Same here, 36" w/a griddle and wouldn't have it any other way now. We use it a LOT. One thing I did was to move it to the right side (or left, I went right). I didn't want it floating in the middle of the range and have to stage stuff on the burners or carry things across the burners. Plus it spatters a lot when cooking bacon or burgers, with it on one side I put a paper towel over the adjacent burners if it's going to be messy. It would be odd for me now to be using burners on either side of the griddle if I had it going. Just a personal preference but when you go BS you can configure the burners however you want.

We have a Bluestar 36" 4 burners with griddle in the center. The griddle gets used a couple of times a week and we never need more than 4 burners. The griddle also works as a warming plate when set on low and helps keep food hot on holidays. We have had this range about 6 years and it was one of the best purchases we made for the kitchen. It has no electronics to go bad other than ignitors. High output burners make cooking much faster, but can be throttled down to a simmer. It would probably be the last range you would ever buy.

Mistman, can the range top be reconfigured after purchase by the consumer? Special tools needed?

If you move burner heads, you probably also need to move the gas orifice that matches the power of the burner head. If I remember correctly, you'll need a ½" deep-socket driver to do that.

Afterwards, don't forget to adjust the venturi shutters (you need a phillips screwdriver) and the set point for low-heat simmering (you need a long and thin flathead screwdriver). If you replace the burner head, you might have to also replace the gasket connecting the head to the venturi tube. After a couple of years it loses integrity and can't be moved from one head to another. It's a cheap part (i.e. ~$5).

I think that's it.

There are instructional videos on the manufacturer's website that show you how to make these adjustments.

All of this can be done even years later, if you decide you no longer like the current configuration. But I found that the adjustment for the low-heat setting eventually seizes up. So, you might be stuck with the last setting, if you haven't changed it for a couple of years. Also, the screw that holds the ceramic spark igniter can seize. But that's less of a problem. It is easy to drill out, should that become necessary. Or you can be proactive about it, and check the igniters every couple of years, and then replace the screw if necessary.

I have an almost 10 year old RNB which is going strong, and I expect it to easily keep doing so for the next 10 years and beyond.

I made some customizations to our 30" range. I replaced the simmer burner with another 15kBTU burner, I replaced one of the 22kBTU burners with a 25kBTU one. And as part of our remodel, I installed taller legs and replaced the raised back guard with island trim. As part of maintenance, I replaced some of the spark igniter screws with stainless screws. And when my oven glow igniter died, I replaced it with a cheap $25 aftermarket igniter.

Phan, on the RNB range, if you select a griddle it's built in and thermostatically controlled. You cant' reconfigure it after purchase (and I don't even know if you can specially configure it before purchase to move the griddle to one side - I only saw the option of putting it in the center).

On the Platinum range, the griddle is not built-in, it simply sits over 2 burners, and it is moveable. But if you were planning to do that, you'd probably want the front and rear burners to be the same strength for more even heat, so there will likely be some practical limitations to how well moving the griddle after purchase will work unless you pre-configure the burners on one side to be even between the front and rear. I believe it is technically possible to move the burners around yourself after purchase, but it would likely void the warranty.

Mistman how did you move the griddle? Any reference materials? thx!

I ordered in that configuration. You can have the burners, grill and griddle in any configuration that works best for you. Just let them know when you pick your color :)

Awesome thanks!

"I put a paper towel over the adjacent burners if it's going to be messy."

Yowie, that's a fire waiting to happen!

Not likely with the griddle, no open flames.

I just contacted the Blue Star rep and was told that the griddle cannot be moves from the middle position. Something about UL certification

Are you talking about the 36" range? In that case, you absolutely want the griddle in the center. And that's true even without UL requirements.

The regular hobs are too close together otherwise. This is not a problem when using small pots. But as soon as you use a large pot or a wok, you'll be thankful that the griddle serves as a spacer between the hobs. Without it, you couldn't use both front burners at the same time.

It's the same reason why the 30" range has a 6" cast iron spacer between left and right side.

I use a wok a lot, I pull the grate and drop it on top of the burner. I don't have any issue at all with my griddle not in the middle. I never use 2 woks at once so don't have an issue crowding the front burners. I can put a smaller pan on the adjacent burner when using the wok but honestly, when I wok cook I'm only using the one pan. We also can and use a juicer which are both quite large and have no issues. I don't use 2 canners or juicers at the same time so again, no issues there. I've had all 4 burners going with normal size pans (up to 12") again with no issue crowding. I put my 22k burners kitty corner, one front right, one rear left. The idea was we make a lot of pasta and I wanted that pot in the back on a hi-heat burner and have the front one open. I put the simmer burner next to the front 22k. I wouldn't want the 2 22k's side by side, the heat would make it challenging to manipulate the pots/pans and work the utensils IMO. That 22k throws out a ton of heat. A 12" pan isn't small, I can put 2 adjacent on the front.

I've had it this way for over 6 years, done a lot of entertaining and have never regretted the decision. We also have 3 ovens including a CSO for even more cooking options, the CSO takes some work from the range (making rice, steaming vegs, re-heating, etc.).

Interesting that BS won't do truly custom configurations anymore, heard nothing about UL when we did it.

I'm very pleased to hear that folks are happy with the griddle, as I hope to have a BS rangetop with griddle for my next kitchen. Can any of you explain how you clean it? Thanks.

I treat it like cast iron and use hot water and a scrubby, no soap. Usually with pancakes, tortilla's, grilled cheese, etc. I just wipe it off with a paper towel when it's hot, then spray it lightly with oil and wipe that off.

For burgers, lots of bacon or sausage or any really greasy stuff I actually plug the drain hole w/a paper towel (I don't like cleaning the big steel catch-all pan underneath that often) and wipe all the oil up w/paper towels, put some water on it to loosen up anything and use a wet paper towel on the pastry knife or just the bare blade or a scrubby to get it clean. Then I put a light spray of oil on it and wipe that off, just like my cast iron pans. It's kind of a process to clean it when doing really greasy stuff.

For things that don't overwhelm the griddle w/grease just the wiping works well.

Thank you, Mistman. It seems like such a convenience to have that cooking surface. It doesn't sound too bad to clean. If it was a drag each time, I wouldn't use it. I had a Jenn Air gas downdraft with grill and used the grill piece only a few times before conceding it was not worth the trouble to deal with the multi-surfaced pieces involved. Flat griddle with few nooks and crannies makes more sense.

Hi, how long does it take for the integrated griddle to heat up on the RNB? What about the removable version on the Platinum? I’m in the market for at 48” range top. Currently I have a Viking which I love, but it is nearly 25 years old and it looks like the new ones are quite different. I use the griddle every day and want one that heats quickly like my old Viking. In the past I had a JennAir rang top with griddle and it took 30-40 min to heat which was horrible for a mom/dad on the move so we rarely used it.

The 24" griddle on our RNB will technically hit 325°f in about 7-10 minutes. HOWEVER, the surface is quite uneven at that point. Depending on what you're doing you should give it another 10-20 minutes for as much of the steel to heat up as possible.

When we turn on one side to use it as a linear french top it hits 200°f in about 4 minutes.

More: https://bamasotan.us/griddle-faq/

OpaOne. From one Opa to another, I'd like to thank you.

Reading your posts on Houzz/GardenWeb here and your link posted above (WordPoint/Disqus), I've decided to do a BlueStar RNB 48" rangetop with a 24" griddle in our kitchen remodel. It makes so much sense to me to do the same set-up that you have with the griddle as a faux French Top, using the portable inductions (which I have two of) for other items such as the Fisler pressure cooker, etc... Also, the idea of being able to place my "giant" de Buyer carbon steel Paella pan entirely on the griddle is a "no-brainer" for me. Also was thinking of doing crepes on the griddle once it is well seasoned.

Basically, a large thermostatically controlled griddle is the way to go and could be a very Jack of All Trades cooking unit.

I was wrestling with doing the 60" RNB rangetop (for the 2 extra burners) or a set up using the BS 36-inch Platinum with a 24-inch BS RNB all griddle butted up against it. The costs of double gas lines/electrical, ventilation, and cabinetry and the ridiculous price mark-up made that point moot.

Early on I definitely decided against the range, due to my age and bending over, plus I prefer electric ovens over gas. I'm going with the 30-inch Thermador Professional double wall oven with bottom dual convection and rotisserie oven and their steam oven above. Their steam oven has the largest capacity available on the market. I wish that Miele or Bosch offered the same capacity. I am also thinking (planning stage) of matching a 30-inch (Thermador) Speed Oven under the coffee bar counter (all appliances on the same wall), instead of a plain microwave or microwave drawer.

On the ventilation above the BS 48-inch rangetop, I'm leaning towards a 54-inch wide by 27-inch deep Z-Line 1200 CFM stainless hood. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

For anyone still checking into this thread that owns the RNB BlueStar rangetop with griddle... a question after I saw a floor model in a local store: it looks like the side lip of the griddle sticks very slightly above the level of the burner grates. I tested it with a pot with just a little water, and sure enough, the water sloughed to the side away from the griddle... Has anyone else that owns one of these seen that or have that issue?

@Stacy W, I'd not say slightly - it's a good 1/8" above (on our RNB range which I assume is identical to the rangetop). This is normal with commercial stuff (and some consumer?). I don't understand the problem?

@Jody Dietz, sounds like a good plan. Looking forward to hearing how it goes for you.

I think all of my thoughts on ventilalation are covered here: https://bamasotan.us/range-exhaust-hood-faq/ and here: https://www.houzz.com/discussions/5745986/commercial-range-hood-install. I believe z-line suffers from the same thing as many consumer hoods in having too little containmnet volume. I THINK Prestige MIGHT be the best option in consumer hoods.

The griddle is slightly elevated, but even with my largest pots, I have no issues with having it enough space to clear the edge of the griddle.

Whats the with amd lenth of each grate. As in can you fit 2 12” skillets?

The grates are roughly 11" × 11" each, and for the 30" RNB range, there is a 5" spacer in between. This allows you to easily use two 12" skillets side by side. In fact, you could even use two 14" woks next to each other.

If you have particularly large pots, then you restriction is going to be front-to-back. But then, I rarely find myself in the situation where I am actively working in big pots on the front burners while also simmering large quantities on the back burners. If that happens, I move some of those pots to the oven instead.

So, in practice, you'll likely find that even the 30" range has lots of space. For the 36" range, the math looks a little different. If you configure it with a total of six burners, then the center ones are going to be limited in use, if you have lots of big pots. But again, I suspect this is a rare scenario for most home chefs and can probably be addressed by better use of the oven or simply a little more planning.

And of course, if you have a griddle on a 36" range, then things work a little differently. And I suspect that's what you are really asking about. A 14" wok should be no problem at all, thanks to the round-bottom shape. A 12" skillet is probably also okay, as very few skillets will have a flat surface that extends to the full 12". Usually, they measure the top which does flare out a bit. So, the bottom is likely to fit on the 11" grate.

But I guess, if you had a 7+ qt saute pan with a bottom diameter of about 13", you'd run into problems. Those are rarely found in home kitchens though.