I was planning to just use a tank. We have natural gas at home, but I don't really feel like paying a plumber to hook up a pipe outside, nor do I feel like making it a permanent fixture.

I'm nervous about an open flame on top of a table not designed for it. And my wife is way more skittish about such things than I am.

I don't have an electrical outlet outside, tho it's not unreasonable to get an electrician in to put an outlet outside.

I hadn't considered just putting pans directly on a grill. If that's a reasonable solution, why do people have the separate "side burners" on grills?