Stovetop Griddle: Is It Worth the Money?

For the past few months I have debated with myself about the possible uses of a 2-burner griddle. If you haven’t seen one of these gadgets they are griddles/grills that can put right on the top of your stove by placing them on top of two burners. Then all you need to do is turn on the two burners in question and you have a griddle or a grill at your disposal.

Now while I thought this would be much easier than having to buy both an electric grill and an electric grill then having to fiddle around with them both when it was time to use them (finding counter space, plugging them in where the kids couldn’t reach it) I was concerned about using them with a gas range. The only time I had ever seen them used was on an electric stove top so I wasn’t sure it would be safe to put one on the open flames but when I asked a sales person at my local department store I was assured that it would be safe. So I decided to put my money where my mouth was and buy one for my home.

I waited a few days after making my purchase before using my new griddle to make breakfast. Initially I was sketchy about using the griddle thinking that it was too big for making a meal for only two people but then I decided I could use it to make eggs on one side, meat in the middle, and pancakes on the other side. Encouraged I started cooking our little meal and immediately noticed that while the eggs and pancakes were coming along just fine the bacon wasn’t doing so well.

As it turned out the heat from the burners was doing a good job of cooking anything directly above them but while the center was warm it wasn’t as hot as it could have been. Maybe not that big of a deal for some but it was annoying to finish up the main part of my meal and have to wait until the bacon finished up on the hotter parts of the griddle. I was starting to think I would have been better off using two pans but when it was all said and done washing the griddle was surprisingly easy and made up for the minor inconvenience.

The next time I used the griddle I actually reversed it so that I was using the grill side to make two stakes and grill some vegetables. Remembering my last experience I placed most of the food on the two sides directly on the burner and everything turned out surprisingly well. In my opinion the stovetop grill/griddle is perfect if you are using it took cook meals and aren’t using the middle of it. But if you are planning to use the griddle to make a stack of pancakes for your family or a pile of bacon it would be in your best interest to use two pans or an electric griddle so that you can get full use out of it.