So, Kevin is not a very big gift-receiving person, he honestly doesn’t care about getting something on holidays, etc., but we do actually need a new grill; I was able to use ours yesterday, but the bottom is rusted through, which is honestly a little nerve-wracking to look at, though I don’t *think* it’s anything structurally unsafe. The igniter is busted, but you can light it with a lighter. So, new grill.
I’m hoping there are some nice post-Father’s Day grill sales, and we can pick something up. It’s been 20 years since we bought a grill, though. Advice welcome. Here are the constraints:
- we have a natural gas line; hooking up to that would be very nice, so we can skip all the finagling of propane tanks
- I know some people are big into the charcoal thing — is there such a thing as a combo NG and charcoal grill? Is that worth doing? NG is easy, but charcoal maybe adds good flavor? I don’t know…
- what about smokers? Kevin and I both like smoked food, but when I asked him about it, he seemed to think that smokers were a lot of fussy effort from what he’d read. True? Is that only for the cheaper ones? I read somewhere that higher-end smokers do a much better job of holding heat, so you don’t have to mess with them all the time? Is a smoker a separate item, or a combo with the grill unit?
- this would be going on our (not very big) back deck, and our house is wood — is it a problem putting the grill next to the wall (not touching the wood directly)? Would it be better to put it next to the railing?
- it doesn’t have to come in blue, but if it did, that would be nice.
- I’m not sure of our price range, but I think somewhere between $500 – $1500 is do-able. (Kevin’s parents will probably want to chip in, as they’re always having a very hard time finding presents for his birthday, etc.)
- what else should we be considering that I’m not thinking of?
- comments, thoughts, recommendations of specific grills, all welcome! Please consider this the great grill / smoker thread.
Additional questions for locals:
- I may have two partial canisters of propane left, that I’m happy to give away, no guarantees of how much propane is left in them, holler if you want them
- I bought a new propane tank yesterday that I think we won’t need, completely unused right now, so if anyone local wants to buy it off me for $20, let me know
- also, if anyone wants our rusty but still semi-functional grill, very happy to give it away; I can take a picture and give specifics if interested
- assuming not, how do we get rid of the old grill? Can I just slap a pink sticker on it and put it near the trash?
