They were one of the first names in outdoor cooking, and their grills have stood the test of time. Along with their iconic charcoal grills, they produce gas grills, smokers, and grilling weber traveler accessories, all of which are tough and built to withstand years of outdoor cooking. Weber leads the BBQ grilling industry with great gas grill features at a reasonable price.
It has a cast-aluminum firebox, porcelain-coated cast-iron grates, and three burners. On paper, the Rogue 425 has a lot going for it, but we were disappointed in its performance. Despite showing heat at 650 °F on our burger test, it failed to achieve a good sear; the grill also struggled to hold a steady temperature on our barbecue-chicken test. Napoleon’s signature is its wavy grates, and they do look cool, but they’re harder to clean than straight grates.
The 1.0 version had the knobs on the side table which took workable space away. (As an FYI, Weber changed this burner configuration back in 2011 which was a smart move). Indicates whether the grill provides one ore more hooks to hang your grilling tools. Shelves are usually made of stainless steel or painted steel (some using a powder-coating process), though a few are made of plastic.
The Sear Zone on the Genesis E-325s has an extra burner between the middle and right-side burners, which puts out the same 13,000 Btu as the others do. We’re impressed with how well this concentrated heat zone created a dark and flavorful crust on ribeyes and burgers—possibly better than our top pick can. It’s probably the most important upgrade from previous Genesis models.
(All grills produce brief bursts of flame when grease drips onto the burner hoods; the problem is persistent fires.) In our tests, Weber’s grills consistently flared up the least among all the grills we tried. We also tested whether each grill could act like an oven—a nice feature in the hot summer months, when you don’t want to warm up your kitchen, or during the holidays, when oven space is at a premium. Among them was Joe Salvaggio, who has run Big Apple BBQ, one of New York’s leading grill shops, for over 30 years. Salvaggio is an independent retailer who carries grills from many manufacturers, so he was able to speak freely about what he saw as the relative strengths and weaknesses of various models. Sam Sifton—the founding editor of New York Times Cooking— also participated in our testing.
It offers the same quality as our top pick, but it’s more compact. The E-210 has a cast-aluminum firebox, an enameled steel lid and open cart, and two side tables. That may not seem like much, weber traveler but if you’re working in a small patio area, every inch counts. Like the E-310, the E-210 has an open-cart design and an easy-access side-mounted hook and gauge for the propane tank.