Selecting Your Grill:
"The bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of low price is forgotten." -- Benjamin Franklin
I use this quote often to people when they are selecting a grill. It’s important. Stretch yourself. Spend a little more than you initially wanted to spend. The rewards will far outweigh the cost in the first season of use alone!
Your alternative? Buying an underpowered, mass-marketed grill without any kind of temperature control, grease management or reliable warranty, and then spending $200 (or more!) in the next couple of years to replace parts that you shouldn’t have to replace, being unhappy, dissatisfied, and generally disgusted with the thought of outdoor entertainment. Yet your friends and relatives seem to have a good handle on it... Sound familiar?
OK, so let’s end the frustration, shall we?
The Pyramid:
When picking a grill, I have found that the following tool usually applies:
The idea here is that you want the features to balance out with the size of the grill and the price. Ideally, however, you want the price side to be smaller, like such:
What you don’t want is the following, where your price is overwhelming and the size and/or features are minimized:
Determine your needs:
What type of fuel? Most grills come in either Natural Gas and Propane. Some can be easily converted in the field while others may not; some may require expensive conversion kits. Some areas do not have Natural Gas; in this case, Liquid Propane may be your only choice.
How many people do you need to cook for? The more people you need to cook for, the larger the grill you will need. Don’t figure for the largest party you’ll ever have, since that would waste money. Here’s a rough guideline:
1 - 3 People: 300 - 350 square inches AND 30,000 - 40,000 BTU.
2 - 4 People: 350 - 450 square inches AND 35,000 - 45,000 BTU.
4 - 8 People: 450 - 550 square inches AND 45,000 - 55,000 BTU.
8 or more: 550 square inches and up. Figure on 100 BTU’s/sq. in.
This guideline is basic, and you may wish to upgrade if you answer “Yes” to any of the following questions:
Do you grill more often than once or twice a week?
Ever grill during the winter months?
Do you use the rotisserie often?
Do you cook a wide range of food for each meal, or do you wish to expand the range of what you cook on the grill for each meal (that is, do you wish to cook side dishes on the grill)?
What features do you need/want? Determine what features you want: burner types, side burners, rotisserie burner, an infrared burner and whatnot. Keep in mind that more features will usually mean more money. Generally, however, the larger the grill, the more features the grill will have -- and, of course, the price will rise as well.
What is your price range? If you’re on a tight budget, your grill will be smaller and have fewer features. I know, I know, someone out there is going to crack me on this, saying, “Look what I bought: I got a 450 square inch stainless steel grill from X Company for a hundred bucks! What are you talking about?”
Problem is, you have to assess the warranty, the integrity of the burners, the integrity of the company, the ergonomics of the grill and the quality of construction. Anyone can go into Anystore and shop like Wile E. Coyote and buy a grill from an unknown manufacturer that may not be around next grilling season. You can also buy bargain grills made by companies that are better known for building other things like lawn mowers, automobiles, bicycles, file cabinets and the like. So, if you want a grill made by the ACME File Cabinet Company of Guatemala, go right on ahead -- but please remember: you get what you pay for!
Keep in mind what I said before about maximizing size and features against price: In the Top 5 area, I divide the best grills by price and sift out the best bang for your buck. In the Comparison area, I list the grills against each other, as well as other candidates in that price range, so that you can see the grills feature-for-feature, size-for-size. It’s the best tool that I have been able to come up with to help you decide which is the best grill for you. The comparison charts will soon be available in Adobe PDF format for easy downloading and printing on any printer, so that you can refer to it at will.
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