Traeger’s Woodridge line climbs in four price steps. One of them buys no cooking at all.
That step is the Woodridge Pro Plus, model TFC97JLK, at $1,399.99. The Woodridge Pro below it asks $1,149.99. Both publish 970 sq in across two racks, both stop at 500 F. Both hold 24 lb of pellets and run the same controller.
Traeger’s own page says it plainly. Everything you love about the Woodridge Pro, with an added cabinet. So $250 buys a cupboard and the 26 lbs of steel wrapped around it. Whether that is worth it depends on what your patio already has.
970 sq inCooking space, identical to the Woodridge Pro
$250What the added cabinet costs
200 lbs26 lbs heavier than the Pro, on casters
10 yearsCabinet cover, against rust-through only
First Impressions of the Traeger Woodridge Pro Plus
Traeger’s FAQ quotes 60 minutes to assemble, and most of that hour goes on the base. The cabinet is the base. Panels, doors, a frame, four casters, then the barrel drops on top.
Built, the silhouette is closer to a sideboard than to a smoker. Matte black, two flush doors, a barrel sitting on a cupboard. To the right of the doors sits an open bay. Traeger’s parts list calls what fills it a P.A.L.-compatible utility rack.
Seasoning comes before food. The manual wants 15 minutes at 350 F, then 45 at 500 F. It also warns the whole cycle can run to 90 minutes.
Then the first low cook, which is what this range is really for. Dial 225 F, press the Super Smoke button, and the plume thins to blue. Off the upper rack, ribs taste of smoke rather than scorch. Afterwards the tongs go in the cupboard, which is the part the Pro cannot do.
Key Features of the Traeger Woodridge Pro Plus
Almost everything below is shared with the Woodridge Pro, and Traeger does not pretend otherwise. Two entries are not shared. One is the cabinet you are paying for. The other is a small rack filling the gap beside it.
- The cabinet: Part 12 in Traeger’s parts list, two flush doors across the front. It stands where the Pro’s open bottom shelf used to be. Traeger publishes load ratings for the hopper and the side shelf. For this, none at all.
- A P.A.L.-compatible utility rack: Part 17, tucked into the open bay next to the doors. The Woodridge Pro’s parts list carries no such rack. Think of it as what survived of the bottom shelf.
- Super Smoke Mode: Its own button on the controller face, aimed squarely at low-heat cooks. The manual promises translucent blue smoke instead of thick white. The window runs 185 to 225 F, and stops there.
- WiFIRE app control: Pair it to home Wi-Fi once and the Traeger App takes over. From a phone you can change the number, read it back, and answer probe alarms. Firmware downloads itself while the grill sits idle.
- Four probe channels: Two wired jacks and two Bluetooth slots, all live at once. One wired probe comes in the box. Traeger’s wireless probe is a separate purchase.
- Digital pellet sensor: A push notification arrives on your phone when the hopper starts running dry. No burn rate is published for this grill. That alarm is the only warning you get.
- Keep Warm Mode: Press it and the cook pauses, with the grill held somewhere low. Traeger states flatly that this mode is not designed to cook food safely. Handy when the brisket beats the table.
- 970 sq in across two racks: 585 below, 385 above. Searing belongs on the lower grate, smoking on the upper one, per the manual. Eight pork butts is the rated load, the same figure the Pro carries.
- Electric igniter: Tapping ignite hands the lighting job to a hot rod. Nothing to strike, nothing to squirt, no chimney to fill. That hot rod also sits in the warranty table’s one-year row.
- Enameled grates: The lower one is Traeger’s ModiFIRE grate, the upper one lifts out. Staging hooks on the body hold them while you scrub. Enameled is the only material word Traeger publishes.
Nothing in this section is the Pro Plus’s own work. Every part that makes heat arrived on the Woodridge Pro first.
The ceiling is 500 F, which is pizza country and short of a steakhouse crust. Holding heat is honest rather than tight. Traeger owns up to a 25 F wander either way once the grill settles. An auger dropping pellets into a live fire behaves that way.
The bottom of the dial is where this range usually justifies itself. Super Smoke engages between 185 and 225 F and nowhere above it. Traeger’s feature list states a 180 to 500 F range. The spec block on the same page publishes no floor at all.
So above 225 F this cooks like every other Woodridge. Below it, the smoke goes blue and the grill earns its badge. The cabinet changes none of that, in either direction.
Build, handling and durability
Put the two on a scale and the gap is 26 pounds, 200 against 174. Every ounce of that gap is cupboard.
What the cabinet costs shows up when the two parts lists sit side by side. The Pro carries a bottom shelf rated to 60 lbs, plus all-terrain wheels. The Pro Plus has neither, and rolls on casters alone. Its one published load rating is 50 lbs, on the folding side shelf.
No gauge, no thickness, no metal spec appears for the body anywhere. Only the grates get named, and only as enameled, in the warranty table. For $1,399.99, a buyer might reasonably expect the brand to say more.
Running costs, upkeep and value
The manual is blunt about fuel. Only Traeger pellets, it says, or expect uneven heat and poor flavor. The hopper holds 24 lb, and no burn rate is published anywhere. That figure therefore converts into no hours at all.
Cleaning is the usual Woodridge job, with one extra cupboard to keep dry. Grease and ash fall together into a single keg under the body. Monthly, the manual wants creosote scraped off the backsplash and the back of the lid. Separately, it asks for a firepot vacuum after roughly 20 hours of cooking.
Then the money. The line runs $899.99, $1,149.99, $1,399.99 and $1,799.99. Every step on that ladder buys cooking except this one. Top of the ladder, the Elite throws in an insulated lid and a sear station.
That is the arithmetic a buyer has to sit with. $250 is what the cupboard costs, and it stores what a deck box stores. The difference is that this one rolls, and arrives bolted under a smoker. Anywhere in the continental United States, delivery adds $49.99 to the bill.
Possible Traeger Woodridge Pro Plus Complaints
- The step up cooks nothing: Cooking space, rack split, ceiling, hopper, controller and rated capacity are all the Pro’s. Traeger sums it up itself as the Woodridge Pro with an added cabinet. Anyone wanting more grill, rather than more storage, is in the wrong model.
- Ten years is a rust warranty, and it can disappear: Rust-through on body, legs, cabinet and hopper cover is the whole of the ten years. Controller, fan and the auger assembly run out at three years. One year covers the hot rod, cord, RTD and thermocouple. Freight and labor land on your bill, and resale voids the cover entirely.
