I’d like to have something propane fueled since it’s easy to setup and clean but I could be convinced to go another way.
Not interested in the newer griddle-style cooktops, having an insert would be nice but I don’t want to be stuck with it as my only option.
Doesn’t need to be fancy or super large, I’d think just about anything larger than the classic clamshell grills would work fine.
Also, anyone had experience with natural gas grills? I’ve wondered what it would be like to have a grill you’d need to “plug in” to a natural gas line a plumber would install for the purpose. Seems like it would save a lot of headache with buying and storing propane tanks and it would also allow me to hookup a generator if the need arose.
Seconding Weber.
It’s not the only good brand out there. But no matter what type of grill or grill-adjacent hardware, Weber is safe for BIFL.
My Weber charcoal grill is second-hand, from a friend who really didn’t take care of it. But even after years of abuse, it’s still in great shape without any rust. I didn’t even need to replace the grate, just thoroughly clean it.
My Weber smoker is 15+ years old. When a handle on the door came loose, they sent me a whole new replacement door at no charge (since the handle isn’t intended to come off).
Weber is a great brand. I personally run charcoal. It takes 30m to heat up, but that’s often enough time to knockout any prep and do a once through on cleaning.
We have a propane Weber Go Anywhere grill from the 1990s that’s still in perfect shape, and we were able to upgrade to third-party griddle cooktops.
For this I think the answer is Weber. You can get replacement parts easily and I assume a natural gas conversion kit for any of their propane models. There is a small performance difference with natural gas but it’s infinitely more convenient
The Australian market has ones that can correct directly to natural gas without a kit, so might be worth looking at overseas shops if there too if only propane and conversion kits are available.
Another Weber vote here. Bought my first grill, a Genesis (E-335 if I’m not mistaken), nearly 17 years ago. I’ve fed it replacement parts here & there, but haven’t had to spend more than $300 on maintaining the thing this entire time.
I had a propane grill with a natural gas conversion and hookup at one point. Really nice not having to worry about whether there’s enough gas in the propane tank. No discernable difference I could see between cooking on propane vs. natural gas.
I have no idea what it costs to set that up though, that natural gas line setup was already in that house when we moved in. I would have looked into it for my current house, except I’d switched to charcoal before I moved here. Love the flavour of charcoal, but convenient it ain’t.
I’d like to have something propane fueled since it’s easy to setup and clean but I could be convinced to go another way.
Please, allow to try to convince you to go another way.
There’s nothing you can do with a propane grill that can’t also be done just as easily, if not easier, than with the oven already in your kitchen. All propane does is make food hot. Unless you just want to be outside in the weather while you cook, there’s no culinary reason to have one.
A charcoal grill, especially one with a smoker attachment, will allow you to flavor your meats in ways that simply aren’t possible with a propane or gas grill.
I think you seriously underestimate the value of a propane grill
No. There’s not much that you can do on one that you can’t theoretically do on your stove or in your oven
But if you’re doing something that’s likely to smoke up, you can do that without filling your house with smoke, and sometimes a grill is exactly what’s needed for ripping hot direct heat, not everyones stove or oven can replicate those conditions well.
There’s less cleanup, usually you’re cooking things right on the grill, no pots and pans to deal with later, just utensils, plates, and the grill itself which often doesn’t need much more than a quick scrub or sometimes you can even get away with just burning it off.
Using your stove or oven can sometimes noticeably heat up your house, and in the summer that’s something most people are trying to avoid.
If you’re having an outdoor event, you can stay outside where the party is instead of hanging around away from everyone in the kitchen. You’re opening the door less to bring out food as it’s ready so you’re keeping the cool air inside and the bugs outside.
And frankly, not everything really benefits much from charcoal. If you just want to grill up some hot dogs you’re not gonna notice a ton of difference between charcoal and propane.
And all of that does of course apply to charcoal as well, but what gas brings to the table is convenience. Turn a couple knobs, press a button, and your grill is ready to go in a couple minutes. No waiting for the charcoal to get going, no needing to add more later on if you’re doing a long cook (and if you do manage to kill your propane tank, if you’ve got a spare, it takes all of 30 seconds to swap it out for a fresh one) and once you’re done cooking, just turn the knobs the other way and the fire is out and the grill will cool off pretty quickly. No need to worry about your still burning coals that might keep going for another couple hours because you misjudged how much you needed. And it’s less fiddly, want it hotter? Just turn up the gas. Cooler? Turn it down. You get basically instant feedback about how hot your grill is, unlike with charcoal where you may need to spend some time fucking around with the vents to get the right airflow.
If I can, and I have time, I prefer charcoal, but I will always have at least a small propane grill around as well, because it’s pretty hard to beat that convenience when you just want to quickly grill up a couple things for a weeknight dinner and be done with it.
I’ve had charcoal before and never really tasted the difference, though that probably says more about my grilling skills than anything lol. And some things (like burgers) make a lot of smoke and just need to be cooked outside, preferably over an open flame. Either way I never really found charcoal to be worth the setup/teardown hassle.
Smoking I feel like it would be one of those things that I’d be stoked about having but never really do that often, so I don’t want to buy something just for that capability.
If you have smoke problems cooking burgers inside, your priority should be improving your hood vent, not getting a grill.
Aside from that, I’m inclined to agree with the GP that cooking on natural gas might as well be done inside and that you should get a charcoal/wood-burning offset smoker.
