Inexpensive Gas Grill Recommendations (1 Viewer)

[Scott_Sch]

Just moved into a house a couple of months ago from an apartment and I'm getting really tired of cooking outdoors with my little portable gas grill using 1 pound propane tanks.

Unfortunately since my wife and I just bought a house....funds are also at an all time low (go figure)...so I was looking to get a inexpensive full sized gas grill, hopefully one with a side burner as well. I've seen the inexpensive models at places like Home Depot and Lowes and wasn't sure if they were a headache or not. By the way I'm trying to keep it at or below $200. People on this forum have demonstrated their grilling prowess before so I figured I would give this thread a shot.

Also...I'm an extremely lazy griller, so no charcoal recommendations please (regardless of how much better it may taste...;o)

Thanks for any help you folks can provide.

 

[Mike Shellito]

Check used - I just got a great one off of CraigsList for $20 - I would have paid $75 for it, stainless steel model, side burner, pretty clean. Just a thought.

 

[Scott_Sch]

Yeah I could go used, but something about used cookware ignites all sorts of germaphobe tendancies in me.

 

[Mark Sherman]

I have this one. I picked it up at Home depot for 199




http://www.charbroil.com/consumerweb...463452206.aspx

 

[Scott_Sch]

Funny you mentioned that one, I was just looking at it on Home Depot's website. Any complaints?

 

[Kirk Gunn]

I'm not a big fan of Charbroil, but that one doesn't look too bad with Stainless steel burners. At least it doesn't have glass in the cover..... I had a charbroil and was grilling when the glass shattered all over my wonderful filets !!!! Ok, it was snowing at the time.... but I've never had that problem with my solid-covered Weber !

I've gotten 6+ yrs out of our Weber Silver and just replaced the grates. Still fires up perfectly - I believe they are ~300 now....

 

[Mark Sherman]

Hey Scott No Problems so far I picked it up about 2 months ago and man oh man does it make a good steak.I Grilled up some pork chops wednesday night YUMMY.


The only complaint i have is that IT WONT STOP RAINING

 

[Michael Warner]

I also just bought one of the Char-Broil models from Home Depot. It has a side burner and cost $160. So far it's working great.

 

[MarkHastings]

I've been considering this one:
http://www.charbroil.com/consumerweb...tiocaddie.aspx

I have a small deck, so it's perfect. And I like the smaller (20lb.) tank that it uses. - It's probably not for your needs, but still a neat grill.

p.s. They also make an electric version:
http://www.charbroil.com/consumerweb...tiocaddie.aspx

 

[Philip Hamm]

I bought a ~$200 Kenmore grille from Sears about 10 years ago. I've kept it covered and replaced the grills and burner, and lava rocks a couple times. Recently I cleaned it out on the inside with some nasty stuff as well as replacing all those items. It grills as well now as it ever did. It looks kind of old from the outside but works just fine.

I'm thinking of going to charcoal for my next grill though, as I don't cook out as often as I used to.

 

[Andrew Pratt]

I picked up a BroilMate at HD last summer to replace my old junker and I've been really impressed with it. I recomended it to several friends after I got mine and they've been equally impressed. I will say that when I got mine it was missing a screw to hold on the front decorative cover so i called the 1 800 number in the owners manual and they shipped me a new one without question at their expense which I thought was a good sign if I ever need something in the future.

 

[Scott_Sch]

Hey, thanks for all the recommendations guys. I went ahead and picked up the Char-Broil from Home Depot. I was pretty impressed with the build quality and the over-all grilling area it provided for the affordable price. Yeah definitely no glass in the cover which was a good thing. It certainly was no where near as sturdy as the Webers but feels like it will hang in there for a long enough period. Its seems to be pretty much in the same vain as the Kenmore's at Sears. The grill is actually a lot bigger once you get in on your deck, but it wasn't too big as to really take over the space (10' x 16' deck).

Charcoal is very tempting from just a "cool" standpoint to me, you know the whole manly aspect of it. Kind of like starting a fire in the woods sort of thing, but I'm just to damned lazy to wait 20 to 30 minutes for the charcoal to heat up. Like you said, if your only bbqing every once and a while its great stuff, but if its two to three times a week it gets a little more involved.

Anywho...didn't get a chance to fire it up just yet but marinated venison chops are in the fridge for tonight (picture Homer Simpson drooling with his tongue hanging out...).

I felt like such a schmoe this weekend though. I picked up a tank at Home Depot as well and went to make sure everything was functioning properly with the grill. Hooked up the tank and tried to fire it up. For the life of me I could not figure out what the damn problem was. The electric ignition was working fine, valves were open, knobs were dialed in, all the gas hardware seemed ok....what the hell was the problem? Then I realized...empty tank you idiot! Here I am getting all nervous that it wasn't firing and why the hell couldn't I at least smell the gas. Oh well...twenty minutes later I saw the damn sticker right there in plain sight on the tank. I certainly have my moments.

Oh well, happy grillin' folks.

 

[Mark Sherman]

Congrats on the new grill Scott. Mine was fired up Sat night at around 2 am to feed Hungry Drunkin friends.


Buffalo wings came out great along with mozzerlla sticks ( hey it was 2 am and I was a wee bit tipsy)



Enjoy the grill

 

[Christoph]

Just ordered this Great Outdoors grill from homedepot.com:
http://www.homedepot.com/prel80/HDUS...=Yes&pn=098719

Was a better deal on the weekend when they had free shipping.

 

[Dennis*G]

looks like a good grill. Try and see if they have replacement cooking grates for it though. Steel cooking grates are not something you want to spend time cleaning. Look for stainless steel or at least porcelain enamel grates. Then get a cover and it should last you a fairly long time

 

[Jeff Gatie]

Don't spend any time cleaning grill grates, except routine scraping. To do a real cleaning, throw them in the oven and do a self-clean cycle. They come out clean as a whistle after a wipe with a damp cloth. This hint brought to you by Alton Brown and Good Eats

 

[Scott_Sch]

Is that also the case for porcelain coated grates? I've always been used to the steel ones that I would just burn the fat off and then scrape them down, but with porcelain coated I wasn't sure what to do. Thanks.

 

[Jeff Gatie]

I don't know about porcelain, but if they can stand the heat of a grill, they can probably stand a self-clean.

 

[Dennis*G]

I didnt mean really DEEP cleaning the grates (if you grill gets hot enough this gets done at preheat anyway), I recommended SS or porcalon because he just has plain stapmed steel ones and they are going to rust, and I did not think he wanted to clean off rust all the time.

 

[Colton]

Our backyard porch has a gas line that comes out from the wall. What are the benefits from using natural gas over propane?

- Colton