The Common Complaint Customers Make About Blackstone Griddles

If you've got some outdoor griddling plans in the works and are thinking of picking up a Blackstone, there are some complaints worth knowing about before you make any decisions. Blackstone Griddles are popular, allowing you to cook everything in the great outdoors (or however you landscape your backyard). Since 2008, the company has been making griddles that break the monopoly barbecues had on outside cooking. Walking down the aisles of most retailers, you may be tempted to join this griddle revolution, but keep in mind that a common customer complaint is that the build quality is low.

On Reddit, a customer detailed their complaints about the many issues with their Blackstone Griddle. Excited to get griddling, they were stopped in their tracks by a missing screw. Ten days later, the screw arrived and they shook it off, eager to cook in the yard. Pretty soon, the knobs stopped working. If this were a lone story, you could chalk it up to bad luck, but commenters chimed in with their own tales of griddle woe. One person rattled off their litany of complaints: "They don't ever fit together well, screws fall out, paint rusts and flakes off, etc." Another shared their own issues, calling it "Pure trash. It took me 3 Blackstones to finally get one that didn't have damaged parts new out of the box. Then my frame was rusting and flaking 2 months in." This poor build quality is one of the big disadvantages of a Blackstone Griddle you should know about before you purchase one.

In the Reddit thread where customers describe the poor quality of the griddles, one commenter states: "They don't build them like they used to!" They go on to write that they purchased an original Blackstone Griddle that has had no problems for the last eight years. If the posters on Reddit are right that the build quality of Blackstone Griddles used to be better, what happened?

The reason for the supposed drop in quality of Blackstone Griddles is hard to nail down. No company releases statements about its plans to make products with cheaper materials. Blackstone Products has received funding from private equity firm Oaktree Capital in the past. In 2025, Blackstone merged with Weber Grill, a company with investments from BDT & MSD Partners and BDT & Company. In the past, private equity has been blamed for the drop in quality of other companies, such as Church's Chicken. Blame can't be clearly pinned on private equity, but the track record isn't great. If you're looking for a portable griddle that's more affordable and free of private equity, check out Aldi's take on the Blackstone griddle, usually available around the start of summer.