Yes, I got a 24 RNB griddle. It can be really convenient but I have to say I don't use it enough to justify it, maybe once every week or two. It does take a good bit of time to warm up, has a couple of dead spots and it is tricky to clean and keep seasoned. I don't use more than 4 burners that often, but I do wonder if I should have just gotten a good griddle plate or two just to have the flexibility. Whereas I do use my 12 inch grill a lot, especially in the winter (we've got a 60 range top). If I started over I'd strongly consider going with a double grill, 6 eyes, and a wide griddle plate, which could go over the double grill or 4 of the eyes.

I have a $25 griddle that gets used maybe 10 times ayear and IMO to have a 48” range and the venting and the noise that adds up to doulble the price of the range is ridiculous if you don’t use more than 4 burners My griddle covers 2 burners and honestly I have 20 people for brunch and it still is enough.

I am at a similar decision point. I like cooking pancakes and french toast and cheese steaks and sausage and peppers on a griddle...and prefer my burgers on a high-heat, good-searing surface.. but the biggest thing in my house is we fry up a lot of eggplant when we have family dinners. It takes a few batches on a countertop griddle, would go more quickly on the rangetop...particularly if it was a 24"w griddle vs a 12"w (which is basically the same size as a countertop griddle).

I have personally decided on a wolf rangetop...because of the griddle...but am in a similar spot to what you describe, trying to decide if should splurge and get the 48" with a double griddle....or if thats really too big for our kitchen and if I should stick with the 36" with single griddle. And then I start to ask myself if its just a single griddle, why am I getting that instead of using a similarly sizes 20 dollar countertop griddle?

I have a 12" on my BS. I too like making breakfast but do many other things on it as well. We probably use it on average 3-5 times a week, sometimes more. I've wondered about a 24" griddle but seem to get by fine w/the 12". When it's just the 4 of us I can do 8 pieces of french toast at a time, usually only 6 pancakes. It will do 8 burgers depending on size. I use an oven as a warmer if doing large breakfasts. One thing about using a griddle, say you want to make pancakes. So you turn it on when you start the batter, it will be close to ready while the batter is resting for a minute or two. Pour your cakes, flip, turn off griddle and serve. Your only using it for like 4 minutes total. When doing multi batches it will be on longer of course. W/a 24" I think cooking would be over almost before it began :)

Another interesting thing about the BS thermostatically controlled griddle. Say I want to heat up tortillas or even make a few pancakes quickly. The griddle takes probably 15 minutes or more to evenly heat up to temp, probably 20 for good measure. However during the heating process the griddle gets very hot w/in the 1st 5 minutes, plenty hot enough to cook up some pancakes or heat up tortillas, it will then cool down before igniting again, while it's in this mode things don't cook well and you'll need to pretty much wait until the griddle is fully up to temp. But there's a 5 minute window where it will hit the desired temp (~400) or close enough to it to get some quick cooking in. I throw burgers on in this quick heat mode, by the time the temp is dropping they're ready for the cheese, then I cover w/a baking tray to finish melting the cheese. I've found most griddle items are pretty quick to cook so a lot of the cooking is done within the 1st 10 minutes of turning it on. If I'm doing a scramble w/tators and sausage I turn it on before I start prepping so it's evenly heated when I'm ready.

Cleaning a built-in griddle take a bit of time. Unfortunately the best time to clean the messiest messes are when it's still hot so you have to do it right away (and hold up dinner a few minutes). Like I mentioned I had my griddle put on the right hand side next to the counter, staging things on the counter is nice and the spatter from the griddle only hits the 2 adjacent burners, not all of them. If I'm cooking something that will spatter a lot I usually cover the adjacent burners. If my griddle has stuff stuck all over it I'll plug the drain hole w/a paper towel and pour some water on the griddle and use a bench scraper to get everything off the surface. You have to be careful not to burn yourself w/the steam, letting it cool a little helps. Usually the water will mostly evaporate while scrapping. I then use a wet paper towel under the edge of the scraper. Then a couple dry ones and light spray of cooking oil wiped completely off with another dry paper towel and it's done. I like to keep my griddle clean and seasoned.

How often will you use your griddle? Would you consider other brands because of the built in griddle or are the burners on the BS your primary concern? There are some big differences.

Overlays have some advantages aside from leaving all of your burners intact. You can use different metals for different purposes. Aluminum conducts heat really well so it heats evenly. 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 BS and hold a lot of heat, but can hot spot or create zones of more and less heat which some people like to cook on one part of the griddle and hold on another.

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

This is is more of a fitted add on but fitting might be tricky.

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

Consider how much space you need. A built in 2 burner size is typically about 11x22 so 242 sq. Inches. My aluminum 2 burner add on is 15x23” so a little less than 345 sq. inches. Some add ons cover 4 burners. You might have (2) 2 burner add ons so you could add whatever you need and wherever you need the griddle space.

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 here that stir fried on his griddle. You could have two temperatures on an add on by adjusting the burners.

There have been some discussions about eveness of heat. The thermostatically controlled griddle goes on and off so has a certain temperature swing which varies according to the manufacturer. It is easy to turn it on and get a repeatable temperature. The heat under an add on is constant like heating a pan but may take a little practice getting the temperature that you want.

I have an overlay over two burners and I don't have any trouble adjusting the heat. It is just like adjusting a pan. I know what the heat will be by looking at the flame. I love my aluminum griddle for grilled sandwiches. Because of its large size it can hold a lot and everything cooks pretty evenly. You can get a nonstick griddle as an add on for eggs or pancakes because when they go bad, they are inexpensive. Other people find the thermostatic control to be the most important feature.

Had a removable griddle on our early '90's Thermador. I liked being able to take it to the sink to clean. We now have the Culinarian grill and use a griddle on top of the grill, again easier for cleaning. We do not use a griddle as much as we once did when the kids were home. As far as a 48" being ridiculous as a poster pointed out above, last night I had my three front burners going at the same time - sautéing in a flat wok, a simmering ravioli pot, and a wine sauce. At 5'3". I am often glad that I have the luxury of three burners in the front, especially when I have to tend to them simultaneously and do not have to reach my arms over hot pots to get to a back burner. Necessary - no. Nice to have - definitely.

Here's some pros and cons of griddle or grill from Trevor at Eurostoves.

http://www.capital-culinarian.com/grill---griddle.html

I used to use and still have my overlay griddles. I have a non-stick aluminum, a cast iron and a old steel one. I use them now for camping but they used to be part of the kitchen equipment before I got the built in. Pretty much the reason I got the built in is because we use griddles quite a bit and it was a hassle to pull the griddles out and store them. Personally I like the convenience of a built it, you get used to what you've got. The one on my BS is seasoned great and has no issue w/anything sticking and I got used to the temp swings. Once it's been on a while the swings are pretty insignificant and not noticeable. I haven't pulled an overlay out since I got the BS over 5 years ago, actually they're now stored in the camper. I went from a 4 burner 30" to a 4 burner 36" w/a 12" griddle so I didn't lose anything over what I had.

There are some compromises w/a built in griddle, if I had to do it again the only thing I would change is probably going to a 48" w/a 24" griddle just cause :) You'll find griddle are quite versatile once you start using one a lot. I've actually used mine like a french plate just to see if it would work o.k., it does. There's a cooler area in the front ~2" of the griddle you can stage nearly done/done food on.

My main issue with getting a 24" griddle would be the organization of the burners that you end up with. A 24" griddle leaves you with just 24" for the four burners. If you moved the griddle to the side, your burners would be too crowded to fit large pots. So, instead, you should move the griddle to the middle. That's fine, as a griddle can also do double-duty as a place that keeps pots warm or that lets you simmer.

But if you actively need to cook in two pots on the front burners, you'll find there is a lot of empty space in the center. This is in fact an advantage if you regularly have two chefs using the stove at the same time. But if you cook by yourself, that could get old very quickly.

Everything considered, I think I'd stick to a 12" griddle on a 48" range. That makes cooking on the regular burners less awkward. I'd only get a 24" griddle , if I had so much space that I could install a 60" range top.

And that brings me to the next question, 48" is quite a bit of space. Obviously, you lose all the uppers for a really big vent hood. But you also take up all the space under the range, making it harder to find a good place where to store your pots in-reach of the range.

Faced with that decision, I would opt against the range, and instead get a rangetop and wall ovens. You are likely to end up with a much more functional kitchen layout that way. But that obviously all drives up cost. I guess you are OK with that though, as a vent hood for 48" and the required MUA system are already going to be quite a bit more expensive than what you would have had to pay for more traditionally sized ranges.

Maybe, you could post your proposed kitchen layout, so that we can comment on whether it actually works fine for what you want to do.