Enjoying cooking outside and not having to heat up my kitchen. Really great to see temperature with the guage on the outside of grill. Lesley Stockton is a senior staff writer reporting on all things cooking and entertaining for Wirecutter. Her expertise builds on a lifelong career in the culinary world—from a restaurant cook and caterer to a food editor at Martha Stewart. She is perfectly happy to leave all that behind to be a full-time kitchen-gear nerd. Finally, be aware that a few parts of a grill are consumables, so you will need to replace them occasionally.
Simply put, the pressure inside the burner is the same all the way through, so the flames have the exact same pressure through every port. This gives the Genesis, one of the most even heats of any gas grill on the market. Charcoal grills are much cheaper, however, and can burn hotter than gas grills for a better sear. Charcoal also imparts a pleasantly smoky flavor to your food, which you can’t get from a gas flame.
If you want to easily move your grill into and out of storage, you’ll also need to buy a quick-disconnect system, which can add another $150 or so. The benefits of natural gas include no more wrestling propane tanks on and off your grill, always-available fuel , and lower fuel costs . The now-discontinued Char-Broil Advantage 3-Burner Gas Grill from Lowe’s met the low expectations we set upon seeing its sub-$200 price. It cooked burgers acceptably, but to get an even cook we had to shuffle the patties around from hot spots to cool spots. Unable to keep a steady low temperature, it burned the barbecue chicken. To this grill’s credit, it made a nice indirect-roasted chicken—but then again, every tested grill did.
The weber spirit comes with 10,000 BTU/hr output capability. This is primarily due to the two separate burners on the grill. In fact, if you’re grilling something that needs space to cook all sides then I’d recommend using multiple grills instead of just one. The weber spirit is extremely simple to use – it comes with a little side burner which you can turn on and off weber charcoal grill easily, as well as one ignition switch. I’ve never had to contact customer service for my weber spirit grill – it’s served me admirably for several years now without any significant problems. It’s not cylindrical like most grill designs – I’m beginning to think that with all their different models it’s simply hard to make any new type of shape with propane grills.
At 513 square inches, the Genesis II E-310’s grates offer roughly 20 percent more grilling surface versus the Spirit II E-310’s 424 square inches. That bumps you up from 12 to 15 or so burgers for a big party, or it lets you cook an ambitious, complete meal for a large family. But although the Genesis II looks much larger than the Spirit, in reality the differences are not huge. The Genesis II is 3 inches wider overall, and its grates are 25 by 19 inches versus the Spirit’s 23 by 18 inches. Both models have a fold-down side table that reduces their width to under 45 inches, for easier storage.
This is the most expensive in this series, and yet the others in this group performed slightly better overall. So if you aren’t cooking for a baseball team, you might want to consider a smaller model. To get a Genesis 4-burner with a side burner means upgrading to the LX edition for about $650 USD weber q more . For a list price of $1,049 USD (typically selling for $899 USD) this is a large, but simple gas grill. If you grill regularly or you enjoy grilling on weeknights, when time is at a premium, you should invest in a gas grill. A good one costs $400 to $700 but will serve you well for years.
Prices, promotions, styles and availability may vary by store & online. Once shipped, items usually arrive within 3–5 business days. If your item or order is large, it may ship via one of our third-party freight carriers, which deliver from semi trucks with lift gates. If you prepare in advance with our guide to freight delivery, it doesn’t have to be. The Weber Genesis II Special Edition does not score well for high heat due to a low maximum BTU output, when compared to other grills in the same class. Michael Sullivan has been a staff writer on the kitchen team at Wirecutter since 2016.
With room for up to 18 four-ounce burgers, the Weber Genesis II E-210, $500, is in our small-grill category. This two-burner grill was slower to preheat than the top grills in our tests and might need more than 10 minutes to reach the grilling temperature you want. Once it does, our tests show that the temperature remains constant across the grates.