A novice's view of grilling and Char-Broil
Written: Jul 27 '04
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Pros: Ease of use, cost
Cons: WEIGHT
The Bottom Line: For the novice, a compelling blend of value and utility
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| sneddren's Full Review: Char-Broil Commercial Stainless Steel Grill |
I preface this review with a caution-I am not only new to gas grilling, I have been, until now, a charcoal fan and considered gas grilling to be a joke. Granted, I have never been an active griller, so much of my viewpoint was based on stereotyping. Ok, with that said...
I recently bought a new house and found that there were ample opportunities for outdoor entertaining. I was prepared to bring my trusty old Weber charcoal kettle grill with me to the new house, but my wife insisted that I throw it out and upgrade to a gas grill. I didn't see any reason to spend the money for a gas grill, as I was happy with charcoal and thought that gas grilling was a silly concept, as I didn't see how it differed from grilling on a stovetop.
I ultimately agreed with my wife and started to learn about the various types of gas grills, the features, etc. I still don't know much about the technical aspects of gas grills but I knew I didn't want one that was (too) cheap and I wanted one that had a more sturdy look and feel (and stainless steel, if possible). Like I said, this is not a review for grill experts...Anyway, I looked at some of the Kenmore grills and found them to be too expensive or too flimsy. I checked out Home Depot's offerings and was similarly unimpressed. Then I found this Char-Broil Commercial Series grill at Lowes for $299 and immediately bought it. It was sturdy enough (though it's not "block of steel" solid) and it had the basic features that I understood-three burners, decent grill size (about 560 sq inches, I think) and a side burner. This was the extent of my education and research and the $299 price was a winner for me.
So with such minimal education on grilling, I bought the grill, unassembled, and brought it home. First of all, the grill is HEAVY. I know the box weighed over 100 lbs and I had to get it into and out of my truck by myself. Not an easy task, and when I got home I realized I'd have to assemble the grill in my driveway and then wheel it around to the backyard. I assumed it was going to take about 2 hours or so to assemble this thing and I was happy to find that after an initial period of "what the heck are all these parts?" I was able to get the grill into one piece in a little under an hour. The instructions were clear, the packaging was VERY intuitive (I liked that all the screws were in a blister type pack with individual pockets for each type of screw, with a label atop the package describing the contents and a nice cross reference in the instruction sheet) and I had only one small problem. One of the "wings" (I don't know the technical term, it's the platform opposite the side burner) wouldn't slide into the slot on the side of the grill and I had to re-bend the sheet metal a bit to get it to fit. Otherewise, the assembly was pretty simple and within an hour I had the grill in the backyard, fuel supply hooked up and ready for a test run.
The grill fired up on the first try and I was grilling some burgers almost immediately. My first observation was that the flame adjustments were not very subtle. It seemed like the flames were either on all the way or off all the way, not much in between. I suspect, though, that this is my lack of understanding of how the heat adjustment works. In any event, the grill seems to heat evenly and the three burners provide nice coverage. I have gone on to use the grill three more times, once with company over, and I'm very impressed with the results. I grilled some steaks and they turned out really well-it was a breeze to get them to the right done-ness, especially with the temp gauge in the hood helping me. I especially like how well the heat circulates when the hood is closed and helps to provide an even cooking environment. The one thing I did notice is that the dripping fat DOES create flareups.
One thing we were concerned about was the grill space and whether it would be big enough. No need to worry there-we grilled some kebobs two days ago and I was able to get 10 full skewers on the grill as well as four ears of corn. Nice! And the kebobs came out PERFECT! Needless to say, while I do miss the charcoal flavor, I understand what gas grilling is about...being able to do all of your cooking outdoors with great results. I suppose that I can add some wood chips for smoke flavor later on, but right now I am very content with the purchase and the transition to gas grilling. The Char-Broil is very easy to set up and use. I can't compare it to any other gas grill, but for the novice gas griller, it's a great value.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 299
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Epinions.com ID:
sneddren
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Reviews written: 36
Trusted by: 6 members
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