A New BBQ Grill

Our old grill finally bit the dust. I had rebuilt the grill a couple of years ago just to buy us another year or two and we clearly managed to get another couple of years out of it but now that old grill sits in the yard as a pile of rusted out metal.

We have some really nice plans for the yard and those plans always included a nice area under cover for a little kitchen/grill area. On the positive side, what started out as vague ideas for our yard had already turned into specific plans before our grill bit the dust so we already had a pretty good idea of what we wanted.

It had been a frigid winter here this year so we didn't use the grill much in the past six months or so. The temperatures finally moved close to freezing a few weeks ago so we fired up the grill to cook some steaks... I went outside to check on the steaks and noticed the fire was not hot and the grill sounded like a jet plane! I knew what that meant... leaking gas... there was a little flame-thrower-action going on that captured my attention quickly!

I immediately shut off the valve on the propane tank... then shut down the knobs on the grill. Disaster averted! I then reluctantly brought the steaks indoors to pan broil filling the entire kitchen and living room in greasy smoke. This is one reason why I prefer to grill outdoors.  

Anyway, there was no more time to buy in rebuilding this old grill. At this point it was too rotted out. We needed a new grill.  

I researched grills online every night. I had a pretty good idea of what I wanted and I knew that a low end grill was not something we wanted. The grill needed to be substantial... stainless steel (not a finish I would want in my kitchen, however)... the grates needed to be heavy duty stainless steel... the BTU's per burner needed to be in the 12,000-15,000 range... we wanted a side burner for heating a pot or pan... I also wanted this new grill to be able to be converted to use with lava rocks too.  

We shopped at Home Depot... we saw one grill that was a possibility. I researched it and found it was a poor quality grill with bad reviews so that ended our options at Home Depot. 

I checked Lowes... no joy. 

I checked Amazon... choices were slim and nothing met our needs. That was a disappointment because we enjoy buying on Amazon.

I checked eBay and found a few possibilities but, as I spent more time researching, the grills sold out leaving only one. That remaining one turned out to be a questionable listing with photos not matching model numbers. I didn't feel comfortable so dropped that option.

I checked a few grill specialty stores across the country but those places only dealt with grills of such high quality that we could not afford them.

Then I came across Sears in one of my online searches. Actually, we bought our range from Sears a few years ago and love it so I don't know why we didn't think of Sears sooner. Perhaps we didn't think of Sears because Sears seems to be turning into K-Mart in recent years. I do like my Craftsman tools and our fairly new range so we needed to check Sears for a grill.

I first checked their website and there were a few options in the price range I had hoped to encounter so that was good news. I decided that since Sears is close by, we should visit the store to look over our options.

We quickly narrowed our choices down to four grills. We eliminated the lowest quality one fairly quickly (although, this is the one I would have chosen online... it is always good to be able to see and feel a product when you can). We eliminated the next one because it was the top of the line and more costly than I was willing to spend although I would have loved that grill. Then we eliminated the third grill because the side burner was a searing burner rather than a stovetop-type burner. This is a burner we want to use for pots and pans rather than simply searing meat so this was a deciding factor for us.

Naturally, the box containing this new grill did not fit in my rather small sedan so we opened the box and started moving pieces of the grill to my car. It certainly fit in my car that way plus we didn't need to deal with disposing of the big box and all the packing materials. We both liked that idea!

Today, I assembled the grill. Wow... there were a lot of parts! They are quality parts, however. Only a couple of sections were a bit difficult to figure out how to assemble. All in all, assembly was uneventful but painful for my spinal injuries. By the time I had assembled the entire grill, my legs were shaking and wobbly while my spine was screaming.

The last thing to check after assembly was the lighting. This particular grill has some really nice lighting on the knobs. This will come in handy to ensure I don't forget to turn off the burners when I'm grilling at night... which is when we do almost all of our grilling. This grill also has a gooseneck spot light illuminating the grilling area... this light would not work though.... bummer.

I dug out my old, trusty electronic tester... switched it to Ohms... and started testing the wires and circuit. I quickly found the problem and quickly fixed the problem so all lighting now works on this beautiful, high quality grill.

Next, we need to put down some patio blocks... extend the roof off of the playhouse to form and create a little kitchen grilling area in the yard. 

This little kitchen grilling area will have a U-shaped countertop with the grill on one side... a small bar sink... a small fridge... a decent amount of counterspace... and a decent amount of cabinet space. The roof will protect the grill as well as the chef while also making it easy to add functional overhead lighting. Having this covered area will extend our grilling season, for sure.  

I'm really looking forward to some grilled food though!  Bring on the shish-ka-bob, juicy steaks, grilled veggies, grilled chicken, even burgers and dogs and sausage....  now I'm hungry!