Home Depot will be carrying two major brand names and two store brands this year. Weber and Char-Broil will be sharing the floor with Charmglow and Ducane. In addition to these will be the one really unique grill this year, the Fiesta Blue Ember. This is a grill that really deserves a second look and I predict will be a good seller for its price (around $450USD). Charmglow is a registered trademark of Home Depot (they bought the name a few years back) and Ducane is licensed from Weber for exclusive use on Home Depot's Chinese made stainless steel grills.
While Weber and Char-Broil with continue to take up floor space this year gone is the CFM Vermont Castings line of gas grill. The entire line of Weber products, are available through Home Depot, though you may need to special order some grills and products. This included the new 2007 Weber gas grill line that start at $299USD for the Weber Spirit E-210. Char-Broil will only have three units available through Home Depot this year.
Home Depot has expanded its Charmglow line to include nine grills and a variety of insert and island units. The Charmglow line now ranges from the Nexgrill made 5-Burner unit for $999USD to the Brinkmann made 3-Burner for $199USD. Included in this series is a new Brinkmann made 2-Lid unit and a pair of what they are calling Porcelain grills. These Brinkmann made grills sell for $369USD and $299USD. These grills were obviously built to look like the Vermont Castings Premium grill previously carried by Home Depot. That was a great grill for the price. These are not in the same class.
The Ducane line of stainless steel grills will continue unchanged for 2006. These two grills have proven very popular in their price range ($699 USD and $899 USD). and are better quality than the Charmglow units. These grills are made from 304 stainless steel and while they use thin gauge metal, they are much better built grills. The thing to remember about these grills is that while you do get support from Weber (Ducane's parent company) they are not built by Ducane or Weber.
Both the Charmglow and Ducane grills are priced to appear better than the name brand grills on the showroom floor. This is done to steer you away from grills like Weber towards their store brands. Home Depot makes a better profit on their brands rather than name brand units.
As for Charcoal grills, Home Depot will carry the full line (through special order) of Weber kettle grills. They also will be stocking the popular Char-Griller grill/smoker. You should also be able to find the Orion Cooker. This is a unit stainless steel charcoal fired roaster that is perfect for slow roasting chicken or ribs. Also look for the Char-Broil Santa Fe grill. This is a pretty nice unit for the price. What it lacks in quality it makes up for in versatility.
