Grill-buying advice

[stieglitzcat]

Since it's nearly mid-June, AND I just bought at grilling book at Costco, do you have suggestions on what grill I should buy?

(Yes...the grilling cook book comes before the grill )

I know I want a charcoal grill, as opposed to gas, I don't want to spend an arm and a leg...but, I want something of quality.
Should I start my search at a hardware store? Help!

[Varaile]

The June issue of "Cooks Illustrated" did a comparison of 6 charcoal grills. It is a rather interesting article. You might want to check it out before you hit the hardware store.

I would have given you more information about the article but unfortunately my magazine is at work on a coworkers desk.

Good luck in picking one out!


Note: Bummer. I just tried MaryH's link below and I couldn't get into the article 'cause I'm not a member. :mad: Anyways, the ranking system was similar to the gas grill feature that they have on the main page.

[MaryH]

The Cook's Illustrated article is available on their web site.

www.cooksillustrated.com

[buffygirl]

I owned a Weber for years and loved it. Very easy to use. I think it comes in 18" and 22" sizes, for under $75 most likely. Any other Weber fans???

[Carolina68]

I don't think Cooks Illustrated gave Weber too high of marks.However, I have owned several grills and my current Webers have been by far the best and also the longest lasting ones too. I have had my Weber gas grill for 7 years and had no problems other than routine things like replacing the grates and flavor bars and my smaller Weber charcoal grill for 3 years and no problems at all.

[wallycat]

We just got a gas weber...it was ranked 1st and 2nd by cook's illustrated (the tie breaker was ribs or turkey, if memory serves me between the Silver "A" or the "B"...we got the B).
We used it yesterday and so far love it.

As for charcoal...I've only had a Weber. I've not seen any cook's illustrated reviews for "non-gas" grills...but this seems to be the most popular.

[Peggy C.]

or something like that.

It is a charcoal grill with more cooksurface than Weber, the lid seems higher and the grid is adjustable. It retailed at the Home Depot for $100 and is the grill we are thinking about getting. I believe the model was called Santa Fe. It also had a table on either side of it and was on wheels. A similar Weber was 2x as expensive.

I like Webers site though and they have some great looking recipes. www.weber.com