so whats the latest and greatest on buying a grill for the house?
i dont need a $1000 top of the line grill but want something thatll last 10-20 years and is good quality and average size like 600 sg. inches or like 27x23 cooking area or so
going to be natural gas hook up and probably something on wheels so it can be moved if needed
just looking for a good brand or features that you guys have/wish you had etc.
thanks
Mike
Stick with the name brands and go for a infrared grill. Iv owned mine for 2 years now. Looks like new still and great for not getting flare ups. Its nothing special, Char-broil brand. Got a good deal at the end of the year 3 years ago and with a bunch of HD gift cards i got a smoking 
deal.
Weber or Kenmore. I personally have a Kenmore and it works great. $400 grill with a side burner. Only complaint is it can’t get hot enough in sub zero temps :P.
Also stainless steel grates only.
I’m a big fan of my weber genesis, it’s about 7 years old now, and I just replaced the vaporizer bars, that’s it. My FIL has one of the older spirit models and it’s about 15 years old, I think he’s only replaced the vaporizer bars once and the burners ones. Still using the original grates, and he uses it 4 days a week during the summer. The newer ones have a much better burner layout if you want to do any light smoking with it. They also have the accessories that you can swap in a wok, griddle or other cooking surfaces and retain some grill space, which I think it pretty neat.
http://store.weber.com/accessories/category/gourmet-bbq-system/
Buy a Weber Genesis. /thread
They’re actually built to last, unlike almost every other <800 grill that will be a pile of shit 3-4 years from now. I wanted the Weber 5 years ago and fell for the, “Oh, look at this $800 Kenmore grill on sale for $250 at the end of the season, I’ll get this instead of the Genesis”. At the same exact time a good friend bought a Genesis e-310. 3 years later my Kenmore had already burned through 2 burners and burner shields were rusting away to nothing. His Weber, still running like the day he bought it. 5 years later my Kenmore had almost entirely returned to the earth in the form of rust chunks and before buying the Genesis 330 natural gas I asked my friend how his 310 was. Still working perfect, no hot spots, though he did say the burner shields might need replacing in a couple more years.
The 330 I got is by far the best grill I’ve ever used. Perfectly even heat, great grease deflection system that almost eliminates flareups, the burner shields catch just the right amount of drippings to give the food a real grill/smoke flavor and it’s built like a tank. We went with the porcelain coated cast iron grates over the “upgrade” stainless ones because you can’t beat cast iron for heat retention and giving your food those perfect grill marks. The coating makes them far more non-stick than just regular cast iron. Here’s the warranty:
[TABLE=“class: results-listing, width: 875”]
Cookbox
10 years, no rust through/burn through (2 years on paint excludes fading or discoloration)
Lid Assembly
10 years, no rust through/burn through (2 years on paint excludes fading or discoloration)
Stainless steel burner tubes
10 years, no rust through/burn through
Stainless steel cooking grates
5 years, no rust through/burn through
Stainless steel flavorizer bars
5 years, no rust through/burn through
Porcelain-enameled cast iron cooking grates
5 years, no rust through/burn through
[/TABLE]
All Weber household now. That charcoal grill is about 10 years old and still perfect.
I bought the full stainless genesis with the stainless grates. I love it and will only replace it when I upgrade to a built in summit.
I will respectfully disagree on the stainless grates and suggest cast iron. Better heat retention, less likely to form hot spots(more even heating and sear marks if you care about such things), better release when properly seasoned, will last forever if properly maintained, etc, etc.
But if you’re the type to just blast the heat on high for everything, the seasoning won’t really last, or if you’re the type that doesn’t want to do maintenance on your grill grates, they might not be the best fit.
+1. The enamel coated cast iron are a nice compromise but you have to be careful about scraping them so you don’t chip the coating. I bought a special brass bristle brush when I got the grill.
I would also suggest staying away from Charbroil, my dad bought his charbroil the year after I bought my Weber and the frame is rusting through around where the shelves connect(It’s one of the higher end stainless models). He’s always kept it covered, but moves it around a bit.
Weber FTW
Out of the price range, but I think my dad is finally upgrading to a Viking grill for outdoors.
Yeah, I got a stupid deal from a friend who was no longer going to be selling webers, and bough some new old stock for quite a bit off, it came with the regular cast iron. After owning one, I would absolutely pay full price for another one, if this one ever fails, but that doesn’t seem likely. I just wish I had the burner layout that yours does. It’s honestly the only thing I don’t like about it.
Mine has been rock solid for going on its 3rd summer. Stays up on a deck though and always covered when not in use.
Avoid char-broil unless you want to replace it in 2 years.
My father had a weber last close to 20 years, had the guts replaced only a few times.
I’ve always purchased grills based on weight of the lid and grates give you a good idea on quality.
I like some of the vermont casting and master forge grills, I get about 5-7 years out of them with no maintenance.
This is my current:
http://www.masterforgegrill.com/Master_Forge_5_Burner_Liquid_Propane_and_Natural_Gas_Grill.html
Lots of room, folding work shelf, infrared side searing <- A must for steak lovers. I usually cook my steak to med. rare only using this.
I’d go weber if they had a sear burner back when i purchased my last one.
Now i’m hungry for steak…
I was reading a grill review and they were saying it took Weber 3 years of R&D before they were happy with changing the burner layout from left to right to front to back. Really says something about how they build grills when they take that long to make sure it’s right. I stepped up to the 330 from the 310 just for the sear station. It also gets you the side burner but I had that on my last grill and haven’t used it once in 5 years. With that sear station burner cranked between two of the main burners you can sear a steak perfectly.
I read the title as “school me on Girls”
I have that same grill, and overall it’s doing well. Had to replace the searing burner once, but that was warrantied. The lights don’t work anymore and 2 of the knob “push to ignite” are getting flaky and not working well. But otherwise it’s been good and I’m on summer #5 with it. No complaints for what I paid Vs how it’s holding up.
The next grill will be a Weber though.
Cast iron is really poor at evenly distributing heat. It is absolutely the worst for even distribution. It does retain heat well and leaves good grill marks, but that is achieved just as well on a stainless grate grill with the proper preheating. I will heat the grill to 700 and sear the meat with the lid open leaving grill marks. Then the heat is lowered and the lid closed for the duration of cooking. As for release, if the food doesn’t release it is not at a point that it should be moved. Meat will easily release once the proper sear has been achieved, if you are impatient a touch of oil goes a long way. The stainless will also have a much longer lifespan over the cast iron with no risk of rusting or small fragments of porcelain ending up in your food.
Not to totally knock cast iron, it had it’s applications and I have a full set of iron cookware. I use it for baking, pancakes, camp fire cooking, searing steaks during the winter currently (not for long!).
+1 on the weber genesis. I’ve had mine for 6 years, outdoors on my deck with just a cover on it.
My parents have a weber from 1993, it still works great original burners.
