I’m looking to buy a new propane grill. The one I have now is about 8 years old and is starting to fall apart.
I live in BC Canada and grill 2-3 times a week year around (if its below -10 Celsius I usually don’t grill, it seems hard to keep a good temperature.
My budget is probably $500 taxes in. I think I really want stainless steel grills (as opposed to cast iron or porcelain) but am having a hard time finding a grill in my price range.
Are SS grills worth it? My cast iron grills always seem dirty or rusty, and I’ve heard the same thing happens to porcelain after a couple of years. Are there any downsides to SS?
Next up, I’d love to get a grill with one of those infra-red searing burners on it. Are they worth it?
If people could share their opinions on SS grills and searing burners that would be great. If they really are the cats pyjamas I’ll save my cash for another few months and buy something a little nicer.
I’ve had a Kitchen Aid stainless steel propane grill in about that price range for a couple of years. I like it better than my friend’s grills and it is holding up well, so far. Got it at Costco.
Just used my sisters infrared yesterday at Mem Day cookout. Very nice, no burning. Seems to take about 1/3rd longer, though.
Walmart has their largest SS unit for $258. I would get one with a side burner, to heat up stuff in a pot like green beans.
I tied a gas grill into a T valve on the natural gas line going into my first house, then cemented it into the ground next to my concrete patio. I used it even in the winter. It was so nice never having to refill a tank. My other sister just did this at her house .
I recommend getting the best Weber you can afford. Hubby bought his in 1996 and we use it several times a week. If I recall correctly they have a 10 year warranty on the burners. We’ve replaced the burners twice, and parts are easily attainable.
I second this recommendation and recommend you upgrade to the stainless steel grill plates. My first Weber Genesis had the stainless grills and they lasted forever and cleaned up great (my ex ended up with this grill so I don’t know if it’s still going strong). My current Weber is almost as good, but the porcelain grills don’t cleanup up as nice, and don’t seem to sear and release the meat as well. I still love it, though. Just wish I had stayed with the stainless. I’ve had this grill 3 years and it still works good as new.
I don’t know what Costco model we’re talking about but my understanding is that Kitchen Aid Costco grills aren’t made by Kitchen Aid, so I wouldn’t put too much stock into the brand. Similarly, “Jenn-Air” grills sold by Lowes aren’t made by Jenn-Air. There’s lots of examples of this sort of thing; grills are a deceitful business.
I’ll third the Weber recommendation. They are tanks, practically indestructible, with replacement parts widely available. I’ve had 2 in 15+ years; I got the second as an upgrade, and the original is still in use by a friend. They. Are. Tanks.
Coincidentally, I spent a bunch of time last night reading reviews and recommendations on this very topic last night. I’m going to be moving into a new townhouse and will need a quality grill in a month or so, and the Memorial day gadget threads inspired me.
My conclusion was that I should buy the best Weber I could afford. Probably the Weber Genesis 330 series in my case. The Summit series also gets great reviews for more budget minded folks. I’m sure there are other worthy brands out there and some folks have lamented the decline of Weber quality in recent years with Chinese manufacturing taking hold, but there didn’t seem to be much consensus on alternatives.
I’m going to keep shopping a bit and might end up with something else, but I’d say a Weber is still the safest play in the middle of the market. My greatest concern with the Weber was the heat output, apparently a little low by grill snob standards but for someone coming from shitty Charbroils and worse it’ll probably feel like a luxury for me.
I’ll second this – I love my Weber, but I wish I had about 50% more BTU output sometimes. But it seemed like getting that output in a real, non-bullshit non-ripoff non-fake-brand grill took me into the $1500+ or more range, and I wasn’t willing to go there to burn a steak or two on the weekend. My Weber is a reasonable cost compromise, and I do fine with the output it has available. And, damn – it delivers in spades.
Yeah, I got some sort of Weber Genesis all stainless steel thing with the side burner and it’s a beast. Even my Nazi BBQ friend broke down and got one even though he was always a charcoal guy. The thing gets up to some wicked hot temperature and I’m going to try and cook pizza this summer.
It was a lot more money than I wanted to spend, but with hindsight, I have no regrets.
I actually went for the natural gas version and have it plumbed to the house gas lines. It’s really great never having to get propane and natural gas is really cheap these days.
I had a shitty Sears propane BBQ before that and the burners are non-standard so when they rusted out, despite my best efforts, I never got the replacement burners to work right.`
It’s a Genesis – I want to say it’s an E310, but I don’t recall exactly and I don’t see the model stamped on it. It’s the slightly older version with the knobs on the side and 42k BTU. The latest ones have the knobs on the front and 38k BTU.
My wife and I bought a Weber Genesis E-310 from Home Depot yesterday for $500. Haven’t put it together yet and I actually have no experience with Gas Grills (have always used charcoal).
But my reasons were:
My parents drilled into my head growing up that Weber is the best when it comes to grills.
The reviews on Weber grills all seem to consistently be around 4.7 and 4.8 stars for homedepot.com, lowes.com and amazon.com and drop sharply for other models.