Grill Advice

marriedonmaui

My husband and I are looking to buy our first grill. Our house is on natural gas, so I am definitely leaning towards natural gas vs. propane to not have to worry about refilling tanks and possibly running out of gas when we want to grill. 

Currently we are looking at the Weber Genesis.

My questions are this:

-Porcelain Coated Cast Iron or Stainless Steel Grates?

-If we go one way now and decide to switch later, how hard is it to replace them?

-Is the side burner worth the extra money? The deck is right outside of the kitchen so it's a little hard to justify the expense when I could just walk right inside... but I do understand the appeal.

 

Any other wisdom you'd like to throw my way would also be greatly appreciated! And if you would like to sound off about a brand that you like better than Weber that's fine too, we are in the beginning stages of researching.

Thanks a bunch! 

BridgetMc

I have a charcoal grill, so I can't really relate to your questions, but I will say that the side burner sounds awesome.  We grill right outside our kitchen too, but it's still a bummer to have to cook the meal in two different places.  So DH is outside tending the grill, and I'm inside making a side or something.

Although I suppose I'm usually inside doing dishes or preparing the next thing to be grilled, and we're talking about a side burner, not a side dishwasher...but still. 

lisamort

Not sure about the grates, but the side burner was not worth the extra money for us.  If you are going to have a full on outdoor kitchen it might be nice, but otherwise you have to prep everything inside and carry it out there with the pot or pan it is a hassle.  Since the kitchen is so close it might we worth considering saving that money.  Good luck!

lindyanne

We have an outdoor kitchen and have used the side burner several times (just got it all done at the end of last year).  We never used the one we had on our grills.  ever.  If you plan on eating outside a lot right next to where you cook it might be worth it but otherwise I'd skip.  Do you have an easy way to hook into the natural gas that's already at your house? If you don't, that could be pretty pricey and might be worth just buying a few extra propane tanks so you can have backups in between refilling them.

marriedonmaui

DH is supposed to look today to see if there's already a hookup. I wouldn't be surprised if the previous owners had done that. 

We do have patio furniture that would be right next to it that I hope we will be eating at a lot this summer. We just bought the house in late summer last year so we only ate outside a handful of times.