Griddle caddies

Why this matters more than it sounds

Griddle cooking is fast. A smash burger is done in ninety seconds; onions go from translucent to burnt in under a minute at searing heat.

Walking back to the kitchen for oil, a towel or the seasoning is how food burns. A caddy is a solution to a workflow problem rather than a cooking one, which is why it gets overlooked and why owners who have one rate it highly.

What it needs to hold

• Squeeze bottles upright. The single most important function. A bottle lying on a side shelf leaks, and a bottle anywhere near the plate melts.
• Spatulas, without them falling through. Slots sized for a handle, not an open basket.
• Paper towel. A roll holder is more useful than it sounds — a loose roll on a greasy shelf is a one-use item.
• The scraper, which otherwise lives on the ground or on the plate.
• Seasoning shakers, if you use them.

Mounting is the hard part

This is the accessory where fit is most restrictive, because there is no standard.

• Model-specific brackets fit one griddle family properly and nothing else. Most secure, least portable between griddles.
• Clamp mounts attach to a shelf edge. More universal, and they need a shelf of the right thickness.
• Magnetic mounts stick to the cart body. Easiest to fit and the least reliable — they slide when the cart is moved or bumped, and a sliding caddy full of oil is a mess.

Check your griddle’s shelf and cart construction before ordering, the same way you would for a cover.

The trap: do not consume your plating space

Side shelves have two jobs: holding tools, and holding food. A caddy that occupies an entire side shelf solves the first and destroys the second.

You need somewhere to put raw patties going on and cooked food coming off. Losing that is a worse problem than walking for the oil.

Look for a caddy that mounts on the end or underside of a shelf, or that occupies only part of one.

Material

Stainless or powder-coated steel. It lives outdoors under the same cover as the griddle, and grease plus weather finds anything untreated.

It also needs to be cleanable — a caddy collects drips from everything it holds, so smooth surfaces and a removable tray are genuinely useful.

When you do not need one

• A tabletop griddle, where the table is your workspace.
• A griddle beside an outdoor kitchen counter with somewhere to put things already.
• A griddle with generous side shelves you are happy to use for tools.

The honest version: this is a convenience accessory. Buy the cover and spatulas first, and get a caddy once you know how you actually work at the griddle.