Blackstone

Origins and specialty

Blackstone Products is a US brand founded in 2008 and based in Utah, best known for popularising outdoor cold-rolled steel griddles fired by propane gas. Its range centres on large-surface griddle stations, pizza ovens and a broad set of accessories for barbecue and outdoor cooking. Design and engineering are done in the United States, while manufacturing is largely outsourced to Asia.

What sets it apart

Blackstone plays in a different league from the ceramic kamado: instead of lid-closed charcoal cooking with airflow control, it offers a flat, open, very hot steel surface, ideal for full breakfasts, smash burgers, teppanyaki-style stir-fries and big batches in one go. It's a complementary outdoor-cooking philosophy rather than a rival to the grill or the kamado.

Our assessment

At mikamado we curate and analyse with the kamado at the centre, so let's be transparent: we don't currently carry any Blackstone models in our catalogue. We cover it because it comes up often when people compare outdoor-cooking options, and it helps to understand where it fits. Against our Big Green Egg Large, a griddle won't deliver the live-fire flavour or the heat retention that ceramic gives for long roasts, but it handles fast volume and flat-top cooking far better.

If your real interest is kamado cooking, this isn't the path; if you want a serious gas griddle to complement your grill, Blackstone is a recognised name in the sector.