My propane grill is on its way out after about a 5 year run. Rather than tossing another $300-$500 at another grill that will break within 5 years, I'm looking at jumping up to the next price tier in the hopes of finding something that will cook better and last longer. Here are my criteria so far:

  • I definitely want a stainless steel grill, and hopefully one that's stainless all around and not just on the cooking surfaces.
  • I'm leaning towards natural gas. Even though I haven't run the gas line yet, I'm sick of switching propane tanks and running out at inopportune times, so it seems worth the time/effort to run the line.
  • I'm intrigued by the idea of infrared cooking, but not completely sold on it. Has anyone ever cooked on an infrared grill? I've also seen a few that have an infrared burner in addition to the regular gas burners, that would seem like the best of both worlds, but jacks up the price by quite a bit.


In my research so far, I've noticed that the Weber Summit series gets good reviews on durability, quality of the stainless steel construction, etc, and Weber is known for standing behind their products. They have models with built-in smoker boxes and rotisseries, which are nice-to-haves but by no means requirements.

The Napoleon Prestige II series jumped out at me because of the availability of an infrared burner for quick cooking and searing. The PT600RBI in particular looks like it might meet my needs, but there isn't much out there in the way of user experience.

Those are the most promising leads I have so far, but if anyone has a model/brand they like, I'd love to hear about it.
_________________________
- Tony C
my empeg stuff