Looking at new gas grills; What's your pick?

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mrtide

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Joined
Jul 1, 2006
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God there are so many out there. Bought a "Aussie sunshine grill" a couple years ago. No offense to our Aussie friends but I didn't realize that a mostly cast-iron grill would not hold up in a humid environment such as this one. I liked the way it looked so well, I didn't think about it. It is a natural gas grill which uses a hose ran from a wall stub on the patio for heat. I would just as soon go back to propane bottles. The quick disconnect valve quit working and I had to call a plumber in to fix. Propanes available at most stores now as a bottle exchange which y'all well know. Since I let my wife pick the new washer (see deluxe), I am going to pick the new grill. Like stainless a lot. Anyone have any experience with these. Your comments would be well appreciated at this time. Thanks, David
 
Re: This may sound biased:

I've got some long time Friends who have established their Own Weber BBQ Company and they've had several other Brands, just to check out and even if they didn't work for/with Weber, they would only recommend Weber BBQ's {hands-down} and with all Models, including Charcoal Models.

Good Luck, I have a feeling you might get quite an interesting Feedback from others as well.

Peace and Happy BBQ'ing, Steve
SactoTeddyBear...
 
thanks Steve

After reading epinions, CR, and Target.com, I see where all the Webers written about got good, if not rave reviews. What seems unreal is the pricier grills didn't "fare as well" in reviews. Like ranges and even our pricier washers, dryers, and dishwashers, expensive is not always best. But I was planning on spending in the midrange.

Strangely enough, the Jenn-Air grills that you see so much of at Lowes aren't even listed in epinions. Maybe they are a special grill made just for them. I don't know about them, but Jenn-Air ranges seem to be troublesome according to epinions and CR. I am trying to avoid using CR as a bible for purchasing. Right now I'm leaning toward a Weber. It's hard to go wrong with something that no one complains about.

Thanks, David
 
Hi David,

After 16 years of using New Braunfels charcoal/wood-burning pit grills, we finally came out of the stone age and bought a Perfect Flame 4-burner propane grill from Lowe's last week. It is a full cabinet model with plenty of storage (tank is stored on the right side and is protected from rain), rotisserie attachment, and a side burner which hasn't been used yet but will probably come in handy. All burners have ignitors, even the side burner, so no more matches.

My recommendation was initially a Weber Genesis and didn't really want any store brands, but I was impressed at the quality of this one. The only gripe I have is that instead of an electric or manual pushbutton ignitor, the ignitors are on the knobs themselves, so if it doesn't light the first time, you have to turn the knob BACK to off and turn it forward again to light the burner, instead of holding the button down or repeatedly pushing it. Although it did light on the first try so we'll see what happens.

If you're coming off the "char pit", a gas grill will take some getting used to; from what I've seen so far, this one cooks a LOT faster than charcoal! Those T-bone steaks we made earlier this week went from raw to well-done right before my eyes! They were also cooked all the way through, which was something we had trouble with on the charcoal grills; they appeared to be nicely done on the outside, but the middle was rare.

Hope this helps in your decision. Will keep you posted about the results later on when it gets sunny enough to grill again!

--Austin

 
Hi Austin

I took a look at the perfect flame link you provided (thanks) and thats a lot of grill for the money! I will check those out when I go to Lowe's next which is generally twice a week. I do love those NewBraunfels grills and smokers; these generally do better at BQn' Ribs. But the convenience of a gas grill is a hard sell to avoid!
 
I'm in the market for a gas grill, too. My old one literally fell apart two weeks ago, complete with a HUGE flame shooting from the LP tank. After checking what's available locally, I decided on a Weber Genesis A or B (the B model is a little larger).

Consumer Reports and friends who have Weber grills all give them thumbs-up reviews.

To alleviate the LP tank/refill issue, I'm opting for a natural gas model. I'm going to have gas piped to my patio and use a quick-connect hose. I get SO sick of refilling the tank and having it go empty in the middle of cooking.

I grew up with a natural gas hook-up grill and didn't realize how good I had it!
 
FireMagic

This joint came with a built in natural gas BBQ. I had never heard of the brand before, FireMagic. The old geezer that had this place never cleaned it during the time he had the house. Most of the gas jets were clogged, so I had take a very small drill and clean them. Then came cleaning the whole BBQ. It cooks very well, it doesn't have those briquette things, but uses stainless flavor grids for the fat to drip on. I'd estimate it's about 20 years old. I've included a link to their website.

Does its seem reliable, yes. A couple of Summers ago I got distracted while cooking. A week later I went out again to BBQ some hamburgers. I thought, gee it is hot here, but this is crazy. I left both burners on for a week, with the lid closed. The BBQ is fine and now I double check to make sure I shut the burners off AND turn off the gas!

 
Talk about singing praises?

I own the Weber Q 300 and love it to death!
I've just cook Filet Minion Tuesday evening for the first time and it was incredible!
No seasoning, just pure beef and it was spectacular!
My family and I highly recommend this unit since we have to partially take it apart for setup in our back yard!

If I were to leave this in the concrete jungle, it would grow legs and walk!!!!
 
Kenmore

I have a Kenmore Gas Grill. It is 8 years old and indestructable. It survived being thrown into a neighbor's yard by an overhead tornado relatively unscathed. It still has an even heat, I really recommend it.
 
My partner and I bought a "Front Avenue" grill at Costco a couple of years ago. It was the first stainless one they carried and most parts are guaranteed for 100 years, and the parts that aren't are guaranteed forever. It's made by CharBroil. Includes a rotisserie. No complaints except that the labeling and other types of instructional information that's right on the stainless surface has worn off in spots from cleaning. But it has performed well and the grilling surface is heavy duty stainless rods. The 3 burners are cast iron. I wanted cast iron because before we bought the stainless one we had bought 3 Sunbeam grills over a 10 year period, replacing them mainly because the burners kept blowing out due to a "foomp" sound of some kind of flash-over when turning the burners off, and that appparently blew the flimsy burner assemblies apart after a while. With cast iron burners, that is no longer an issue. I say go for cast iron burners unless you're in an area where humidity is a factor. And agree 100% that you shouldn't use CR as a guide.
 
I just purchased a Brinkmann pro-series 4655 grill at Gander Mountain over the 4th. I usually only use my charcoal smoker, but I needed to do some faster grilling this time instead of the old "low-n-slow." It has six burners (for a face-searing total of 60,000 btu's) w/ a 12000 btu side burner as well. All stainless exterior all for only $399. Here is a link to Cabela's site. The 4655 is similar to the vx6 pictured, but doesn't have the rotisserie & burner & I see the info says cooler, but I don't have that either. Anyway the picture looks like my grill. This grill gets hot and cooks quickly. I like it. I realize Brinkmann isn't Weber, but for the price, I'll just pretend.

 
Weber

I have had my weber genesis for 13 years and it still works great and looks great. (I clean the porcelain finish every spring with steel wool and it still looks like new). The burners are powerful and the heat is even. If anything were to happen to it I would surely purchase another.
 
Oh, and I forgot to mention, you are wise to steer clear of Jenn Air. They are all hype and no substance for the most part. I know from experience with my Jenn Air stove. Their stoves are novelty relic technology from the 70's that has long ago seen better days and there are higher quality and more substantial alternatives out there that should give everyone the ability to avoid Jenn Air completely.
 
Yeah, I was going to say something about Jenn Air not really making much of what their name goes on but wasn't sure about the grills. Thanks for pointing that out.
 

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