You’ve been sold all right. The ventilation costs as much as the range. Then there’s the make up air costs too. And the reality of a used stained not pretty used griddle sitting there permanently in your kitchen instead of tucked into a cabinet after use probably is not what most people think about. They think about the fantasy never used always new griddle ownership that doesn’t cost the additional 15K to make it work right.

We thought long and hard whether we wanted a 48" range with a built-in griddle. If you really like cooking on a griddle, then it might be attractive.

In the end, we thought through all the implication and decided against. If we had decided to go for it, it would have been a 48" range top rather than a 48" range. A 48" range is just impractical on lots of levels. Much better to get wall ovens in that situation.

But apart from the problems that @User already mentioned, there is another annoyance with this particular configuration. You can't really have the griddle to the side of the four burners. If you do that, the burners are simply crowded too close together. Put a single big pot on the range, and you can't use any of the three other burners. So, the only viable configuration is with the griddle in the center.

If you mostly cook on the griddle, that might be OK. But if you regularly cook on more than one burner, then the large distance between left and right gets annoying. On the other hand, if you regularly cook with two people, then this might actually be perfect. Everybody gets one side of the range.

The loss of so many upper cabinets, the humongous (at least) 54" hood, and the very expensive make-up-air system for (at least) 2000CFM settled the question for us. It might look pretty, but it just isn't all that functional.

On the other hand, we now have a 30" open-burner Bluestar range. The very even heat from the star-shaped burners and the exceptional low and high end of the temperature range makes a huge difference. I do have a griddle, but I find I never use it. Instead, I either use the round-bottom wok or one of my carbon-steel skillets.

The wok is awesome, because Bluestar is one of the few ranges that can focus the heat towards the center of the 14" wok. It works much better this way. And the high side walls contain a lot of the splatter that I would otherwise have with a griddle.

The carbon steel skillets are equally impressive. They are some of the nicest cookware to use and popular in restaurants; but they only really work if the range distributes heat evenly. With traditional capped gas burners, this doesn't work well as they flare too much. Very uneven heat distribution. But with star-shaped burners, carbon steel skillets are a joy to cook in.

If you can wait till KBIS (Kitchen & Bath International Show) you might see some manufactures offer exactly what you want. KBIS is at the end of Jan.

Not quite 24"-wide griddle: Fisher Paykel RDV2485GDNN Professional Series 48 Inch Stainless Steel Dual Fuel Convection Freestanding Range. A bargain!

I’ve been asking myself similar questions, as I am beginning to figure out a new kitchen for myself. I’d never really used a built-in griddle until a month or so ago got to cook a steak at the Wolf distributor’s local showroom, on a single griddle. That was cool, but didn’t really sell me 100%, since one may have gotten a bit better sear on a cast iron pan (the Wolf griddle—which I believe is the hottest of the bunch—has a max temp of 450 degrees F).

The last few days have sold me on a griddle, and as big of one as possible, for me and my family with four kids ages 5-11. For background, my brother has had a 36” Wolf AG range with a single 11” (ish) griddle, and has three boys in the same age range. He talks all the time about how much he loves the griddle (wishes he had the bigger one, though doesn’t want to lose his huge 36” oven, which is a trade off in the 48” Wolf range).

I‘ve gotten to be griddle master twice over the weekend, making lunch Twice for eight adults plus two kids, who all wanted to eat at once: hotdogs, buns to toast, fried eggs, paninis, etc. It was terrific, and the only thing I’d wish is that it was twice the size.

Cleanup was easy: pour on some water , which lifts the food, and use a spatula or tongs to hold a paper towel and wipe it clean while hot.

I have a few questions for the crew on here:

1) If you have a griddle, why don’t you use it? I’m serious—would love to understand what gets in the way.

2) I wish it went hotter, as I do like to finish a lot of sous vide dishes in a smoking hot pan. Is anyone aware of a hotter/more powerful one, from another manufacturer?

3) For anyone who has owned both a single and double griddle, and actually has history on using them, which do you prefer and why? There are certainly trade offs, be it losing the larger oven in a larger range, losing burners and overall BTUs.

4) is anyone aware of threads/writing about large (double-size?) griddles on induction cooktops, and whether anything works well, with even heat?

thanks!

I LOVE a big griddle! It is so handy to cook a breakfast and sit down to eat with everyone instead of in shifts. We use it nearly every day and for far more than breakfast. I love my sautéd potatoes with onions done on the griddle. Also hot sandwiches, vegetables, fried rice, tortillas. I currently have a very large pro griddle that overlays two burners, but it cooks unevenly. Can’t wait for a real 24” griddle in my new kitchen (yes with good ventilation and MUA). It won’t look ugly because It will have a nice cover made for it when not in use. We all have different styles of cooking. I dabble with different techniques but always come back to my griddles for day to day cooking.