Customer Reviews

PRESTO COOL TOUCH GRIDDL

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

I love making pancakes. In the past I would use two large cast-iron skillets for the task. I found myself constantly adjusting my burner temperature and I would always get a few very dark (or burnt) or a few undercooked pancakes out of each batch. Plus I could only cook two pancakes at a time; one in the center of each skillet (I like making large, perfectly round, 5-6" diameter pancakes.)

After much research, I finally broke down and bought the Presto Tilt'nDrain BigGriddle because I liked the enormous cooking area it offered. And I liked the fact that is was made of heavy cast aluminum and that it sat perfectly level (some griddles have sloped cooking decks to allow grease and juices to run away from the foods... NOT desirable when making pancakes or scrambled eggs.) And I liked how the griddle can be quickly adjusted so that it WILL tilt forward which *does* allow grease to run away when you want it to! (it has a grease channel and catch-tray along the front edge of the unit.)

My first impressions with this unit:

- It's huge! 18.5" x 15" cooking area.

- It heats evenly. My infrared (IR) non-contact thermometer gun showed very little temperature variation across the cooking surface once it was fully heated (I let the thermostat cycle several times -- about 10 minutes -- before I took my readings.) My pancakes verified this finding with each one being equally browned.

- The thermostat is accurate. I set the unit to 350-degrees F., and it heated to 350-degrees F. as verified by my IR thermometer gun.

- The raised lip around the sides and back of the unit is high enough to contain pancake batter and keep it from spilling over and is low enough to be completely unobtrusive.

After un-boxing the unit, I cleaned, plugged, and turned on the unit (set for 350-degrees F.) After a 10 minute warm up, I applied my pancake batter. As noted earlier, in the past I was only able to make two pancakes at a time using two separate skillets. The Presto griddle allowed me to cook 6 (yes, SIX!!) of my large pancakes at the same time. All six pancakes browned evenly with no hot or cold spots seen. Flipping the pancakes was a breeze and I used no oil on the non-stick surface.

I made two batches of pancakes, one batch after the other, and both turned out exactly the same... and that was "perfectly." I made a two batches of pancakes (12 pancakes total) in the same amount of time it took to make 4 in the past. For the first time my whole family ate pancakes together at the same time!!

So, in summary, the Presto Tilt'nDrain BigGriddle is well designed, easy to use, heats accurately and evenly, and has a very large cooking surface. Clean-up was quick and easy. I highly recommend this unit to anyone who needs a large griddle.

NOTE: Regarding a few other reviews here, I don't see how anyone can rate this product 2 or 3 stars, faulting the unit because it's too large to store. I mean, come on!! It's a big griddle by DESIGN!! If it's too large for you, then you should have bought a smaller griddle! ;-)

I bought this item for my Husband's birthday and we both adore it! I feared it might be one of those things you buy but don't actually use. I was so wrong! It cooks evenly and has a huge surface. The option to slant the surface means that fats and juices drain away so that pancakes can be cooked alongside bacon, for example, without soaking up the bacon grease. The low sides make it easy to get a spatula under whatever you may be cooking. The variable temperature settings make cooking delicate foods so easy, and clean up couldn't be simpler since it has a non-stick surface. I love this griddle!

This griddle is wonderfully big and easy to clean. Just wipe off and store away. I love how I can cook the entire familys' pancakes almost all at once. (9 at a time). I can throw on some sausage links, and some fried eggs as well with out dirting up another pan. This is the pan if you want a one stop breakfast. The burners cook evenly thoughout the surface and pancakes come out golden perfect!. I love it. The only drawback to this griddle is that it only goes up to 400 degrees. So if you want to really brown something its not going to happen unless you leave it on there for a long time. Other than that we absolutely think its the "dogs bark". So to speak, you know the "cats meow" but we are a dog family. Be healthy.

Cooking breakfast on Saturdays mornings.

Carla Hudgins

Matthews NC.

I read Blue Crab Steve's review, and it was very helpful and informative. I purchased this griddle several months ago, and I wanted to use it for awhile before I submitted a review, although his comments are much better than mine.

OK, the good news is, this griddle is BIG! The bad news is, this griddle is BIG! That's not really a complaint. It's just a little hard trying to figure out how to store it. I have a small kitchen so I just store the griddle in the box it came in and tuck it in between my fridge and the wall. Also washing the griddle presents a challenge, as my sink is small, but I manage. The non-stick surface is really easy to clean, and I'm careful to use only silicone-coated or nylon utensils on it to preserve the surface.

Now for the good news. The large cooking surface allows one to cook multiple items at one time. I find that the edges get a little hotter than the middle, but I've learned to work with it. I've had electric griddles in the past, but this one is by far the best!

At first, I wondered if I would actually use the griddle often enough to justify purchasing it. But as time goes on, I find that I'm pulling it out often to cook so many things. It's just so convenient to be able to cook almost a whole meal on it at once.

The bottom line here is, I can't imagine who wouldn't love this griddle. I am very pleased with it so far, and I would recommend it to anyone who wishes to have an electric griddle with a large cooking surface. A wonderful addition to any kitchen!

I've never seen a griddle that had a bigger coldspot in the middle.. it may heat up evenly, but the middle will go stone cold if you put anything even slightly cold on it.

chicken or beef will cause the temp to drop from 400 to 250 in matters of a second.

I wouldn't wish this griddle on anybody

Love the large working space. Very unhappy with how the griddle heats the food. The griddle has a continuous "hot spot" above the heating element and does not heat food evenly across the griddle. The griddle plate itself is much thinner than the older Presto unit it replaced which distributed heat much more evenly. I would not recommend this product.

I purchased two for the local VFW for our Pancake Suppers. They are big enough to hold 4 large 8" pancakes. So far they have cooked over 300 pancakes and do the job very nicely.

I was hoping to have a nice big griddle that I could use all the time but this just isn't it. I've gone back to my two smaller griddles because this unit just doesn't heat evenly. Yeah, you can cook lots of pancakes, but you have to keep track of them and keep checking on them because the ones on the edges are going to get done faster than those in the middle. And cooking bacon is a joke. Some were burned after a few minutes while others will actually still cold to the touch.

I've included a couple images in the customer photos of how the heating element runs underneath. I can't take a photo to show the thickness, or rather how thin the cooking surface is but it feels about 1/2 as thick as my $20 smaller griddles. Basically, it's very thin. All I have to say is 'buyer beware' and 'you get what you pay for'.

Cheers.

This is a horrible griddle!

I make pancakes every Sunday morning and thought this griddle would help cut out some of the cooking time due to its size. After cooking with it several times I am very unhappy with its performance and recommend you stay away from this griddle. If I could return it I would but I trashed the box before I discovered the problems. It does not heat evenly and has a cold spot in the middle. I though maybe I did not let it heat long enough the first time. So I let it heat through several cycles but it only scorched the first batch on one side and the second batch did not cook evenly and the middle was to cold to cook on. You cannot cook meats like bacon or sausage on it because of its uneven cooking. The ends of the bacon are done before the center of the bacon is done.

I am now the owner of an oversized, hard to store, uneven cooking piece of garbage.

Jeremy Wallace

Mobile, Alabama

This griddle is the best! I have four grandchildren and when they come to visit us, they like to make and eat alot of bacon and pancakes. We ordered it for the size and have used it alot! We can make enough grilled cheese sandwiches, hamburgers and hotdogs for the whole bunch. We have 3 boys and 1 little girl, so their appetites are only going to increase. The griddle is perfect.