Weber’s dedicated Spirit II cover costs about $80, and a well-regarded generic cover costs about $30 (both at the time of writing). If you’re buying a grill, your first decision is which type of fuel works best. When we first started working on this guide, back in 2017, we spoke with more than a dozen experts before opening the valve on a single propane tank.
It also effectively prevented any flare-ups, making it a good choice for new grillers. However, the downside of the plates is any grease that drips onto them ends up smoking, which may affect the flavor of your food. Overall, we think this grill is a great value, especially for beginners or those who don’t necessarily need an extra-large cooking area. If you’re looking for a big grill without weber gas grill a big price tag, the Nexgrill 4-Burner Gas Grill is worth considering. It has a fairly basic, no-frills design, but it has a 417-square-inch main cooking grate with four burners, giving you plenty of space to grill for a crowd. It also features a handy side burner and an electronic ignition, and it weighs significantly less than other grills, making it easy to move around as needed.
The really important part is that the entire heat-delivery system—the firebox, burners, and burner hoods—has a much greater effect on the overall results of your food. And all those elements are of the same great quality we’ve consistently seen on Weber grills. This kettle grill has a 22-inch diameter, and can hold up to 13 burgers at a time on its 363 square inches of cooking space. The lid and bowl of the grill are porcelain-enameled for superior heat retention, and the lid has a built-in thermometer and aluminum dampers. The Napoleon Prestige 500 was one of the most expensive gas grills we tested, and while it has an incredibly sleek design, its performance wasn’t good enough to earn it a top spot on our rankings. This grill has 500 square inches of cooking space over four main burners, and it also has a unique “Infrared Sizzle Zone” side burner that gets extra hot, allowing you to char meat quickly.
Hardcore carnivores might wonder why we test veg first, but it’s because vegetables make it easy to visualise how well a grill can cook. Vegetables char easy and dry out fast, so you can assess grill lines, char, and if the grill shrivels up your food or maintains juiciness – all things that are crucial to a perfect burger. Hands-on weber gas grill time, reviews, and availability concerns led us to dismiss grills from lesser-known brands like Huntington, along with well-known names like Cuisinart and KitchenAid. And the Cuisinart and KitchenAid grills appear to be afterthoughts next to their respective brands’ main areas of expertise, with materials and design to match.
More-recent models have the same bones as their predecessors, with minor tweaks like redesigned cabinets, handles, and control panels. It’s easy to control the flames underneath the stainless-steel cooking grates, and if you like to have your accessories on hand, there’s room to store them. This grill is a real crowd-pleaser, and you can cook up to 28 burger patties at once. But as one grill master pointed out, the ability to have such a large work area makes it easier to cook up a variety of tasty dishes.
Since wood pellet grills work by indirect heat, you’ll be able to smoke food as well, without any accessories. You will need to make sure there’s an electric outlet nearby since most need to be plugged-in for the ignition and the auger. To get you ready for peak grilling season, we’re doing a new round of testing on both gas and charcoal grills in early 2023. We’ll be testing both tried-and-true models as well as a few of the newer grills on the market.
The hinged rack measures 5½ inches deep when folded and expands to 11 inches. Weber also switched the direction of the rods on the upper rack so that they now run back to front, instead of side to side. As a company, Weber constantly refines its designs, even on its classic charcoal kettle grill, which has been around for well over 60 years. And, again, Weber’s warranty covers all parts of the Spirit II E-310 for a full 10 years.
The Char-Broil Performance Series 2-Burner Gas Grill is another option that didn’t quite make the cut for our top picks, but it’s still worth mentioning. This grill is one of the more compact options we tested, with weber portable grill just two burners and 300 square inches of primary cooking space. It’s lightweight and mounted on four caster wheels, and while it was extremely easy to put together, we found it was a bit wobbly during operation.