But we are saying that if you do, the warranty and customer service are absolutely worth the small premium you pay for Weber grills over cheaper brands. We wish the bars of the Spirit II E-310’s warming racks ran front to back, parallel to the main grates, like they do on our upgrade pick, the Genesis E-325s. That way, you could easily char broil performance slide a spatula under stuff that’s warming. As it is, the warming-rack bars run edge to edge, and you have to awkwardly jimmy a spatula in there sideways. The gas tank mounts externally (see the top photo in this section), instead of in a cabinet underneath the grill, as is typical (such as on the previous-generation Spirit).
Look for grills in the $400 to $900 range with a cast-aluminum firebox (which holds heat well and won’t rust). If you want your grill to last, don’t cheap out on a budget model. But also don’t overpay for extras you won’t use, such as a rotisserie or a side burner. Hands-on time, reviews, and availability concerns led us to dismiss grills from lesser-known brands like Huntington, along with well-known names like Cuisinart and KitchenAid. And the Cuisinart and KitchenAid grills appear to be afterthoughts next to their respective brands’ main areas of expertise, with materials and design to match. The Spirit E-310 comes in smart, easy-to-control, features the iconic GS4 grilling system and integrates well with technology.
The Spirit 2 was introduced in 2018 and came to be an enhanced version of the Spirit grills. Spirit II features models that improved on the popular models of the Spirit and addressed any flaws in the earlier version. Most small and average-sized grills have two separate burners, controlled independently, or one burner with independently controlled halves.
But it is expensive to run a website with more than 2,000 pages and we don’t have a big corporate partner to subsidize us. The easy-to-read fuel gauge located next to the gas tank lets you see how much fuel is left in the tank. The Spirit II grills have the same GS4 system and 10 year warranty of the more expensive Weber Genesis grills. It only takes char broil performance two minutes to watch and gives you a close up look at all of the features. I find it much easier to roll the Spirit II grills around, especially over a surface like a back deck where there are lots of uneven surfaces from the spaces between boards. The original Spirit grills are mounted on four small caster wheels, two of which are locking.
Sam Sifton, then food editor of The New York Times, also joined in the testing and added his extensive knowledge. In 2018, we tested Weber’s new Spirit II E-310—successor to our previous pick, the first-gen Spirit E-310—against our upgrade pick for the best gas grill. Open your door to the world of grilling with the sleek Spirit II E-210 gas grill.
But unlike the Spirit II E-310, the Genesis sits on a closed cart (equipped with double doors) that glides on four casters for easier mobility. If you’re looking for a big grill that has a larger cooking area and more fire power, consider the Weber Genesis E-325s. Compared with our pick, the Spirit II E-310, the entire Genesis E-325s is almost a foot longer, and its cooking area is about 20% larger, easily accommodating 15 burger patties at a time. Instead of having porcelainized weber spirit 2 cast-iron grates (like those on the Spirit grills and previous generations of the Genesis), the grates on the Genesis E-325s are made from thick, stainless steel rods. The stainless steel grates could create slightly lighter sear marks on your food than cast iron would deliver, but the difference should hardly be noticeable. The Genesis E-325s also has a foldable upper rack that extends the length of the main cooking grate and expands to be 11 inches deep.
The really important part is that the entire heat-delivery system—the firebox, burners, and burner hoods—has a much greater effect on the overall results of your food. And all those elements are of the same great quality we’ve consistently seen on Weber grills. The Weber Spirit II E-310 provides the unrivaled combination of top-notch grilling performance, a versatile three-burner design, durability, and a relatively affordable price. It excelled at every test, producing the best sear on our burgers of any grill, and equaling or outdoing the others in our tests involving barbecue chicken and whole roasted chickens.
Considering that most people do not leave reviews for purchases, Weber must of sold hundreds of thousands of these grills to have received that many reviews. With a data set of that size I have plenty of confidence that the story they tell can be trusted. The reason that the right side table on the Spirit II is not designed to collapse is that it is built with a slot for holding the digital iGrill3 temperature sensor (sold separately). I am not a fan of the iGrill3 system but, if you are into gadgets, this is a feature you should be aware of. One reason that some people buy a two burner grill is because they do not have much space.