Rangetops - to griddle or not to griddle..

5 years ago

Hello! Deciding on range top for a new build house and have been staring at the 36” rangetops (Miele or Jennair) with a griddle. I like to slide my pots on and off burners when I’m cooking and so it kind of bothers me that they’re right in the middle but I wonder if anyone has experience with these griddles? Do you use them? Are they a pain in the butt to clean? Or buy a big ol frying pan? Or a 48” jenn air with the griddle on the side. I’m a crazy person about cleaning my range top and I’ve seen online videos on cleaning these things - the Miele looks kinda nasty in them Jennair shines like a new penny?
I am considering the Miele because I’ve had Jennair (albeit not pro style) but hate that I can’t get a low simmer on the smallest burner. Although the price difference makes me wonder if they are worth it? Any opinion is helpful and appreciated!

Featured Answer

wekick

5 years ago

It's not built in or none. I just posted this on another post. --

You can also consider an overlay griddle. Some people like a built in because it is more stable and with the thermostatic control, it is more consistent in that If you set it for a certain temperature, you will get that every time, but there are advantages to an overlay too.

Your burners can be always there to use. You can take the griddle off to clean or put away.

You can use different metals for different purposes. Aluminum conducts heat really well so it heats evenly. Great for sandwiches or pancakes. You can buy an overlay that is coated to be nonstick or uncoated. The uncoated one can season but not as quickly as the steel. They are pretty inexpensive.

http://royalindustriesinc.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=4_22_48

These are steel add ons which season like the Wolf and BS and hold a lot of heat, but can hot spot or create zones of more and less heat which some people like.

http://www.dvorsons.com/ChefKing/Griddles.htm

This is is more of a fitted add on.

http://www.dvorsons.com/ChefKing/Broilers.htm

Consider how much space you need. A built in is typically about 11x22 so 242 sq. Inches. My aluminum add on is 15x23” so about 345 sq. inches. Some add ons cover 4 burners.

An an add on allows you to have a lot more heat if you need it. You can have up to 2x 22-25K burners or 2x15K, compared to 15K total for a built in. There was one poster her that stir fried on his griddle.

You can also buy a plug in table top griddle. Some are much better than others but are also usually aluminum so heat more evenly. Not as chefy looking though.

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Comments (12)

skmom
5 years ago
I have a Viking range with a griddle. I love and use mine all the time, but we are a large family and I cook a lot of tortillas and pancakes... I also use it for browning meatballs. However, mine has a patina for sure and hasn’t looked all shiny and new since the first time I ever used it. I’m ok with that, I prefer it actually; but it’s true, one could get the same type function with something like a cast iron griddle placed over a couple of burners. My range is a 60” so it’s not like I’m sacrificing any burners to have the griddle.
caymanbaby29 thanked skmom
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wekick: I guess I misspoke about the bluestar....I had bene researching the RNB line online which I believe does have a thermostatic griddle, but when I went into a store they only had the signature line whose griddle was interchangeable with the grill, and sat right over the burners (so was not thermostatically controlled). I was not trying to say that bluestar is not reliable, just that in any scenario where I am adjusting multiple burners to a high/med/low setting in order to heat up a griddle spanning the two evenly to a set temp and hold it there...its not going to work as well as a thermostatically controlled griddle. I do recall from when I was researching it earlier that the BS griddle is not considered to be quite as good as the wolf due to the lack of infrared heat disbursement and the thinner lighter metal used for the griddle surface. Not a deal breaker, but it was certainly an area where it seemed like the wold had the upper hand. IR Broiler in the oven, more powerful burners, and bigger oven were all wins for the BS. Regarding what we use the griddle for...just about any time we have a family dinner, we are cooking (frying up) a bunch of eggplant. I normally bust out the presto 20 dollar griddle and set it on the countertop, but it would be nice to not have to do that, and additional real estate would speed up the process. We have one of those ~36" outdoor griddles and have really enjoyed cooking on it. We also cook cheesesteaks on the griddle sometimes, doing the peppers/onions/mushrooms in one area while the steak in another...and we prefer our burgers cooked on a griddle as opposed to a grill, so whenever we have burgers (pretty limited to the summer) we fire up the outdoor griddle. I have used cast iron pans before to make burgers indoor, but I have found it difficult to get an entire ~15" skillet to ~450 and hold its temp since it so greatly overhangs the burner...I usually preheat it in the oven, but prefer to not cook the burgers in the oven. The crappy nonstick countertop griddle is no good as browning burgers...(not to mention it has no ventilation associated) The only downside to the integrated griddle is that you "lose burners"...but 4 large, well spaced burners, plus two ovens is a lot of real estate for me ot get stuff done. We just hosted christmas dinner which is the biggest meal I cook all year. We didnt need the griddle, but the single oven was our real chokepoint that made things a struggle. Only having 4 burners wasnt very limiting...other than the fact that they have no power, take forever to boil water, and are so close together I can barely fit a pan on the front and back at the same time. So basically, as it stands, I know that I need more than 4 burners...If I had the added luxury of being able to put a couple pans on a griddle to simmer/keep warm while cooking on the 4 burners, it makes me even more confident that I wouldnt miss burners 5 and 6. I have watched a couple videos on youtube on how to clean the griddle but im not sure all that is neccesary every time you use it. Like our outdoor griddle, I think you can just scrape all the crap and crud off with a scraper, then wipe the oil/grease off while its still warm/hot and you're pretty much done. unless you are focused on the griddle looking new all the time (im not...thats what the cover is for) I don't know that it requires a thorough cleaning with scrub pads and vinegar water etc every time?
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opaone
5 years ago
FWIW, we cook a lot and have chef's use our kitchen for dinners. We currently have a Wolf w/ 4 burners (older semi-open) + 12" griddle. Our new range is BS RNB w/ 4 burners + 24" griddle. This choice was our preference but also recommended by chef's who find a good thermostatic griddle/flat-top more versatile.
girlwithponytail
5 years ago
I use a non-stick griddle that I overlay across two burners and make a lot of pancakes and tortillas and bacon. The middle part doesn't cook as fast which is a bit annoying, but I don't think I'd be willing to sacrifice giving up the space on my 6-burner range. Besides, when the nonstick starts to wear off, I just pitch the griddle and buy a new one at Costco. Good luck!
wekick
5 years ago
"This choice was our preference but also recommended by chef's who find a good thermostatic griddle/flat-top more versatile."

Can you explain what you mean by more versatile. Size or?
DrB477
5 years ago
I personally don't love my 12" griddle... it's awesome for pancakes and heating tortillas, but I don't use it for much else as its too messy and find it much easier to use a frying pan (or whatever). If I was getting a 36" I'd probably skip it. At 48" though I'm never going to use 8 burners at once so whatever.
stevep2005
5 years ago
I have a 36" rangetop and didn't sacrifice the burners for a grill or griddle. I use the > 4 burners too often, and the flexibility of space the six burners offerers pan placement (a couple of large frying pans, a wok or two etc.) that I wouldn't get on a 36 with only 4 burners. When I need to griddle I bring out a large dual thermostatically controlled electric griddle, and even that's not all too often. On a complete kitchen do-over I might go 48-60" with a grill, because that's harder to replicate with a grill pan or whathaveyou, and we have a short grilling season.
homechef59
5 years ago
I've got one. I still use my non-stick griddle pan. It's easier to clean. I only use the griddle for a warming surface.

I've owned bunches of ranges through the years and cooked professionally in a zillion homes as a caterer. My favorite set up is a 36" BlueStar range top and a set of electric walls ovens, no griddle.

Buy it if you think it looks cool, but be prepared to spend a lot of time cleaning it. The first time you cook something greasy on it, you will wish you had used the portable griddle.
vinmarks
5 years ago
We had a 48 inch wolf range with griddle. We didn't use it all that often. Occasionally for pancakes and grilled cheese sandwiches. New range is Platinum BlueStar with the removable griddle. Have yet to use it. The griddle on the Wolf wasn't to bad to clean but then again we only made grilled cheese and pancakes so not much mess. It did get some brownish patina areas. We had the wood cutting board cover for ours.
opaone
5 years ago
last modified: 5 years ago
"This choice was our preference but also recommended by chef's who find a good thermostatic griddle/flat-top more versatile."

Can you explain what you mean by more versatile. Size or?

A good thermostatic griddle can do a lot of things that burners or a burner top griddle cannot and yet can still do many things that burners can. By replacing some burners with a griddle you gain much more capability than you lose. I'd not want to have only the griddle but the combination of 4 good open burners along with 12" or 24" of griddle / flat-top is a quite versatile. There is nothing that we can't do with our current 4+12" that we'd be able to do with just 6 or 8 burners.

As a griddle / flat-top it's obviously great for pancakes, hash browns, eggs, toasted sandwiches, fajitas and many other things. If burners are full it can sauté veggies and other stuff that I normally prefer to do in a pan (unless a large quantity and then they're done on the griddle regardless of available burners). Turned down low it's ideal for keeping sauces warm or other tasks so there's really no loss of burner functionality (and I actually prefer some sauces to stay on a low griddle than a burner since the heat is spread more evenly across the bottom of the saucier).

BTW, non-stick griddles do not work so well for pans so loose this functionality.

For burgers, steaks, fish and similar I prefer to use our grill, even on 5°f winter evenings but others may prefer to stay inside and grill burgers, hash browns, onions and stuff on their griddle.

One caution that we've discussed here previously... The Wolf griddle is thicker and uses an IR burner vs the BS that is not as thick and uses straight line burners that theoretically will create lines of hot spots with colder lines in the middle. The BS is still thermostatic which is a huge benefit over burner top griddles (such as the BS Platinum) but I am concerned about how even it is across its surface and this concern almost kept us from buying a BS.
K R
5 years ago
I love my Jenn-Air pro range with the built in griddle, and yes, it cleans right up like a dream! I’ve used it a good 30 times now, and while it takes a little longer to pre-heat (15 minutes or so as opposed to 2 minutes to heat up a frying pan on the gas) it cooks even and everything I’ve made on it has been delicious! I have a 36”.
wekick
5 years ago
"A good thermostatic griddle can do a lot of things that burners or a burner top griddle cannot "

Since you say there are a lot of things that can't be done on an overlay, could you be specific about what a thermostatically controlled griddle can cook that an overlay can't? I do understand the benefit of thermostatic control, but can't think of something than can only be done on that type of set up.

"BTW, non-stick griddles do not work so well for pans so loose this functionality."

Why? Mine works fine but you risk damaging the surface so you have to be careful. You can switch griddle plates though unless it is built in.

Rangetops - to griddle or not to griddle..

wekick

Comments (12)

skmom

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