How to Choose a BBQ Grill

It depends on how much you are going to grill. I love grilling/smoking and BBQing. If you are vegetarian and only grill meat when you have others over, get a charcoal grill and get a cheap one for $50 or less at Walmart or Home Depot or Lowes. If you get one 18" square, you will probably have all the grill you will need.

I like grilling/BBQing. I usually grill twice per month. And when BBQ briquets go on sale I usually buy 100+ lbs at a time.

If you have lots of money and want to impress your friends, get a high end grill with a built in rotisserie.

Good luck to you and yours.

You can get a decent grill for that. Lowe's or Sears has good buys. Charcoal tastes better but if you have the gas grill, you never have to worry about running to buy charcoal or having to get wood. Just have to make sure your propane tank is full. If you ever start grilling you will find you can cook anything on it that you would cook in the oven pretty much. Mine has an upper rack and I even bake cookies on it so I don't heat up my kitchen in summer! I just put a piece of foil on upper rack, spray with pam and put the cookie dough on it. I place veggies in foil, with olive oil or butter and seasonings, along with my meat (sometimes also wrapped in foil with onions and peppers) and in about 45 minutes my entire meal is done. Kabobs, brisket, burgers, anything can be cooked and I do most of the grilling. My husband rarely does, but after we got our gas grill, I use it prob 4 or 5 times a week, even in winter months, cause it just saves messing up my kitchen! I do recommend one with a built in temp gauge, so you can kinda judge your temp so it's not too hot or cool! Have fun and enjoy!

Since charcoal cooked food gives me indigestion, I prefer the gas grill. Love the instant on, instant off aspect of that, as well as the cooking clean with no chemicals such as those added to charcoal and the starter fluid that you must use to start the charcoal fire. We keep pecan wood chips to use for smoke flavor and the taste is fantastic. The main thing to look for in purchasing a gas grill is the type of grates used on the grill. The lightweight steel grates don't last more than 1-2 years, then have to be replaced, so look for a grill with heavy cast iron cooking grates. The next thing to make sure you have is a good heavy duty burner guard, this stops the food drippings from falling directly on the burner which will quickly ruin the burner. Third, look for a grill that will take a "universal burner replacement kit" because the burner and burner guard do wear out and the universal burner replacement kit is much cheaper and easier to find than a brand specific replacement kit. A good grill thermometer is extremely helpful, but if the grill doesn't come with one, or the price difference is more than $15.00, a standard oven thermometer works and usually has a hook on top to hang from the top rack for easy visibility, they are approx $10 at Target, etc. Never purchase a grill that is too big for your family, it's a waste of money and space. If you have a larger crowd on occasion, just do multiple cookings, folks love to hang out by the grill and the food is always freshly cooked when served, most people eat in shifts at an outdoor party anyway. A lot of grills jack up the price by adding the little side table to the grill, not necessary at all, simply put your own small table beside the grill and save that cash! Same thing for the side burner. If I'm cooking a side dish in a pan, I simply use an oven/stovetop safe pan and sit it right on the grill grate beside the burgers...I saved $75 by not purchasing the side burner on the grill. Be sure to read the directions, if they are lost you can find them by a Google search under the name of the grill. The drip can that goes on the bottom of the grill is very important, it catches the drippings that drain from the bottom of the grill and prevents them from hitting the ground which attracts bugs, and, your dog will also dig and eat the dirt or rocks that the drippings fall on, saw a dog that had to have surgery to remove rocks from his stomach that he had swallowed due to the grill drippings on them. We use an empty 16/oz food can and replace it the next day after cooling to keep it fresh and prevent bugs and odors. Be sure to place the grill in a well ventilated area away from anything flammable, plastic lawn furniture, vinyl siding, paper decorations, etc. You should be able to find a good grill for approx $150 if you shop around. This time of year is great to shop for grills, most of them are on sale now and you can get more for your money. Good luck on your cook-out, hope you fall in love with gas grilling. I use mine for anything that makes a mess in my kitchen...burgers, bacon, fish, stir-fry. I put a heavy cast iron skillet directly on my grill to fry fish, french fries and hush puppies. I always cook fish on the grill, fried or baked in foil, prevents the house from smelling like fish for two days afterwards! Happy Grilling! (^_~)

We bought the UniFlame brand from Wal-Mart several years ago. I've already replaced the burner and shield because we use ours so much. I highly recommend one that has the stainless steel shield, gives the food a good smoky flavor w/o dealing with the charcoal. It's easy to control the temperature, has a gauge on the lid, and 3 burners plus the side burner I use for fish or french fries. My daughter is a gourmet cook and spent a fortune on a fancy grill, but she loves cooking on ours more. We bought it on sale at the end of the season and got it for around $170, but that's been several years, so the price may be higher now. The replacement burner and shield were about $50 altogether, I think. You definitely want one that you can easily order replacement parts for so you can continue using it for years.

We recently bought a grill that we love! Its by the brand Stok. We found it at home depot and it come either as a gas grill or charcoal. The cool thong about this grill is the middle grate comes out and you can buy different inserts for it. It comes with a pizza stone and some other inserts are a rib rack and a wok. It's really a neat grill! You should Check it out!

We use our grill almost every day, including in Jan and Feb. I love it. We have a smoker box for when we want to add a grill smell/flavor, otherwise, I use it to avoid dishes! Even grill pizza! YUM. It's gas, with a direct line from our house.

You can get a decent grill for $150. I like the Lowes brand. Don't expect it to last for a lot of years, unless you spend 2k or something, grills get weathered, so the cheaper the better in terms of overall cost. Ours is 7 years old, we spent like 600 on it, and we are on our second pair of burners. Next year we plan on going and buying the same model again. It now only cost $200.

I've been looking for a BBQ, too and have narrowed it down to propane. There are alot of them on clearance at Walmart around here. They all use the big propane tank. Too big for me. I'm looking for a portable and have it narrowed down to the Weber Q100-Q200 series (more expensive, table top, stand sold separately) and the Coleman "Road Trip" portables.

I want a BBQ that uses the smaller 16 oz bottles of propane because I won't be grilling that often or that much food. The little bottles are only about 3-4$ each. Charcoal is a mess and the bags of coal sit around and look ugly so that's out for me.

My girlfriend has the Coleman Road trip and it's so cool. Big enough for 6-8 burgers or a whole tri tip. But the unit is small, light and the stand folds down so you can put it in the back of your car and take it to the park or beach. The smaller size is around $100, there's a larger size that runs about $150.

Charcoal grill, the food tastes better.

Is convenience or flavor more important to you?
What do you want the food to tast like? I love that chargrilled flavor, so, I have a charcoal grill. You've never been to a bbq cookoff where they used gas grills! It's coals and hardwood for flavor. Gas and propane grills, just cook outdoors. Great to keep from heating up the kitchen. It's not bbq-ing, just outdoor cooking. It doesn't add anything to enhance the flavor, unless you add soaked wood chips and smoke your food. Gas grills are good because they are super easy to use, and ready instantly, whereas charcoal takes know-how and you have to wait for the coals to be ready. You also have to continue buying coals, where that's not required for gas.