Brinkmann 5-Burner with Smoker Model #810-1751-SC

This is a big 5-burner gas grill that just happens to have a small (very small) smoker inside the cabinet. Of course with this feature I know that many people will be looking at it but the bottom line is that you get a very small (did I say that) smoker built into a mediocre grill. While it might look impressive it isn't built impressive. Lots of features, big size, and a relatively low price (sells currently around $470 at Home Depot) should set off the "too good to be true" alarm. The materials used, as is typically with Brinkmann are thin, low quality, and did I say, the smoker is very small.

This is a large (554 square inch primary cooking area) 5-burner grill. It is a little low in the BTUs and lacks the construction and component quality of similarly priced gas grills (see Top 10 Gas Grills between $250 and $500). What is does offer, as its most interesting extra is a small gas powered smoker built into the cabinet. Now there are a lot of great smokers out there (see Top 10 Smokers under $400) that are much larger and will give you a great deal of versatility for a good price. Considering that this entire grill costs just under $450USD you can probably guess how much money Brinkmann spent on the smoker. If this is a must have feature for you, then you might want to look at this grill, but don't expect it to last long.

The smoker unit itself is a very small gas powered, 7,500 BTU smoker. It is so small that you will have to cut a rack of ribs in half to fit them in there so don't expect to be able to produce a lot of barbecue. Set in the bottom, directly over the burner is a small smoker tray. You don't have to put a lot of wood in the tray since the smoker is so small. You will still be able to get smoke flavor into your food as long as the meat is exposed to the smoker. Basically if you want a single rack of ribs or a smoked chicken or even a pork roast (boston butt) you should be able to pull it off in this size of a smoker. I have heard that the front mounted temperature gauge is not terribly accurate so you will need to experiment with the settings to get the right temperature.

As for the grill, it is a large, but pretty basic unit. To fit the smoker and a propane tank inside the cabinet the grill needed to be wide. This means 5-burners are needed to give you any semblance of even heating. The burners are low powered but the grill produces pretty good heat for the size. You will probably need to turn all, or at least most of the burners on to get it up to a good grilling temperature.

This grill violates my primary rule of buying a grill; go with a simple, well built grill that will serve you for many years. Instead this grill has a gimmicky little smoker designed to trick you into buying it. It sounds like a good idea but I would really recommend buying a separate smoker and grill instead of this unit.