Pretty much none of them put an element between the hobs (one exception). As to 'massive cold spots', are you refrigerating it first? Otherwise, it works exactly the same as my friend's gas cooktop: rectangular griddle over two burners.

Exception: the Bosch Flexduction has rectangular inductors on one side. You can set it to use all 4 which will cover a griddle nicely.

My Frigidaire 36" cook top has this capability. I use it from time to time not very often. My griddle is cast iron so if I let it heat up gradually the entire griddle does get hot enough to cook over the entire surface. The middle section is a bit "cooler" than the portion directly over the hobs (as measured with an infrared thermometer), however it is still hot enough to cook most items. Generally I don't think it is an issue. Most griddles work in the exact same manner no matter the heat source. Thanks to weedmeister, I was not aware the Bosch had that capability, very nice. If I ever decide to purchase another unit I may have to look closely at that one. I really like the Thermador Freedom as well.

Are you considering a griddle to use with the new Frigidaire slide-in induction range model that you've been discussing in some of your other recent posts? That one has a couple of 7-inch diameter hobs on the left, right? Well there is more to "bridging" with a rectangular griddle pan than just synching the two burners, but there won't be massive cold spots in the parts of the griddle that lie between and beyond the areas directly above the burners. To what the others have said, I would add the following, which might or might not be more detail than you care about.

First thing is that the griddle pans won't be like the ice cube next to the pan (or the one in the ad showing half a pan frying the part of the egg on the pan with nothing happening to the portion of the egg on the stovetop beyond the edge of the pan.) In those instances, there isn't anything to conduct heat to the ice cube or raw egg.

Second, griddle pans will conduct heat from the areas directly over a burner. WIth a gas burner, that's the area over the flame spread, with induction it will be the boundaries of the induction field. You just have to preheat the pan sufficiently, as Kevinande describes and, as Weed points out, it is the same over gas.

Third, consider also that induction fields typically extend beyond the hob by an inch or so. (Hence, the often repeated advice for even heating is to try to use pans no more than an inch larger in diameter than the induction hob.) With those 7 inch diameter burners on prospective Frigidaire induction slide-in, the induction hobs and their fields are only an inch or so apart in the middle, so there probably isn't much of a "less-hot" spot there and conduction will work reasonably well with a smaller gap to cover via conduction through the pan. The "coverage" problem is going to be with outer bands of the griddle. Over the two left hand burners on the Frigidiare, the outer bands will be pretty small with a griddle that is 10 inches wide and 16 or 17 (or even 20) inches long, like the Lodge cast iron models. More of a concern with larger griddles such as say, one of the 14x23 Chef King griddles in 7 gauge carbon steel.

Even so, pans will spread heat. How well the pan spreads/conducts the heat to that outer band will vary with the size of the griddle and what it is made of. Carbon steel pans and cast iron are not great at spreading/conducting heat, so it takes a while for them to preheat towards evenness. Once preheated, though, they are pretty good at retaining heat. When you plonk food down on them, they can keep it pretty hot for a while but, OTOH, it may take them longer to fully recover the heat in the "in-between" and "outer" areas when cooled by the mass of food placed on them. That does not mean your pancakes or eggs will be raw in those outer areas; it only means that they can take a bit longer to cook than those in the areas directly over the burners. This has more to do with browning than cooking per se.

For that reason, some folks with gas stoves prefer griddles of thick aluminum since aluminum does a good job of spreading/conducting heat beyond areas directly over a burner. The tradeoff for that is that it also quickly gives up heat . Not a problem with pancakes but with food with greater mass and density (burgers for example), the "outer" areas will be slower to recover to full heat when denser food is placed on it for searing.

Of course, a plain aluminum pan won't work with induction but clad pans will do so. For that, there are "clad" griddles that wrap an aluminum layer (or layers) in magnetic stainless steel. Those can do a very good job at providing an evenly heated surface across the entire griddle and relatively good recovery for cold and thick foods. The trade off is that clad griddles can be very expensive unless you happen to find a sale of seconds or a clearance sale.

FWIW, I found a 21x13 Demeyere plancha/griddle/teppanyaki pan cooks large arrays of pancakes or burgers very evenly out to its edges and does it equally well when straddling gas burners as induction burners. I picked mine up in a closeout sale some years ago, but they are still available. The trouble these days is finding one that does not cost the proverbial arm and leg.

So, the problem isn't so much "cold spots" as it is negotiating the tradeoffs between price, preheating evenness/uneveness, size of griddle, and etc. It is often seems to come down to discovering and navigating the tradeoffs, doesn't it?

Hi Jaxo. I don’t know if I can add anymore to what jwvideo has said. I have a Bosch Benchmark with Flex Induction. This is basically a large rectangular hob which can be used as a whole (griddles are great for this) or as 2 separate units (of various sizes of pans – 2 at the same time), or as one unit (again, various sizes – 1 pan).

You asked if there were a difference. As jwvideo stated, if you’ve got a griddle with a heavy bottom capable of absorbing heat from two inductions and spreading it out, it only takes some patience waiting for the heat spread evenly.

I prefer not having to wait, and I prefer not having to change 2 burners at once as I need to alter the temperature. I use the Flex Induction regularly. First and mostly, as one large rectangular hob – which is what the bridge does so well. I have the (ridiculously pricey) Bosch Teppanyaki griddle which I will never regret (it’s wonderful quality, easier to clean burnt oils from searing than any other SS I have). I also have a Cuisinart non-stick griddle, which is actually larger than the hob, but works well, no issues other than it takes some time before the longer end heats enough so I just don’t put food on the very end. I’ve gotten rid of my electric griddles and use my bridge flex induction for pancakes, several omelets at once, searing off 2+ steaks, sautéing vegetables (asparagus laid out evenly), and so on. I use it so often that I am happy to have both burners adjust evenly and simultaneously with one button push. One griddle breakfasts are wonderful using it as split burners. One griddle will do bacon, hash browns, eggs – on two burners with one griddle. But you can do that with 2 hobs.

I have used the Power Move function sparingly – whereas you use the entire rectangle, but with one pan. It gives you 3 heat zones all at once, and you move the pan to each as needed. For smaller pan stir fries this is convenient… I set mine at zone 1 high heat for searing, zone 2 at medium heat to finish cooking through, and zone 3 for keeping warm only while I prepare other foods on other hobs. The only purpose for this is not having to push any buttons during cooking and moving food quickly. Frankly you could do that with a single hob because induction is so responsive.

The other thing I love about the Flex Induction and one of the most advantageous, which I stated briefly above… it’s one hob, or it’s 2. BUT, those 2 can be various sizes… unlike a defined hob. 2 small pans; 2 medium pans; 1 small and 1 medium; 1 large and 1 small. Or as one hob which will fit all those sizes. My large Staub dutch oven fits it beautifully using 3 areas of the Flex Induction, and I still have another huge hob for a wide skillet, plus the smaller hob for a medium saucepan.

If I had to rate only one thing about the Flex Induction that I love, it has to be very even heat on a rectangular surface without waiting for a pan to heat up and I only need to press one heat setting for the entire area. Given that I use that hob far more than the others, the extra cost for the Flex Induction was well worth it for me. Your cooking style may be different.