Gas Grills?

My Weber Silver Genesis B is now 15 years old. Although it works, it’s seen better days. I could spend some time cleaning the guts of the grill and replacing the flavorizer bars and grates or get a new grill. The new version of my grill is $800 which sounds like a lot of $$ to me. What other grills are out there that people like that will last a while?

Every car is a grill on wheels!
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$800 investment over 15 years seems like a hell of a deal to me…

Use some elbow grease to remove the hot dog grease, and let the $800 grow.

We have a Weber Spirit, about $400 ish. Nice grill surface, heats fast even in winter. A little more compact design so it fits into our patio well. We love it.

Weber is the only real player in the space.

Mike,

You can basically rebuild the entire grill as long as the box is in decent condition. Last year I replaced the manifold and Weber sent me new burners for free. Grates are easy and the flavorizer bars a child can replace. Let me know if you need a hand.

If new I’d go with Weber again. 15 years is a pretty good track record in my book.

in the price range?

Yes. Until you spend $3K and above, Weber dominates the competition at all price points. Just an opinion from a lump charcoal guy.

I recently replaced the bars and grates on my old Genesis 1000 (I think it’s also about 15 years old). Aside from cosmetics of an old grill, there isn’t much to it outside the burners, which you can also clean or replace if necessary. Mine are still in pretty good shape, despite the flavorizer bars half disintegrating. I just brushed out the interior a bit, cleaned off the burners a little, threw in the new stuff, and hope to use it for another 5 years.

When I eventually replace it, will be another Weber, though maybe a mid-size version.

I don’t have a lot of space for multiple devices so this works great for me. Left side is propane and right is for charcoal.
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Shopping for a new grill as well. All roads point to Weber, but talked to 2 guys at the grill store recently.

I say I don’t want to spend over $1000. First guy says I can’t go wrong with Weber. Second guy says any manufacturer that doesn’t use ceramic briquettes does not have their customer’s best interests in mind. Weber doesn’t offer ceramics, I say. Yes, he says.

So, Weber doesn’t have my best interests in mind, and I guess I don’t either.

Wha?

I used to have a Weber, never had a single problem with it. Now I have a built in $2,000 grill that has needed multiple parts replaced. Wish I still had the Weber and wish Weber made built in grills.

Alright…I’m convinced. I’m going to buy some new replacement grates and flavorizer bars for my existing grill. That’s the easy part. The harder part (or grosser part) is scraping out the grease and build up on the inside of the box.

Don’t work at it too hard, mine is pretty well coated, and I left most of it there, just brushed out as much loose dust and crud as I could. Whatever is in there is by now completely baked on and isn’t going to hurt anything. Mine also builds up a thin, almost plasticized film on the lid, which is easy to peel away.

This is key to a grill decision we’re making right now - building an outdoor kitchen and we’re thinking we need to add a propane grill for the future value of the house, even though we’re charcoal and wood cooks all the way. So, looking at built-in grills, we’re struggling to understand why a build-in costs $2K+ when some really fantastic standalone grills are available for under $1K.

We’re thinking about buying a Weber and disassembling it to install as a built-in. Or just leave a space to push it in. Hell, even the double doors on the bottom will cost ~$250 if bought by themselves. Outdoor kitchen appliances seem to be a ripoff supreme.

My built-in is an AOG. Reasonably priced as far as built-ins go and supposed to be very reliable. Mine has had some issues, but could be an anomaly. Poor man’s Fire Magic.

It does get crazy hot.

Soak in a solution of vinegar and dish soap, over several hours.

Have a basic Weber grill with flavorizer bars. Also around 15 years old. Use a putty knife or something similar to scrape off the crud on the inside. I washed the grates with heavy duty dishwashing soap and one of those scrubby sponges. They both worked ok. And scraped the flavorizer bars with a regular grill brush.