin Smith all the time, but it's never not fun.

"When this place is packed, you feel accomplished as fuck," he says, looking around a theater that was so important to him early in life.

"But it's always a struggle, and it should be. Because if it wasn't, what you're saying is I deserve money to make pretend for a living."