[All photographs provided by manufacturers]
Editor's Note: Is this the summer you're looking to upgrade your grill? You're probably in need of a little advice. We're longtime admirers of the folks behind AmazingRibs.com, the site dedicated to unraveling the science of barbecue and grilling. Please welcome back Max Good, the only person in the world whose full-time job is testing, rating, and reviewing grills and smokers. The database he maintains includes over 500 grills and smokers, ranging in price from $30 to $50,000. When it comes to grilling and barbecue equipment, nobody knows it better.
Most people don't want to spend more than a few hundred bucks on a grill, but, as with many things in life, it turns out that you get what you pay for. There are lots of flimsy, low-quality stainless steel gassers loaded with seductive bells and whistles. You shell out $350 for a shiny grill with a bunch of knobs and lights, and it might look cool on the showroom floor, but be sure to take a picture when you get it home—after a year or two, that fleeting beauty will be a distant memory as you drag the rusted, rickety shell to the curb.
That's not to say that you can't get a decent gas grill at a low price. This list starts off with some stripped-down cast aluminum models that will get the job done and remain in service far longer than most comparably priced grills—these are grills we've given the Best Value Gold or Silver Medal on AmazingRibs.com.
So what does the extra money buy as you head to the higher price tags? Quality, durability, better performance, and better warranties. We're not saying you should stretch beyond a comfortable budget, but if you buy a $200 grill and have to replace it every couple of years, you might find yourself a decade later having shelled out $1,000 on grills that just weren't worth it. For that amount, you could have bought a Weber Genesis EP-330 that will grill rings around your rust buckets, and last decades.
Whatever grill you choose, we cannot emphasize this enough: Pay no attention to the inaccurate built-in dial thermometers. Those ancient bimetal heat estimators can be off by 50 to 100°F! Furthermore, they're usually located in the lid, not down on the grill where the food is. This is useful only if you plan to eat the lid.
To achieve your goal of backyard domination, you absolutely need an accurate digital thermometer, and if you're a data nerd, I encourage you to take a look at the database of ratings and reviews of more than 100 digital thermometers on AmazingRibs.com. Get one now and you'll never have to make excuses for over- or underdone meat again.
Why Gas?
Gas grills have become popular largely because of ease of use: There's no charcoal to lug or light; you just turn a couple of knobs and start cooking. The convenience of gas is clearly valuable to the grilling public. But beware: You want to choose basic quality over cheap and sexy.
Manufacturers tout the number of BTUs (British thermal units) their grills can produce, but that number can be very misleading. BTUs don't indicate the amount of useful cooking heat a grill can generate; they just tell you how much fuel it burns. Naturally, larger grills with more burners will burn more fuel. Heat flux—that's BTUs per square inch—is a much more useful indicator of a grill's searing power, and is something the manufacturers never tell you. We've calculated heat flux for you here and in the extensive searchable equipment review database at AmazingRibs.com. Typical flux for a gas grill is around 85 BTUs per square inch.
One other thing to consider: Size matters. Two-zone cooking—that is, setting up a hot direct zone and a cooler indirect zone—is an essential technique for good grilling. It can be done on those little two-burner gassers, but it's more difficult and cuts your already-small cook surface in half. Although our first couple of selections are small, with two burners, we recommend a minimum of three burners if you can afford the extra cost. Furthermore, you want those burners set up side by side, with control knobs up front, not back to front, which will prevent you from creating indirect cooking zones. Fortunately, most grill manufacturers these days have stopped producing back-to-front-oriented grills.
Small but Mighty: Huntington Cast Series 24025 Gas Grill
We like Huntington, one of five grill brands owned by Canada's Onward Manufacturing, makers of quality grill lines Broil-Mate and Broil King. Their Cast Series 24025 is one of their most popular grills and may be the best-built gasser you'll find in this price range. This little fella, with its nice aluminum construction and compact size, is definitely a good choice for condo dwellers with limited space on their patios. It could use a bit more power and better grates. Still, for around a hundred bucks, it is what it is. Many cheap gas grills have a warranty of one year or less. This model is warrantied for 10 years on all cast aluminum parts, five years on the stainless burner, and two years on all other parts.
Cooking Area: 240 square inches (about 11 burgers)
Heat Flux: 104 BTUs/square inch
Check out a full review of the Huntington Cast Series 24025 Gas Grill on AmazingRibs.com for more details.
The Classic: Huntington Cast 4200 2-Burner Gas Grill
The Huntington Cast 4200 gas grill is a basic, low-priced gas cooker with a design typical of the first gas grills made in the early 1960s: cast aluminum body and an old-style, 40,000-BTU dual-H burner. Cast aluminum holds heat well, and the H burner is actually two U-shaped burners fused together, with a separate control knob for each side. You could easily walk past this plain little grill in favor of a big shiny model that was made cheap to sell cheap and carries a one-year warranty—but if you're shopping in this price range, you would do well to stop and take a look. Huntington's aluminum housing will not rust and comes with a limited lifetime warranty on the cook box, five years on burners and stainless steel components, and two years on everything else.
Cooking Area: 400 square inches (about 19 burgers)
Heat Flux: 100 BTUs/square inch
Check out a full review of the Huntington Cast 4200 2-Burner Gas Grill on AmazingRibs.com for more details.
Two-Zone Cooking for Cheap: Char-Broil Advantage Series 4-Burner Gas Grill
Char-Broil's Advantage Series gas grills are one of their most popular product lines, and this $200, four-burner stainless is the best seller. As mentioned above, two-zone cooking is an essential technique for many barbecue recipes, and this good-sized grill makes it easy to set up distinct direct and indirect heat zones. Overall construction is lightweight, but a little better than many other brands in this price range. If you really have a tight budget and want a grill this size, you could do a lot worse. Advantage owners seem pretty pleased with their purchase.
Cooking Area: 450 square inches (about 22 burgers)
Heat Flux: 71 BTUs/square inch
Check out a full review of the Char-Broil Advantage Series 4-Burner Gas Grill on AmazingRibs.com for more details.
Burger King's Dream: Blackstone 36-Inch Griddle Cooking Station
The Blackstone 36-Inch Griddle Cooking Station is an interesting low-cost, large-capacity cooktop. The 36- by 21-inch removable, cold-rolled-steel griddle has a lip around the sides and back to keep your goodies from falling off, and electric ignition makes for convenient start-up. Plus, if you remove the bottom storage shelf, the legs fold up for easy transport.
Griddles are different from grills, and we do love our open flames, but boy, oh boy, are people who own these nuts about them! Specifically, they love their even heat distribution across a large cook surface and their high temp capability. Griddles also make it a snap to caramelize onions and peppers, or cook eggs, bacon, and pancakes. Easy to use, easy to clean, plenty of cook surface, and portable!
Cooking Area: 756 square inches (about 37 burgers)
Check out a full review of the Blackstone 36-Inch Griddle Cooking Station on AmazingRibs.com for more details.
The Great-Deal Weber Alternative: Broil King Signet 320
We went looking for a Goldilocks grill that would suit everyone: a grill with decent size, great performance, quality construction backed up with a great warranty, and a lower retail price than our benchmark Weber Spirit three-burner. We found Broil King's Signet 320. Patented dual-tube burners deliver even heating with a wide temperature range, and plenty of searing power without a sear burner. The quality cast aluminum housing carries a limited lifetime warranty, and it has drop-down stainless steel side shelves with built-in tool hooks. This grill is a steal for what you get.
Cooking Area: 400 square inches (about 19 burgers)
Heat Flux: 100 BTUs/square inch
Check out a full review of the Broil King Signet 320 on AmazingRibs.com for more details.
The No-Flare Searing Champ: Char-Broil Commercial 3-Burner Gas Grill
The Lowe's-exclusive Char-Broil Commercial Stainless/Black 3-Burner gas grills employ a patented infrared cooking system. Infrared heat is intense, high-temperature radiant heat, but Char-Broil's Commercial grills allow you to dial it back for low and slow roasting as well. The cast iron cooking grates on this line rest directly on top of stainless steel radiant plates that cover the entire grill area. There is almost no exposure to direct flame from the gas burners below and, consequently, very little exposure to the convection heat that can dry up moisture in foods. The result is juicy meats with no flare-ups. (Head over to AmazingRibs.com to learn more about infrared, convection heat, and the thermodynamics of grilling.)
Since the radiant plates are less than an inch from the cooking surface, you can do some serious searing with this grill. Those radiant plates get really, really hot. Cleaning the cook surface is a little different because juices and marinades don't drip down and burn up; instead, they collect on the radiant plates in the channels between the grates, but Char-Broil includes a fork-like scraper to address this. An added benefit to this design is low fuel consumption—with the heat source so close to the cooking surface, it takes less fuel to reach searing temperatures. That's why the low heat flux rating is misleading for this IR grill.
Cooking Area: 420 square inches (about 20 burgers)
Heat Flux: 61 BTUs/square inch
Check out a full review of the Char-Broil Commercial Stainless/Black 3-Burner Gas Grill on AmazingRibs.com for more details.
New for 2016: Weber Spirit E330 3-Burner Grill With Sear Burner
The Spirit E330 was introduced this year to replace the E320. The two models are identical except that the 330 adds a 7,500-BTU sear burner between the left and middle main burners. Sear burners are one of our favorite extras for gas grills. You'll love turning this baby up to 11 when searing steaks and burgers.
It's hard to beat Weber's design, construction, warranty, and customer support. And, while Spirit is Weber's entry-level gas grill line, the collection was redesigned in 2013 with significant upgrades that bring it closer, in features and performance, to the more sophisticated and expensive Genesis line. One big change is a reconfiguration of the burner layout. The burners used to connect from left to right, with control knobs on the right-side shelf; new models have burners that connect from front to back and control knobs on the front panel. Not only is this setup better for two-zone cooking, it frees the right-side shelf for beverages, bowls, and cutting boards. Another nice feature is Weber's LP tank fuel gauge, which gives an approximate indication of fuel level by weight.
Cooking Area: 424 square inches (about 20 burgers)
Heat Flux: 75 BTUs/square inch
Check out a full review of the Weber Spirit E330 3-Burner Grill on AmazingRibs.com for more details.
Napoleon Invades America With the Legend LA300
Although Napoleon sightings are somewhat rare south of the Canadian border, this company produces quality products and is essentially Canada's answer to Weber. The Legend LA300 is a midsize, mid-range gas grill with a stainless steel cook box, cart, doors, and side shelves and a heavy-gauge steel lid. Napoleon's characteristic wave cooking grids on the LA300 are porcelain-coated cast iron and will produce cool curved sear marks on your steaks. This is a good-looking grill that lists for a couple hundred dollars less than a comparable Weber Genesis. You'll need to get in touch with a Napoleon dealer near you to check this one out; it's sold at independent hearth and patio retailers.
Cooking Area: 405 square inches (about 20 burgers)
Heat Flux: 100 BTUs/square inch
Check out a full review of the Napoleon Legend LA300 on AmazingRibs.com for more details.
A Weber With All the Trimmings: Genesis EP-330
Genesis is one of the most popular gas grills in America. Known for its solid construction, performance, and attractive appearance, it's the grill you buy when you grow up. The EP-330 features a sear burner and side burner, and, while side burners are nothing to get excited about, when it comes to searing steaks, you can never have too much sizzle. The sear burner really bumps up the versatility and appeal of this cooker. EP models are sold only by independent hearth and patio dealers, so you cannot pick one up at your local hardware store. They are worth seeking out, though, because, unlike other Genesis grills, EPs come with long-lasting stainless steel rod grates and flavorizer bars, a significant upgrade. Put it all together and you have the premier model of Weber's Genesis line.
Cooking Area: 507 square inches (about 25 burgers)
Heat Flux: 75 BTUs/square inch
Check out a full review of the Weber Genesis EP-330 on AmazingRibs.com for more details.
For Real: Napoleon LEX/Mirage 485RB Gas Grill
Napoleon is changing the name of Mirage to LEX worldwide and keeping Mirage in the description during the transition. The LEX/Mirage 485RB three-burner gas grill is a sweet-looking cooker, built solid, with a few nice extras thrown in. It's stainless steel construction all around, including the main tube burners.
The LP and NG models of the 485RB may be purchased freestanding on a double-door cart or as a drop-in for installation. The burner output is 16,000 BTUs each, and a 13,500-BTU ceramic infrared back burner is included, although the rotisserie kit is optional. Jetfire ignition at each control knob makes start-up a snap, and each knob is backlit. This grill isn't available at big-box stores in the US, but you can find them online and at a limited number of independent dealers.
Cooking Area: 405 square inches (about 20 burgers)
Heat Flux: 119 BTUs/square inch
Check out a full review of the Napoleon LEX/Mirage 485RB Gas Grill on AmazingRibs.com for more details.