Experience 360° of griddle cooking versatility! Whether you are cooking for a small crowd or a large party, the Cuisinart 360° griddle cooking center will amaze any audience. Breakfast, lunch & dinner, the 22″ diameter cooking center can handle it all! It features a 360° grease pan & rear grease cup, making for easy access & clean-up. The cooking center comes with a quick access paper towel holder. It also includes a stainless steel lid with an integrated vent, enhancing the features of a normal griddle! This lid creates versatility to steam, roast, smoke or warm! From eggs & pancakes to burgers or stir-fry, the Cuisinart 360° griddle cooking center gives you the ability to explore your culinary creativity.
Danny K. –
Good Griddle but There Are Design Flaws to ConsiderSUMMARY: With a learning curve, the 360 griddle consistantly cookes food really well. It seems fairly well built and the griddle iron itself is heavy and of very high quaility. There are some serious design flaws though that I’ve noted below. Overall though, I like this griddle and plan to use it for as long as it lasts. I will probably replace it with a traditional griddle because of the space it goes in.FULL REVIEW:I have been using the griddle regularly for about 2.5 months now. It is an important part of my budget outdoor kitchen (see photos). But there are important flaws in the Cuisinart 360 griddle to discuss. PLEASE NOTE: This review is about the regular griddle NOT the Cuisinart 360XL model.Positives First:The griddle surface itself is great and beautiful to look at and cook on. It is a showstopper. I went out of my way to really season the cooking surface carefully before food ever touched the surface. I took the first afternoon to lay on 9 layers (yes 9) of lindseed oil to season the griddle which I bought specifically for the purpose. I cooled the griddle between seasonings. SI also re-season it after about every other use or whenever the surface shows that it needs it. So far, that seems to have worked to protect the iron from rusting but we haven’t gone through a rainy winter in the NW yet. The lid is sturdy and the rest of the unit seems pretty well constructed, but it is a bit wobbly when moved. Putting it together was pretty easy too.The circular grease rail is wide and very easy to wipe down. It works great! Like the base assembly, it could be a tad heavier gage steele.Negative Qualities: The biggest design flaw, and it is a serious flaw in my opinion, is the drip tray design and its location. It should lock in place and be placed nearer to the front. As it is, the tray is opposite the front, ostensibly to keep the visual flow of the griddle intact from the front and side views. If the griddle were out from walls and the user could cook from any angle, I guess this first critique wouldn’t count quite as much, but I do have it in a space were it is against a wall. There is limited access from the sides and even more so when accessing the back (see photo). This means that when the griddle is hot, I have to lean over and around the hot griddle to reach the drip pan which is a seriously awkward maneuver. A lot of heat comes out from around the griddle too. I have midly burned myself a couple of times doing this so far. To be completely safe, I guess I co making it even harder. I know I could let the griddle cool before removing the tray but that is inconveniant in daily usage. And there are times when it has filled up while I’m still cooking. Most worrisome though is that THE DRIP PAN COMES OUT OF ITS SLOT WAY TOO EASILY. There have been a couple of times where I didn’t empty the drip tray after cooking. And when I put on the Cuisinart griddle cover, the tray came out of its shelf and dumped grease all over the propane tank and lower parts of the griddle. It was a mess and a real pain to clean. I did this twice before dense me figured out that the tray just had to be emptied after every cook. Sadly, the tray is just crummy design and potentially dangerous. It is by far my biggest complaint about the Cuisinart 360 griddle.360 Griddle Elements That Might Be A Turn Off for Some: Like others have said, the griddle has definite hot and cold zones. For mine, there is a wedge shaped area that is very hot. If you think of the peace sign overlaid onto the circular griddle, the right upper third is about 100 degrees hotter than any other part of the griddle. The lower third is coolest and the left third is in between. Again, like others have said, that is fine when you learn the griddle, but it would be nice to have more control over surface temperatures. Additionally, the areas are relatively small so I find if you have a quantity of things to cook simulaneously like English muffins, the chef has to move things around constantly to make them come out at the same time. This is a pain. As to propane use, the griddle has to operate with both gas nobs on full or near to it in order for the cooler parts of the griddle to get hot enough to cook most foods. I don’t have anything to compare it to, but I would estimate I get about 5-6 hours of cooking from each tank of propane. Make sure you think through how much you will want some vertical surface to push food against, to assist the chef with getting that food onto the spatula. The lack of a does make removal of some foods a little extra challenging, but for me that was a fun challenge. It’s circular for Pete’s sake! A final picky point is the casters which are small and cheaply made. The wheel lock pedals are ridiculously flimsy. I am tempted to buy better ones to replace them. I would also like larger casters as the unit is a little top heavy. Cuisinart should fix this too. Lastely, the lid, which so many people praise, I find generally unusable for actual cooking. It is important when seasoning the grill and to cover it between uses. This lids is well made and works, it’s just too big to used for most actual cooking. Most of the time, I only need to cover a part of the grill, but not the entire griddle surface. Think: melting cheese on burgers while grilling bacon or buns at the same time. I want to cover the burgers but not the other stuff. Instead, I use the cuisinart melting dome (see photo) instead of the lid. The smaller dome works better for most of my cooking sessions. To store the lid, the chef hangs it off the grease rail like a Webber Kettle lid. The first problem with this is that the griddle’s lid gets in the way of cooking on the griddle when hung this way. It is difficult to cook around it. So instead, I find myself hanging it from another grill rather than on the 360 griddle. That all said, the lid is good to have and well made. In fact, I can’t get the entire griddle hot enough to season without it. Certainly, I wouldn’t want to go without a full lid, but they need to figure out a better system for hanging it when not in use. I think I will use a towel rock screwed into a wall or my fence to hand it on. You will definitly want to purchase a smaller melting dome if you go with the Cuisinart 360 griddle. I would suspect that the larger XL lid would magnify these problems.Final Thoughts: I do have reservations about this grill, but it is still a great alternative to the rectangular griddle for the backyard chef. Overall this thing is really fun to use and has turned out great food cook after cook. So far, I have made shrimp fried rice, English muffins, Chicken fajitas, BLTs, seafood fettachini along with breakfast staples like hashbrowns, eggs and I even heated the dutch oven used for deep frying the chicken fried steak and a pan for sausage gravy (see photos). It has produced quality food especially once you figure out the temperature zones of your griddle. From a purly cooking standpoint (and I guess it is the most important) it is an excellent griddle. But the design flaws I’ve discussed are enough that knowing what I know now, I might have chosen a different griddle. That said, I’m very pleased with the 360 Griddle. If you can put it in a place where you can actually walk entirely around it while you cook, many of those issues would be reduced or eliminated.Conclusion:I fully recommend this griddle but with reservations.
MP –
Pretty good. Especially for the priceI love outdoor cooking, and I likely have many more options than I will ever reasonably need to that end, but I’ve wanted a griddle to round out my choices for a while now anyway. We were at a friend’s house who did smash burgers on his Blackstone and my son just raved about them, so with some persuading I got clearance to litter up my patio with one more cooking toy.I would have probably gone with the Blackstone or another Camp Chef to match my pellet smoker, except I’m already at something of a premium for space. I’d love the Evo, but let’s be honest, $5k for a griddle would probably have been the last purchase I ever made. There aren’t a lot of reviews or detail to be found online about the Cuisinart 360, so it was a little bit of a leap of faith, but so far I’m pretty pleased, with a couple of asterisks.I was originally going to get the 30″, because I almost always convince myself that more is better. I talked myself down, and I’m probably glad I did. In reality I won’t frequently be called upon to cook for more than 6-8 people and the surface of this is ample for that, though probably a bit crowded if I were to have 8 patties and 8 buns all going at the same time. For 95% of my cooking, this is plenty. And I imagine the footprint is significantly larger, and three burners of the larger griddle probably go through a lot more propane.This may assemble in 30 minutes with two people. I don’t know, I did it myself and it can be done, but it probably took closer to an hour. I strongly suggest not tightening anything down until you’ve got everything in place, even screws that seem like they won’t come into play later. It’s fairly wobbly while you assemble, but you’ll appreciate the extra wiggle room, particularly when you’re trying to get the top of it attached to the legs. I had to loosen screws a couple of times I never would have guessed would have made any difference later. Trust me on this, don’t tighten anything all the way until you’ve got the last screw in. Once you’ve got it assembled, tighten everything down and it’s pretty sturdy.One complaint I have is that the locking casters don’t lock very well and it still rolls without a lot of exertion. I may replace the casters at some point, but I haven’t looked into how much of a project that is yet. Contrary to many reviews I’ve seen, there were no warps, bends, dents, dings, etc, on the lid or the drip ring in particular. It all looks to be good quality. I scratched one of the legs dropping it when I was taking it out of the box, but only have myself to blame.The cooking surface is not pre-seasoned and you will definitely want to do that before your first cook. I suggest taking the time to do it right instead of getting in a big hurry to use it. All told, it took me probably 2 hours and half a tank of propane before I was satisfied with the seasoning. I used avocado oil, and patience. After that, this is a good cooking surface, and at least as easy to use as my antique Griswold cast iron pans.There are some hot and cold spots on the surface, but they’re not dramatic and it doesn’t take a lot of use to figure out where they are. Nothing that is going to be too frustrating. And mine had a couple of small scratches/grooves in it from production, one of them about 3/4 inch long. Looking at other pictures, this doesn’t seem uncommon, but they’re not significant or deep enough to make it problematic, it’s primarily cosmetic, if that bothers you. I just turned the larger scratch toward the back. This isn’t the $5k Evo, so I’m a little more forgiving here than I would be with that. The infinity edge of the round grill takes some getting used to, and not having a raised edge to stop food from rolling over the side does have its issues. I would recommend two decent turners, or at the very least a turner and a bench scraper (which is handy to clean the surface, so I’d suggest a bench scraper anyway) to help corral food. Remember to clean the cooking surface well after you cook (a bottle of water to steam off hard cooked gunk is helpful) and put a layer of oil on it before you’re done, unless you want to have to season it every time you use it.I know this is billed as more than just a griddle, and I guess if it’s the only cooking source you have you could get more creative than that, but I don’t see it taking the place of a grill or the smoker so much as I see it as an option for things those can’t do. The lid is an okay touch for things like trapping heat or melting cheese (though it’s really not a melting dome, per se), but it is definitely not enough weather protection on its own. If you don’t have an awning, even the morning dew is definitely going to get onto your cooking surface. I’d strongly recommend a cover for storage, even if you do keep it under an awning.So far I’ve cooked bacon, eggs, pancakes, smash burgers, patty melts, and a hot turkey and swiss on rye, so I’m still just getting to know the griddle, but I’m happy with my purchase so far. Honestly if space were no constraint, I likely would have gone for a rectangular setup, and I probably still would. This is a more than decent compromise, though.
bling –
don’t think, just buyif you have the room, get the XL. that’s my only regret. i love this thing. my BBQ hasn’t been touched since i got the griddle.burgers/steak is superior on this because the flat bottom lets you sear the entire surface. anything you can cook on a skillet, you can do with this (pancakes, eggs, bacon, etc.). if you’re into stir fries, the wok still reigns supreme there, but this is a very close second.the lid that comes with this makes this better than other flat tops because it lets you easily convert it into an oven. get an elevated rack and smoke tube and you can turn this into a smoker.this thing is soooo versatile that even when i could use my stove inside, i’ll use this instead. you don’t have to worry about ventilation and cleanup is much easier. i was concerned there would be a lot of grease splatter but the ring around the griddle probably captures 90% of it.oh, you can also get those grease liners for blackstone griddles — it fits! i prefer this because a) it doesn’t stick out like the one that comes with the griddle, and b) i just throw it in the trash when i’m done. no cleanup required!last but not least, make sure you season *both sides* of the griddle. this ensures the bottom is also protected from the elements, otherwise it’ll rust from the bottom up. for the bottom, i put a thick coat of oil on it, heated to max temp, let it cool, and repeated 4-5 times. for the top, always super thin coat of oil after every cook, done!this is easily one of my favorite cooking purchases.
crawlerado –
Finally a way to grill bacon and eggs!!I live in the desert southwest and I hate cooking inside because I dont want to heat my house up at all. I grill every dinner I have at home. Now I can “grill” breakfast!! The griddle surface is stainless steel so be sure to season it and you will have a nonstick cooking surface for all your eggs and bacon and pancakes. It’s wonderful. Don’t just use it for breakfast though. Smash burgers are great on the griddle. I saw Sam the Cooking Guy on you tube using one called an Evo… yikes $4,000,, this one is just as good but only $300. I love it.
frank c ward –
Need grills perfectlyI like everything about it
Roger –
I love my griddleI purchased the griddle about a month ago through Amazon. The process was pretty easy even though they had to deliver the large box through their freight department. The set up was pretty easy as long as your follow directions. Once the griddle was built, I seasoned the griddle three times with olive oil, which was pretty straightforward. Since the initial seasoning, we have used the griddle at least ten times and we absolutely love it. For the money, I feel this unit is well built and works well.My only suggestion would be to order the bigger 360XL up front. Even if you do not think you need the larger griddle, spend the money and buy the bigger unit. You can thank me later. Also, purchase an apron because the griddle does splatter and will ruin your clothes.Enjoy!
CS –
Great addition to the deckThis is my first experience with a griddle. I was looking for a gas grill and purchased this on a whim. I have the 22 inch griddle. I have used it 5 or 6 times since I purchased it about a month ago. So far, I love it. I have not had any issues with rust as others have mentioned. I also thought it was easy to assemble. It Took me about an hour alone.I do not like the drip tray. Its located in the back so its hard to reach. It also falls off easily (twice already for me) when I bumped it. What a mess!So far, its been easy to clean. I purchased a Cuisinart heavy duty griddle scraper, which I recommend. I seasoned it three times before the first use by using grapeseed oil. I fried eggs on it last night, and they did not stick. So far, I have cooked potatoes, pancakes, steak, bacon, and hamburgers and have had no issues.You will definitely need to purchase a grill mat, a scraper, and a grill cover . Overall, it has been great and not a bad price.
Barbara Huffman –
The performance is outstandingI have enjoyed every meal cooked on this griddle, and it’s been awesome to use! For whatever reason, it takes me two clicks to get a burner to light, but the point is… It lights! I start it high heat for approx 10 min, and then turn it to med or low… Everything I’ve cooked has, been tasty. It’s nice that it doesn’t smoke up and have flare ups since nothing is getting on the heating elements. It’s one of the most interesting grills I’ve ever used… Very happy with everything about it… We have a huge desk on our porch and it’s an excellent tabletop to have everything at my fingertips as well… Since I live in an apartment, I bought this for my son’s house and when I go to visit, I also go to cook up meals on the griddle grill… We are all impressed with this grill
susan crane –
ImpressiveReally nice grill for small meals. Fits 4 good size steaks or 2 steaks and veggies.