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About Grills

Start your journey for the perfect grill

By Derrick Riches, About.com

So you want to purchase a new grill? You go to some local store with half a dozen models to choose from and you get confused. How many BTU's do you need? What size should you get? Who makes a reliable and easy to use grill? Do you want charcoal or gas? There are hundreds of questions you can ask, so I am going to try and help you out.

Grills come in electric, charcoal, gas and pellet (burns wood pellets). Generally, electric are the easiest to use but you won't get a real fire flavor. Gas is easy and convenient, has better than electric grills but not as good as charcoal or pellet grills. Pellet grills are easy to use and have great flavor but tend to be more expensive and are not available in most retail outlets. Charcoal grills are readily available, inexpensive, and can produce great food but you will be lighting charcoal and dealing with all that involves. The real question you have to ask yourself is do you want the occasional big cookout where you have the time for charcoal, or do you want to be able to fire up the grill and be eating in 30 minutes.

Unless you have money to burn, the price of a grill is an important factor. Gas grills can range from $100USD to $10,000USD. Charcoal grills can be had for under $50USD or more than $2,000USD. Propane is cheaper than charcoal so your fuel cost is much less so you can actually save money in the long run if you cook out a lot. Pellets can be expensive and difficult to find in many places, but the flavor is superior because it is a pure hardwood fire. Electric just needs to be plugged in, but can't be used if the power is out. Remember that a grill can be a backup cooking appliance in an emergency.

You can spend a lot of money on a grill. My advice to you is not to get sucked in my flashy features. These days grills can come with built in refrigerators and gas powered ovens in addition to the usual side burners, infrared burners, rotisserie burners and sear burners. These add to only to the price of a grill, but to the complexity and the chance of breakdowns. Keep your grill choice as small and a simple as you need. In other words, if you don't really need it, don't buy it. Of course you should think about those extras that you might need. Suppose you need to boil a pot of water and your power is out. Unless you have a gas stove indoors you might need a side burner outdoors. Grills, particularly gas grills can come in very handy in an emergency.

Below you will find a collection of links to additional product information that you might find useful.

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