When is Jenn-Air not a Jenn-Air? When Lowe's Home Improvement Center has an unknown company (CFM harris Systems) build a grill and pay Jenn-Air to use its name! That's right folks. I found out from Clark Howard, the nationally syndicated 'Consumer Warrior' on the radio, that this is the latest trend for companies. License the name of a major well respected company for use on products made by unknown companies.

My wife purchased this grill, as a birthday present, from Lowe's (the only place you can buy it) based on the Jenn-Air reputation. And it is an impressive looking grill:

Double wall stainless steel lid
Stainless console and base
3 main burners (total of 44,000 Btu)
1 burner for the rotisserie
1 15,000 Btu side burner.
Impressive 610 sq in. cooking surface.
Stainless steel shelves to hold jars, cooking utensils, etc.
Locking caster wheels (which you need because if not locked, the grill will move when you lift the cover)
Warming tray to keep foods hot above the cooking surface.

Lowe's will put the grill together for you which is a good thing because the instructions are vague, to say the least.

Speaking of instructions, everything about the instructions are confusing including figuring out which grill you have. I had to look on the Lowe's web site to make sure. I can't find it stamped on the grill, and the instructions I have say 'JA460/JA580 Assembly Procedures.' Then it ALSO came with USER'S/ASSEMBLY MANUAL for Model JA480. The actual USER'S MANUAL is for models JA460/JA580. According to Lowe's, I have the JA480. Are you confused? So am I. The User's Manual is written in English and Spanish which isn't a big deal except some of the pages are mixed up and right in the middle of the English pages you find Spanish and vice versa!

There is one electronic ignition system (powered by a AA battery) which lights the 3 main burners as well as the infrared rotisserie and side burner. The grill also has a thermometer on the lid so you can gauge the inside temperature when the lid is closed. There is a hole on the left side of the grill for you to light the burner if the ignition system fails. And there is also a hole near the rotisserie if the igniter fails to work properly.

This grill allows you to cook by two methods: direct heat and indirect heat.

With direct heat you cook directly over the burners. With indirect cooking, the food is placed on the grill offset from the burners. This indirect cooking is similar to indirect cooking on the charcoal kettle grills in which the coals are lit on the sides and food is cooked in the center with the lid closed.

You can also buy a motorized rotisserie to use with the rotisserie burner. We bought the rotisserie but we won't have a chance to use it because we're returning the grill. :-)

If you buy this grill check the flames from the burner to ensure that the burners are adjusted correctly. There are pictures in the User's Guide to demonstrate what the flame should look like. The guide tells you to look in the troubleshooting section if the flames do not look normal. The troubleshooting guide wasn't very helpful.

I have only cooked burgers, hot dogs, and steaks. I have to admit that this grill did a terrific job on the cooking. The meats cooked quickly and had a great outdoor grill taste probably because there was just the right amount of flareup! The warming tray above the cooking surface was great because I could keep cooked food hot while the rest was still cooking.

The grill also has a grease pan which pulls out to clean. Very nice.

So why am I going to return this, especially after using?
First, I'm upset that we paid a lot of money for a grill because of the trust of the Jenn-Air name. I feel this is product misrepresentation. I didn't find out about this until I called Jenn-Air to complain that the side burner of my brand new $800 grill doesn't work and they informed me that the only part Jenn-Air about the grill is the name.

Though the lid is solid and the cooking grates appear to be well made (not sure what they are made of...I can't find ANY information to tell me that), the rest of the grill appears to be very cheaply made. The aluminum shelves are very flimsy. The propane tank fits inside the base and there is a stainless steel door which covers the tank. That is also very flimsy and is supposed to remain closed with a magnet. The magnets on the door are not strong enough to hold the door closed.

To clean the outside of the grill, you need to purchase a special cleaner for stainless steel. The inside gets pretty greasy so I suggest cleaning every few months if you do a lot of cooking.

When I was on Clark Howard's radio show with my consumer question last week, he said this is a good example of why you should not necessary buy high priced items because of the brand name. I'm trading in for a Weber!

OOPS--AN UPDATE
I knew I was going to forget something. I wanted to mention that this grill DOES NOT COME WITH A PROPANE TANK. These days some grills do and some don't. I feel that an $800 grill should have come with a tank AND a cookbook!

Recommended: No

Amount Paid (US$): 800