What’s going to stand the test of time?


 
A true standalone griddle isn't something I need, since I'd never think to go outside to cooks eggs and pancakes -- especially if that griddle is also being used for burgers, chicken, steaks, hot dogs, whatever. So an add on griddle to my gasser (flipped over GGs) is good enough for me for smash burgers, bacon, cheesesteaks, veggies, shrimp and searing.

If you don't already have a gasser, though, I could see how a lot of people would get a full outdoor griddle instead of a gasser. And I do see pellet grills as a permanent thing.

End of day, most people (i.e. ones who do not frequent this forum) are going to only have one outdoor cooker. Two at the most. I think the market for primary outdoor cookers will be split among gassers, griddles and pellet grills. Maybe 50/25/25.

Secondary cookers will be a mish mash of those three plus kettles, smokers, kamados, etc.

Outdoor pizza imo is off by itself as a completely separate category.
 
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I think the general consensus is that griddles will probably be a fad for a while, but ultimately, once the early adopters get past them, they will still exist, but with a much more defined customer base. Some people really like them and have room and use for them, others will find they just sit out back and are all dirty and gunked up the three or for times a summer they decide to throw some food on them.
 
John_NJ said:
In my opinion the future outlook for any and all types of charcoal, wood or gas outdoor cooking are not rosy.
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Hmm, I’m not so sure. Wood, like fire pits and offsets, have always been and will remain a niche item. For most folks, once the initial excitement runs out, it’s likely gone.

Charcoal and gas are here to stay. I’m not sure what we’re going to include in “rosy” but neither is going anywhere. Sales increase mean rosy, or living mean rosy?
 
LMichaels said:
I think the griddle thing primarily will be more fad. Especially the large expensive single purpose ones. I'm thinking people will begin to realize you can simply add one to your regular grill, and not have to dedicate space to it. Pizza ovens as well. Pellet grills another story. I think once people realize as I did how wide ranging they are. Cheap to run and REALLY easy to maintain compared to gas grills and much easier to use I think their numbers will grow. But, I think some things need to take place by the grill mfgrs. First off they need to be made more weather resistant (or proof). Electronics not shielded enough, also they're too touchy to moisture. So unlike a typical gas grill that if it gets caught in a downpour during a cook no harm. Not so on pellet grills. If there is so much as a "hint" of rain I totally have to change my plans to not use it. (at least my deck one).
If those things get solved, pellet grills will REALLY take off even more than they have until now.
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Maybe you need a better pellet?

I can cook all year long, rain sun snow wind, doesn’t matter, with my Smokefire and Davey Crockett. I’ve not once ever had an issue with moisture, yeah I live in a pretty dry spot but weather really doesn’t affect (other than cold, which burns way more fuel to maintain temp) either one and certainly never dictates a change in cooking.


As per the initial question, the more fad prone would be pizza ovens. Griddles are great and I love having all the real estate in the world on my 36” Blackstone. And even then I run out of room. I see a lot of folks say they don’t see the need or convince themselves a smaller works, and some are, but man the big is great to have. Certainly not a fad but the spike we’ve seen will naturally curve down
 
Timothy F. Lewis said:
I see a griddle having its place in the arsenal. Just not an immediate “run out and get one” for me. If the right deal happens, I might do it. But, I just don’t have a burning need for a griddle right this minute.`
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I feel the same.
My wife,(aka the Enabler), caught me ogling a 22" Blackstone a few times at Costco. It was on sale with a cover for $159.00 and it ended up under the Christmas tree. I use it a lot, with the caveat that it's easily accessible on a screened in porch. If I had to go outside in the elements to use it, that would be a different story.
 
TimA said:
Hmm, I’m not so sure. Wood, like fire pits and offsets, have always been and will remain a niche item. For most folks, once the initial excitement runs out, it’s likely gone.

Charcoal and gas are here to stay. I’m not sure what we’re going to include in “rosy” but neither is going anywhere. Sales increase mean rosy, or living mean rosy?
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When I was a child, I remember walking down a city street with my dad and asking what the metal hatches in the sidewalk were for.

“Those are coal chutes”, and he proceeded to tell me how most buildings had coal furnaces.

My mother’s uncle delivered coal for a living when coal was the main heating source.


I think you would agree that anyone who tells you what life will be like in 20 years is just speculating.
 
As far as griddles and other trends go, I have owned a Little Griddle for about 4 years and use it with my 98 gen 2000. Use it for the standard variety of things, like smash burgers and occasional breakfast in the summer etc. It's not used a lot but it's there when I want it, it's easy to clean and the grease trap retains the grease quite well. And it does the job. A standalone gas griddle would be a complete overkill for us.
I have pellet grill for another reason. As much as I loved my WSM old age and handicaps made it to much of a hassle to work with. The pellet grill gives me almost the same cooks with set it and forget it. Ease of use and end results are the name of the game now.
 
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John_NJ said:
When I was a child, I remember walking down a city street with my dad and asking what the metal hatches in the sidewalk were for.

“Those are coal chutes”, and he proceeded to tell me how most buildings had coal furnaces.

My mother’s uncle delivered coal for a living when coal was the main heating source.


I think you would agree that anyone who tells you what life will be like in 20 years is just speculating.
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The first house that I purchased had a coal chute and coal room in the basement.
 
Bruce said:
The first house that I purchased had a coal chute and coal room in the basement.
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Had those in a house we had when I was a kid. I remembering shoveling coal into that furnace, until we switched to gas. Heating a house with a coal furnace was an art in itself.
 
Pellets are hydroscopic by nature. And while I've sealed and gasketed my hoppers dampness still gets in from under there, along with condensation when you get temps swings from -20 one day and then 2 days later it's +45 and pouring rain no pellet in the world will stop problems
 
“Anyway, about my washtub...I just used it that morning to wash my turkey, which in those days was known as a "walking bird". We'd always have walking bird on Thanksgiving with all the trimmings: cranberries, ……., yams stuffed with gunpowder. Then we'd all watch football, which in those days was called "baseball."

Abe Simpson.
 
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timothy said:
My Dad and Grandpa talked about walking along the tracks picking up stray pieces of coal dropped by trains.
That was around the depression.
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So did my Dad, he did that walking home from school every day during the depression. Like he said it wasn't much, but every little bit helped in those cold Chicago winters.
Even after my dad had our house converted from heating oil to gas I can remember in late December and January and into early February the furnace would run 24/7 and never get the house above 65.
 
I dipped my toes in the griddle world with a portable, it was a mistake. Too heavy to be truly portable and just didn't use it enough. Like others have said I have a kitchen to make breakfast. Glad I just bought the portable one cause I wouldn't have used a 36" more anyway. I have a bunch of well-seasoned cast iron pans that do the trick I also have a cast iron insert for my stove top that I never use as well, maybe that should have told me I wouldn't have used a griddle much... Oh well live and learn.
 
I absolutely love my griddle, but it's a circa mid 80's indoors 3/8 inch thick cast aluminum commercial two-burner griddle for a gas stove top. I brag on it all the time because it does such a fantastic job on whatever I cook on it. Even temps from edge to edge, no hot spots.

Also, there is a smashburger operation here in this area called steeze burger which was ranked best burger in the metro area, and he uses a backyard blackstone griddle exclusively. To be ranked number one in the metro area using a backyard griddle is saying something about backyard griddles.

steezeburgers.com

Steeze Burger

steezeburgers.com steezeburgers.com

But the truth is, if I want to cook something on a griddle, I'll just use the kitchen griddle or my little chud press. If I'm having a big party outside, I'll cook a brisket or even a pig - I'm not going to set up a griddle and cook 99 smash burgers. I think most people are probably the same.

So in that sense, I would say griddles are somewhat of a fad right now, but there will be a committed dedicated following too.
 
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Well, all I have to ad is if and I mean IF I were to spring into a "full size" griddle. I would grab this. Sam's Club with VERY well made cabinet, heavy casters. only $399, and Member's Mark guarantee. I looked at it in detail yesterday. The thing is a "tank". WAY better product than anything I've seen from any of the "big names".

20240404_164621.jpg
 
WB Zipf said:
That’s funny, you deleted a nonsense quote from Grandpa Simpson. I sould have cited it. :)

Grandpa Simpson Quote.

I thought it was kind of funny, with the discussion on griddles rabbit trailing to coal chutes and furnaces from back in the day.
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Yes, I looked it up and understood what it was about. It made no sense once gov't regulation comments were removed from other threads, so your post got a haircut, too.
 
I will remain firmly in the stand-alone griddle camp despite their perception as being a unitasker. The dedicated grease management system is the difference maker for me. Everything pulls to a grease channel along the front and is gravity tapered to a grease pan on the left side. The fact that it is ready to go at all times for the task at hand and requires very little effort for maintenance or clean-up makes me use it more often than I would any hybrid solution or insert. Sure, you can “make do”, “be fine”, or “get by” with a lesser solution but we really don’t see a lot of stand-alone griddles hitting the secondary market in relation to the number of them out there. That probably speaks to their value and usefulness as much as anything else.
 
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