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[Alex]

I have a 30" Viking and I love it. http://www.vikingrange.com/consumer/...sp?id=cat70131

[sgeeeee]

Here in Phoenix over the past few weeks, you don't need a grill. Hang your food outside on the clothesline for a few minutes and the sun will cook it thoroughly.

[greg]

I hope you used mesquite clothespins.

--*re*

[sgeeeee]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Apocalypse . . .um . . .SOON I hope you used mesquite clothespins. --*re*

Of course. Nothing else would be appropriate.

[greg]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sgeeeee Of course. Nothing else would be appropriate.

No! You would be wrong. The alternative 'up north' are hickory flavored dryer sheets.

--*re*

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Hit 115 here yesterday. If it had kept up a little longer you wouldnt have had to hang them outside. Our power went out for about 10 minutes and the wife and I were just staring at each other praying silently for it to come back on. It was still 88 this morning at 5:30 when I took the dogs out. :P :P :P

Weber is a fine place to go for a gas grill, they generally get good marks from all the reviewing folks. Small to large can be had. Never owned one, but the 'silver' and 'gold' models (at least thats what they used to be called) always seem to make top choices in any shootout i've seen.

I bought a fully 304 stainless steel grill (including stainless grates) from home depot under the 'charmglow' name. I believe its made by Nexgrill or Nextgrill. I've also seen it advertised under a half dozen names. About $300. Not too small, but not too big. Easy maintenance. Nominal rusting. I've gotten it to hit 700+ degrees, so you can definitely put a serious sear/crust on a steak.

You can also do well by going right back to the same place you bought your meat and seafood from. Costco and Sams club throw out some pretty nice higher end featured grills at very reasonable prices.

This doesnt suck:
http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product...v=&browse=&s=1

Neither does this:
http://www.samsclub.com/shopping/nav...2&pCatg=3996#A

The costco one is a bit big, but you'll want some shelf space to put your food about to go on the grill and a place to put some platters to take it off. And the side burner IS very useful...anytime I dont want to heat up the kitchen, cook something stinky or do a little saute/sauce and keep an eye on everything at once, that burner gets put to use. Think sauteeing some onions and mushrooms while you're flipping steaks or steaming that huge pot of mussels outdoors.

Lastly, consider having a plumber come out and run an extension from your natural gas line to the grill and getting one with a natural gas option. The costco grill does both LP and NG and almost any grill can be converted from one to the other. No more running out of gas or having to run to the propane dealer a couple of times a year. Multiple bottles solve most of those issues, but if your gas is in the right place you can run it to your grill for not much more than the cost of buying a bunch of propane tanks.

[TromboneAl]

We got the cheapest Weber (Spirit 500?), and replaced the grate with stainless when the original rusted out.* *We've had it 7 years now.* The flavorizer bars will make it one more season, then I'll replace with "stainless."* The support parts are rusting.* *Igniter rusted out after 1 year; we light it manually.

Note that since we're close to the ocean, we have much more trouble with rust than others.

I can't imagine that a higher end model will make the food taste any better.* They are very simple (pipes with holes for the flames, flavorizer bars and grill).* *All you're getting at the high end is bigger size and side burners.* We didn't get the burners, but now I wish we had one for cooking crab outdoors.

We didn't find any loss of flavor when going from charcoal to gas.


Weber is a great company.* I've called support a few times, and gotten great assistance each time.* Weird, huh?* They also mail out a little booklet a few times a year that gets you excited about grilling.

[chrisdut]

I have the weber "silver" and like it a lot. I think the main thing is to get stainless parts. I bought a cheap grill a number of years ago and was constantly replacing rusted parts. My weber grill is about five or six years old now and I have not had to replace anything yet.

[laurence]

Got this grill from Charbroil at the Home Depot for $249 about a year ago and have loved it:

http://www.charbroil.com/consumerweb...463464206.aspx

electronic ignition works great, porcelain coated cast iron grilling surface is holding up nicely, and the temperature gauge is accurate. I found the biggest problem I've had with gas grills is uneven cooking temperatures across the surface of the grill, so that one burger is well done and the other is still raw, or worse, half the steak is burnt and the other half is Tar Tar! This one I don't have to play that game where you shift your meat around the grill to ensure even cooking. Slap the steak on, in a few minutes flip, in a few minutes more, take it off, perfect every time. There are a lot of grills with more whiz bang features, but I don't think I'd ever use them, so I don't see a point in paying more.

[education]

Hey C-T--

Professor here. I live in one of the most corrosive cities in the US and I'm here to tell you that my Weber Spirit that I bought from Home Depot in March, 1999 is, without a doubt, the best propane grill I've eve had. I did by all replacements stainless except the grates which are heavy cast iron mothers. But the body is a good as new. And the Weber folks are really helpful when you need customer assistance.

I've been beguiled a time or two by Vermont Castings--except to lift the hood you run the risk of getting a teminal hernia!!!!!

I think I've got another 10-12 years before I think seriously about replacing my grill--and nothing I've ever had has held up as well as the Weber.

I'd say look at the Weber line before you decide.

Professor

[kumquat]

When I looked at grills, the VC had a heavy lid and flimsy bottom. Weber had solid bottom, flimsy top. Can you get them to mate?

[donheff]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Laurence Got this grill from Charbroil at the Home Depot for $249 about a year ago and have loved it: http://www.charbroil.com/consumerweb...463464206.aspx electronic ignition works great, porcelain coated cast iron grilling surface is holding up nicely, and the temperature gauge is accurate...

I got a $300 version by Charbroil at home depot that is excellent. The case is all aluminum, four burners, porcelain grills, blah, blah. I can't see why it would be worthwhile to spend $1000 on one of these things but I am not a fanatic griller so take my opinion for what it is worth.

[yelnad]

We have a stainless Kenmore with 7 burners. It's a beast. I think it cost about $700 2 years ago. We've been very happy with it.

[brewer12345]

Another vote here for the Weber. We have a 4 year old Silver that has been flawless. We also like the side burner so that you can cook other stuff besides what is on the grill. No running back into the kitchen every 3 minutes to check on the stuff on the stove...

[73ss454]

I've also had a Weber Silver for 4 years and it's been great.

Don't use the side burner often but sometimes it's handy.

[TromboneAl]

Quote:

When I looked at grills, the VC had a heavy lid and flimsy bottom. Weber had solid bottom, flimsy top. Can you get them to mate?

Try soft lights, Barry White music, red wine.

[REWahoo]

C-T, if you're going to sink a chunk of change in a high-dollar grill, you'll want to get one of these to go with it: Gas Powered Party Blender

"Grab the handlebars and open up the adjustable throttle for the best blender beverages on the block. Powerful 4-stroke, 23cc gas engine revs up a quart of blended icy drinks faster than you can say Easy Rider."

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Come on man, he said "high end"

[img width=500 height=750]http://www.granick.com/blog/V-8Blend.jpg[/img]

[laurence]

Of course, we took a $14.99 portable charcoal grill to the beach yesterday, and those cheeseburgers were quite tasty! *That's some LBYM action there! It's been in the high 90's here, the only refuge is the beach, but the boogie boarding has been great!