My parents have the same range at their beach house with the exact same problem. It just never gets hot. Sorry to say this, but thought it might help you feel like you are not alone with griddle woes. I am shopping for a range for my kitchen and I use a griddle at least twice a week. I am ruling out this range and scouring reviews to find a range that has a griddle with positive reviews.

How about just putting a griddle pan on top of the burners, e.g. Lodge Pre-Seasoned Cast Iron Reversible Grill/Griddle, 16.75 Inch ($35)?

Although I don't have a high-cost range, I have had both a mid-priced GE with griddle before, and now a whirlpool without the griddle in the middle, and both of them don't produce the amount of heat to get pancakes cooked relatively quickly. Even cranked to the highest setting takes a while. If I had to choose between either of them though, I prefer not having an incorporated griddle and use my own because it works better for me and does a slightly better job at heating the pancake griddle I use a little faster.

You can add a griddle next to the range, given that a wide enough hood is installed. Both electric coil and induction griddles are available. Induction griddles are fairly quick to heat up. Equipex claims 2 minutes. https://equipex.com/shop/bgic-3000-3600-induction-griddle-countertop-or-semi-recessed-style/ There is also the built-in DGIC, as well as electric models. Cooktek also makes induction griddles, but they are fairly deep front-to-back so perhaps not suitable for use next to a standard sized range. There are a variety of electric griddles sold from Amazon's site.

I'm imagining a griddle like the BGIC as something I could position, when needed, over my built-in Cooktek wok hob. They are not light, however, so one must be serious enough to put up with the weight to obtain the stable temperature capability that a proper griddle is supposed to provide. And I am suspicious that the clean-up process may entail cleaning more surfaces than are apparent.

#plancha

If it is cast iron it takes time to heat up. I have a Café with a removable griddle and I have to say I love it. Most griddle burners are only 9,000 BTUs or less. The lower the BTU the longer it will take to heat up. Once it does come to temp it should cook fine. What is the BTU on the griddle section?

I assume that this is not a question to me. But I will note relevant to induction griddles of the 3 kW or more power input that my 3500W induction wok is equivalent to about 30k BTUh. Correspondence between induction and gas heating is addressed, IIRC, at The Induction Site. Electric griddles, due to their simple embedded coils, should have even higher BTUh/watt equivalents.

Most comments here offer no solution other than use a stand alone griddle.i have the same problem on my built in griddle but on a different high end range. Measured with ir thermometer and found it to be about 300 degrees when set to 500. i am going to look for an adjustable screw or something .

After over a year of going back and forth and replacing all of the parts multiple times, it seems that it is just a poor design (which is essentially what i was told by GE). The thermostat reads the temperature under the griddle where the burner is, but not the actual temperature of the griddle itself, ao the flame heats up the thermostat and the flame turns off since it is ”at temperature”. The burner will continue to cycle but the griddle will never get above 300 degrees or so. GE’s final answer is that the griddle is ”working as designed” but it is a bad design.

Just got my 48” cafe and am noticing the same, knob turned up to 450degrees but ir thermometer is saying 220 degrees

This is a major bummer for sure. I wonder if there is a way to recalibrate the temp sensor