Grills

What These Grills Have in Common

Build quality, more than any one format. These are the grills people move up to after an entry-level big-box model has rusted through a few seasons. The manufacturers here name the stainless grade rather than saying stainless and leaving it there, many back the housing with a lifetime warranty, most of them are made in the USA, and several models are rated for commercial use rather than only residential. That thread runs through every fuel and every format on this page.

Start With Where the Grill Will Live

This is the first decision, because it rules out whole categories before you look at a single burner spec.

• Built-in grills are a head only, with no cart and no legs. They drop into a masonry or framed island built to the manufacturer's cutout dimensions, with ventilation on the enclosure and access to the fuel connection from inside. Get the cutout drawing before the island is built, not after, because the island is built around the grill.
• Freestanding cart grills need no construction and can be moved or taken with you. You give up the finished look and the counter space an island provides.
• Fire pit grills are fire features you can cook on. The cooktop is usually a flat steel ring around an open fire, so food cooks by conduction on the hot surface rather than over a grate. The fire stays the centerpiece when nobody is cooking, which is the reason to choose one.

Then Choose the Fuel

Gas grills are the majority here and earn that place on control: immediate lighting and a temperature you can set and hold, which is what makes a weeknight dinner practical. They split by supply. Natural gas runs off a line to the island and never needs refilling. Propane runs off a cylinder, which has to live somewhere, usually inside the island behind a door.

The two fuels are not interchangeable. They run at different supply pressures, so burner orifices are sized differently and matched to the fuel at the factory. Some manufacturers sell a model-specific conversion kit and some do not. Order the version for the fuel you can actually supply.

Charcoal and kamado grills take longer to come up to heat and want attention while they cook, and they give a flavor gas cannot. A ceramic kamado holds heat well enough to run low and slow for hours or to sear hot, which is why one grill covers both jobs. Pellet grills sit between the two, feeding wood pellets with an auger under thermostatic control, so you get wood smoke you can dial in.

How to Read the Specs That Matter

• BTU against grate area, never BTU alone. A headline BTU figure means little without knowing how much cooking surface it has to heat. What you actually notice is recovery: how quickly the grill returns to temperature after the lid has been open. A large grate with modest output recovers slowly, and that shows up when cooking for a crowd.
• Stainless grade, in three places. Manufacturers frequently specify different grades for the hood, the frame and the cooking grates on the same grill. Read all three rather than the headline claim, and weight it heavily if you are near salt air.
• Burner construction. Cast stainless burners generally outlast stamped tube burners, and burners are the most commonly replaced part on any gas grill.
• Warranty by component. A lifetime warranty usually covers the housing, while burners, grates and igniters carry shorter terms. The split tells you what the manufacturer expects to wear.

What People Forget to Budget For

• The island itself, if the grill is built in, plus the non-combustible construction the manual requires around the cutout.
• The gas line or the cylinder enclosure. Running a natural gas line is trade work and is rarely trivial after hardscape is finished.
• Accessories that have to be planned in. Rotisserie kits, side burners, access doors and covers are frequently sold separately, and on a built-in installation the island has to accommodate them from the start.
• A cover. The single cheapest thing that extends the life of an outdoor grill.