This review page is about the Black and Decker family size griddle. If you insist on getting this unit without reading the review here then you can find it by Clicking Here.
One of the first things that may tempt you to buy the Black & Decker family size model is its relatively low price. The description of this appliance also mentions some interesting features, including a family sized cooking surface that measures at 21 by 10 inches, a built in warming tray, dishwasher safe parts and more. However, all of these features won’t be of much use if this design can’t perform well.
Another claimed feature of the GR100 model is its nonstick cooking surface. It’s basically an industry standard today for an electric griddle to have a nonstick surface that prevents food (such as pancakes) from sticking to it. The popular Presto griddles, the Rival griddles as well as those of the BroilKing brand – all have a cooking surface that keeps its nonstick feature as long as you treat it well (if you aren’t careful you can easily damage the nonstick surface of any unit, the Black & Decker GR100 product being no exception).
On the other hand, some people just won’t mind damaging the nonstick coating of this appliance since it’s quite hard feel its presence. Pancakes, bacon eggs and more – all of these foods just stick to the unit’s surface and make the cooking and cleaning so much harder than what it should be.
The GR100 design is advertised as a unit that has accurate temperature controls that can heat the surface up to 400 degrees. It may sound good on theory but it seems that this electrical machine just can’t get the even heat that is required in order to provide the user with decent cooking results. Some of the food gets literally burned (usually the food that is placed above the heating element) while the food that is placed in the center or a bit far from the heating element gets barely cooked.
It’s true that most of the electric griddles out there don’t have a surface that heats up perfectly even, but the Black and Decker griddle is far from being included as another griddle that doesn’t have a perfect heat distribution. It would be more accurate to say that the Black & Decker GR100 model has a pretty bad heat distribution, and the uneven heat make the cooking so difficult that no cheap price or unique features can compensate for this failure.
Other than the hot and cold spots, it’s not rare for this appliance to emit some smoke when activated, and the unit is not so easy for cleaning, especially with the nonstick surface that doesn’t seem to be nonstick. The only two positive things about this product are its cheap price and the fact that its surface is very large.
However, there are enough electric griddles in the market that have these advantages and can actually be used for cooking great food and generally work better than the Black & Decker machine . Most of the Presto electric griddles are quite cheap and offer a big cooking surface with a much better nonstick coating (and one of the best griddles of Presto is actually the Presto Little model that cooks the food pretty good, but unfortunately the surface of this unit is very small, so it can be a great option only if you are willing to compromise on its size).
Furthermore, both the Rival folding design and the Broil King PCG-10 professional unit offer a large nonstick cooking surface that distributes the heat much better than the Black & Decker family size unit. Basically, almost any unit that you may choose will probably be better than the GR100 model – it can’t really compete with other good (or even average) countertop griddles.
In addition, some people claim that the Black and Decker waffle maker can be a good alternative to the poor results of the GR100 appliance. It’s true that the waffle maker of the Black & Decker Company is much more popular than the product reviewed here, but it’s far from being perfect and others claim that it’s just as poor as the GR100 family-sized machine.
Another alternative to this product can be a stovetop griddle like the very popular Lodge Logic LPG13 Pro 20-by-10-7/16-inch cast-iron grill. Obviously, this product isn’t an electrical unit but it’s a quality cast iron griddle that can last for years and still provide you with good heating performance.
This product is an epic FAILURE!! The temperature kept turning itself off and on, so I tested the outlet and plugs, thinking it had a shortage. NO!
It cooked super slow because of uneven heat distribution. I don’t know who or why someone would ok this product. Probably for the money. BUYER BEWARE AND DON’T BUY THIS PRODUCT. EVEN IF SOMEONE GIVES IT TO YOU, DON’T WAIST YOUR TIME TO USE IT.
bonjour j’ai perdu ma commande de réglage ou puis- je en trouver une autre Ses le grill en haut sur la photo
Merci de me répondre
Sigh… I too am very disappointed with this unit, having had good luck with some Black and Decker tools in the past, but must agree that it heats VERY unevenly. On reviewing the box in more detail, it’s not even made by Black & Decker, but by a company called Applica. Whether Applica has any actual relationship with Black and Decker (e.g. a subsidiary) or is just licensing the name, I don’t know. If they are licensing it, Black & Decker should be more selective as this doesn’t enhance their reputation. Unfortunately, I’ve had some other bad experiences with some of their products recently, so may have to just sadly write this name off.
My children pooled their money to get this for me for Mother’s Day. What a FAIL!!! Everthing stuck. No matter how much cooking spray I used! I threw the thing in the trash and gave my kids their money back. Went back to the small Presto that’s basicaly worn out. DON’T WASTE YOUR MONEY!
I wish I has something original to say here, but I don’t. The B&B GR100 is an utter failure: heat is uneven both in temperature and area. The “non-stick” surface treatment seems to make it even stickier than my stainless steel skillets. *Bacon* sticks to it. We’ve thrown it away rather than give it away, lest we curse some other family with it. I will try the US-made Broil King.
Do not buy this griddle….everything sticks to it, even bacon. Absolutely the worst kitchen product I have ever purchased.
My brother-in-law bought this griddle to make his famous pancakes on because we didn’t have one. Wow! This thing sucks. Everything sticks to it, the grease tray falls out and the warming tray melted because it is so close to the element. You can see where the element is because of the burned surface. I could never say anything good about this piece of junk. Black and Decker, don’t you understand that we WILL pay for quality? The B&D name used to mean quality now it means junk.
I use an electric griddle for my family everyday. So over the years we’ve used several. This is by far the worst one ever. Heats uneven, the surface wore out and sticks. In less than six months this appliance was more than done. No more B&D products for my kitchen.
PS purchased a Cooks griddle as a replacement and it has been great for about 6 months now. No sign of wear, heats evenly very well, cleans up nicely.
I hate my Black and Decker GR100. I bought it to save my stove from the mess of bacon, but it takes forever to cook. It constantly clicks on and off. I havent had as bad of luck with pancakes, but pancakes are fairly simple, anyways. The oil from the bacon, doesnt flow well into the designated area, I usually have to tip the unit to get the oil to go into the collection drawer.
I HATE this griddle! It heats really weirdly. Say for instance that I want to go from cooking bacon to cooking eggs. I turn down the heat for my eggs and all the sudden the plate isn’t warm anymore! My eggs sat on the griddle for 10 minutes before the plate decided it was at the right temperature. Also the grease run off channels are small making it hard to clean afterwards and the nonstick surface is not a nonstick surface. Get a different griddle and save yourself the hassle.
This griddle heats so unevenly you can see the burn marks of the element make a stripe on a pancake.
We just got a total replcement of the GR100 Griddle. The 1st one SUCKED! Everything stuck to it, forcing you to clean it with a nylon pad. It resulted in a deterioration of the Teflon surface. Also, the AC Power Adapter went south on us. I wonder HOW LONG will this replacement unit last? You get what you pay for……..
I am not suprised to read this… Although I am not familiar with the black and decker cookware, I do have experience with the black & decker gr100 family-sized griddle. (bad experience, of course…)
Ok, I am a bit surprised to find out that the Black and Decker electric griddle heats unevenly and that it’s not such a quality product as I thought it was. I guess I’ll search for a better unit… any recommendations?