Six Things to Consider When Buying a Gas Grill This Summer

So you’ve decided to buy a grill. Good for you! Few things are enjoyable in the summertime (or even at other times of the year) as preparing food in the great outdoors over some blazing hot metal grates.

Although purists often cite charcoal grills as the superior style of grill thanks to their high temps and more natural flavor, they’re not the best choice for everyone. For many people, a gas grill simply makes more sense. They’re easier to use, easier to clean and, in some cases, perform just as well.

But if you’re going to buy a gas grill, there’s a bit more to it than simply backing your pickup truck up to the loading dock at your local Home Depot or Lowes. There are many things that go into a good gas grill, so we chatted with some grilling experts and came up with the following checklist of what to consider before making your big purchase.

Infrared Burners

Photo by Jack Seemer for Gear Patrol

Infrared burners get dramatically hotter than standard gas burners. Using standard burners, most gas grills will struggle to exceed 600 to 700 degrees and won’t develop a browned crust on a steak before you’ve overcooked it.

The infrared burner solves this issue by channeling heat from a burner into a ceramic tile, which converts that convective heat into infrared heat, dramatically increasing its intensity.

You need an infrared burner to brown a steak properly. It won’t matter how long you let the grill warm up with the lid down if the grill’s max temperature is meh.

Grate Material

Photo by Mitch Kwitek for Gear Patrol

Standard grates can be made of cast iron, enameled cast iron, cast aluminum, stainless steel, nickel-plated and a number of other materials. For gas grills, we like stainless steel or aluminum. This may come as a surprise given so many recommended grill manufacturers rely on cast iron or enameled cast iron grates to get the job done, but there’s a reason for our preference.

Cast iron grates are heavy, absorb heat and are great for developing grill marks, but you don’t necessarily want grill marks. Grill marks are a visual cue that you’ve only seared a small percentage of what you’re cooking. You want that steak, pork chop or half-chicken to be covered in Maillard, not drawn up like a football field.

“There are users who swear by cast iron because of its increased mass which leads to better heat retention, and some users feel that food sticks less to the porcelain coating on cast iron. There are others who swear by the durability and corrosion resistance of stainless steel,” Steve Schwarz, Napoleon’s director of grills research and development, says.

“Most cast grids are porcelain-coated which provides some protection against corrosion – but if users use their spatula to scrape their grills or tap their grills to loosen debris, then over time the porcelain coating will wear and chip and this will lead to the raw cast iron being exposed which will corrode.

“So as cast-iron grids age, regular seasoning becomes important. The beauty of stainless grids is that other than a light brushing between cooks, they require no other maintenance.”

Natural Gas vs Liquid Propane

Photo by Mitch Kwitek for Gear Patrol

There is nothing wrong with liquid propane gas grills, or the gas grills that run off refillable tanks most grillers are familiar with. But, if you have a natural gas line available, you should use it. And it’s why we say natural gas is better than propane.

“If you move into a new home with an outdoor natural gas line on the deck, the main reason not to use natural gas would be that you don’t have a natural gas grill,” says Max Good, director of equipment reviews at AmazingRibs.com.

Why? Mostly the convenience of not needing to refill a propane tank (or forget to refill a propane tank) and the cheapness of natural gas as a fuel. Natural gas versions of popular gas grills are marginally more expensive than propane-fueled counterparts, but not problematically so. There’s virtually no difference in cooking performance.

BTUs vs Max Temperature

BTUs are an outdated and easily manipulated measurement of grill power. The numbers provided by grill makers are calculated on per-hour measurements and are derived from data showing how much fuel the grill burns, not its temperature levels.

A bigger grill that chews through more gas could have a sky-high BTU figure and not breach the 500-degree barrier, which should be the absolute bare minimum. Ignore BTUs and look for max temperature output, which is a better (albeit imperfect) gauge of a grill’s power.

Number of Burners

Photo by Mitch Kwitek for Gear Patrol

Most gas grills nowadays have two burners at minimum, but it’s important to know before buying. The number of burners and grill space will dictate the space you have for two-zone grilling, a technique that allows you to cook low-and-slow foods like pork butt or ribs.

More burners also means more consistent heat. Unless you’re shopping for a very small grill, if a manufacturer suggests you can get by with just two burners, know that you’ll be battling hot and cold spots every time you use it.

Heat Diffusers

Heat diffusers go by many names, but they’re just metal or ceramic shields fixed over a burner. As counterintuitive as it sounds, by absorbing and redistributing the heat directly from the flame, they create more even temperatures at grate level, cutting back on hot spots.

Plus, because diffusers float over the burner, you’re far less likely to experience flare-ups or grease fires. Don’t buy a gas grill without them.

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