Grills

We have had two webers in the last 30 years or so. The last one we bought at Grant's appliances. They are the only ones who discount weber grills. The weber factory outlet has a sale around fathers day weekend (It's somewhere off of Route 53 south of Woodfield, I think.) One of the nice things about weber is that it comes partially assembled-there were only a few steps to add the legs and framework. A grill, maybe a sunbeam,that we bought long before we became weber converts came all in pieces. Ace hardware carries parts for webers too, so its easy to get repair parts. My husband will not have any other type of grill.

Our Weber is way older than 15 years old and has lived most of it's life outside year round, frequently without a cover. In central Massachusetts, that means exposure to just about everything! It's a total champ.

About 2 years ago, it became the second grill and we don't use it as much -- but it still fires up every time we need it to. My husband wanted a larger, 5 burner grill (with good reason, considering the size of our family and our parties) and chose a Vermont Castings one. It, too, has been very much worth the investment.

I'd buy either brand again in a heartbeat. Skip the Charbroil. A vacation house we rent has one and each year we complain to each other and wish we could bring our own!

Good luck with your decision.

$350 is cheap? WOW. We bought an electric Char Broil 7 yrs ago and it just died cause I tried to give it a deep clean. I had bought replacement rocks for it and wanted to get out the old stuff and broke the heater coil.... otherwise it would have been fine and kept working. It was $150. I love electric personally, it still flames and cooks just like other types of grills. BUT you have more control over temperature.

We use our Weber grill - silver version 3-4 days a week from May - Oct. and at least once a week in the winter. We have the 2 burner with no side outside burner. We clean it - that is it. The only part we had to replace was a flavor bar. Ours cost $350 - back 10 years ago. Would get Weber again - course this one would have to break.
From other posts - I see some people are talking about a charcoal grill. The grill I use and have recommended is the gas grill. All the food comes out great - even cooking, has a temp. gauge, heats up quickly. Wouldn't do anything but a Weber gas grill.

I would just by the Weber - you won't be dissapointed! We researched and bought a different brand that was highly reccommended. It was a nightmare. We grill out nearly every night. My daughter and I almost became vegitarian's! There was just no way not to burn it or dry it out... Not to mention it didn't hold up that well and water got into it if it was raining.

So, after the $400 mistake, we now have a Weber. It's amazing. The food is almost always perfect and the grill is perfect too. Right now, ours is only a couple of years old, but there is absolutely nothing that doesn't work and look like new. We use ours all winter too. I doubt you'll be replacing the Weber. (Basically we spent the cost of the Weber, plus the cost of the non-Weber and wish we'd just bought the Weber!!!)

i know this will be hard to believe but our webber kettle grill is 35 years old and still looks and works great. we bring in inside every winter but orther then that , we use it all summer long.

My Weber came with the husband. :) It is around fifteen years old. This year we replaced the igniter and grates. The burners are the original, we are considering replacing the flavor bars but mostly because we can. The nice thing about the Weber is the flavor bars are these v shaped things that sit over the burners so aside for their actual purpose of flavor they also protect the burners.

The really cool thing though is I could find all the replacement parts on Amazon for a 15 year old grill. So even though we upgraded to the cast iron grates for under 150 dollars we pretty much have a brand new grill. :)

We also have three other grills that I can say nothing but great things about too. :)

We bought our used Weber off Craigslist. It was three years old when we bought it and we've had it another two years at least. It's wonderful, looks practically new and is easy to use since it is gas. Our other grill is a charcoal New Braunfels Smoker which our neighbors were throwing out when they moved. Bless those fine people. We had wrestle that beast down the street but it is also wonderful.

I think grills are a matter of you get what you pay for. I wouldn't spend less and accept having to replace it every few years. The New Braunfels Smoker grills are not as well made now and they would be a complete waste of money. We do keep ours covered and that certainly makes a difference. We have relatives who don't and you can keep track of wear/age from ours to theirs. Good luck whatever you decide.

We have a cheapee Weber for charcoal grilling and it has held up very well.

Our gas grill is Ducane and we use it a lot. It was around $1000. We've had the Ducane several years, never had to replace anything.

We have a gas start charcoal burning Weber. We have had it for 11 years. I got it for my husband for Father's Day when I was pregnant with our first child. I've replaced the grill top twice over the years. The peg for the cover holder when it's open just came off earlier this month. We've been very happy with it.