i have a griddle on my 48" american range and i love it. breakfasts, sausage n peppers, pancakes. no,it isn't a breeze to clean by any means but i think it's worth it. not to mention american range has a cutting board & a cover for the griddle. i have the cutting board.
john

I have a 48" Bluestar and have 6 burners with a grill. I think 8 burners might be overkill. You can place a griddle over the grill. I have lined my grill with foil and while it will never look new once used, it doesn't look too bad.

I currently have a 5 burner range and in our renovation (new house) am having a 48" 8 burner gas rangetop installed and can't wait to cook a huge meal on it! I doubt I'll need all 8 burners at once more than a couple times a year, but having the flexibility of pan placement (some are larger and can't fit next to others, etc.) with all the burners able to cook from low to very high is a luxury I look forward to!

I currently use an All-Clad griddle pan about 2x/week and that is an absolute breeze to clean and put away, and have looked with great interest at the grill/griddle combo pan linked below. Plus where we live (NJ) we do year-round grilling outdoors and I prefer to keep the grease, splatter and smells outdoors for the most part.

Good luck with your decision!

Here is a link that might be useful: Napa Style Grill/Griddle pan

I have a 48" range with a single griddle. I absolutely love the griddle! I think it is so much better that having a removable griddle pan. And it's so easy to clean. I use it almost every day. We debated getting the double griddle. Somedays, I wish we had put a double griddle in, but having never used one, I just felt it was a risky choice. Ultimately though, it is nice having 6 burners.

The big question is, what is your style of cooking? I think that should be your most important consideration. We use it for all the usual breakfast items, sandwiches, veggies, tortillas. I haven't used it for bacon, and probably never will. Anyway, I hope this information helps in your decision making.

Is there a problem using the griddle for bacon?

time2go - if you don't mind me asking, how do you clean the griddle? That issue is why I insisted on not getting the griddle my DH was sure we'd enjoy.

Thanks!

Ouboris, no problem with bacon on my Wolf range top griddle. Smarge, search my handle or cleaning griddles or whatever here on the forum and get the long story. Short story is it takes fewer than five minutes and some ice cubes and scraping with a dough scraper and it is clean. Key is that it won't/you don't want it to look like new any more than you do your well seasoned cast iron skillets. Also in my opinion the temperature is more uniform front to back than a griddle pan heated by two widely spaced burners which will have a cold spot in the middle. My griddle is very uniform up to the front inch or two which is a little cooler.

Oruboris--There's really no problem using the griddle for bacon, most people do. I just personally don't like the idea of having bacon grease run down the tube to the drip tray below. There would be more parts to clean, and you would probably have to use soap to get the bacon grease off. However, that being said, I may actually try bacon on the griddle this weekend. It's possible there would not even be enough grease generated to drain down the tube. We'll see.

Smarge--It's very easy to clean. Usually, I just wait until it has cooled, and then wipe with a wet paper towel. If there is baked on food, I scrape it with the spatula I was using, and then wipe with a paper towel. I don't use many oils or fats when I cook on the griddle, so the majority of the cleanup is crusty pieces of food.

Echoing what Capecodcook stated, I think the biggest advantage of the built-in griddle is the uniformity of the temperature, as well as the fact that it is thermostat controlled. Ease of cleanup is a close second.
Hope this helps!

I don't know; I can't imagine just wiping any of my cookware with a wet papertowel and calling it clean. For me, I just feel better washing my griddle pan in hot, soapy water and drying it with a regular towel and seeing the towel stay clean after drying.

Of course, to each his own - Enjoy! :)

Smarge-Then I think you probably made the right choice in not getting a built-in griddle. I can't imagine using hot soapy water on my built-in griddle. Although I may take that statement back if I really do try bacon on the griddle this weekend. Also, for what it's worth, my wet paper towel looks clean after the last wipe.

We cook bacon on our built-in griddle on our Viking range all the time, as well as peppers and onions, cheese steaks and other stuff. When cooking bacon I cover the burners on either side with foil to minimize cleaning there - I don't usually cook anything else while the bacon is on. The drip tray underneath is wrapped in foil as well. When we are done cooking we use Club soda, a dough knife and a scrub pad on it while it is still warm. Then dry with a paper towel and apply a thin coat of oil before putting the cover back on. It doesn't take long at all to clean it, though it is far from silver and shiny now.

If you use a griddle pan over the grill would the heat not be uniform? If there is anyone out there who uses this arrangement, what griddle pan do you use?

My All Clad non-stick griddle cooks my pancakes evenly without issue (I make pancakes slightly larger than silver dollar size, and cook 9 in each batch).

You do have to bend down to visually check that the flames on both burners are the same so one side doesn't cook faster, but that's easy enough; I always visually check my flame heights for any pan.

Sorry! I just saw that your specific question was using the griddle pan over a GRILL. I use my griddle pan over two regular burners.

I'll be the dissenter. I've had a 48" Jade range w 6 burners and a grill since the early 90's. I truly don't know why I got the grill since it's such a pain to clean. In fact, a decade ago I abandonned it and had a piece of granite cut to cover the area. So much more convenient to have a stove-top landing section, but I would have been happy if I had eight burners as well. I don't see the point of a griddle since you can easily get a heavy cast iron or All-Clad one that covers two burners which will give you the same cooking space, with easy cleaning and the advantage of not having a griddle when you're cooking other things.

Molly