The Weber Genesis E-325s puts out more heat per square inch than our pick, and the main grate has a 20% larger cooking area. Weber also redesigned its expandable upper warming rack, with bars that run front to back (rather than side to side), so it’s easier to slide a spatula under the food. Instead of porcelainized cast-iron cooking grates, the Genesis E-325s has a grilling surface made of thick stainless steel rods (these won’t make a huge difference in your grilling results).
More-recent models have the same bones as their predecessors, with minor tweaks like redesigned cabinets, handles, and control panels. It’s easy to control the flames underneath the stainless-steel cooking grates, and if you like to have your accessories on hand, there’s room to store them. This grill is a real crowd-pleaser, and you can cook up to 28 burger patties at once. But as one grill master pointed out, the ability to have such a large work area makes it easier to cook up a variety of tasty dishes.
For our 2022 update, we relied mostly on research and reporting, as well as our rigorous testing from years prior. We combed big-box home-improvement stores—including Home Depot and Lowe’s—and Big Apple BBQ in New York to view anything new. And we again chatted with Joe Salvaggio at Big Apple BBQ to get his expert opinion of the gas grills available for 2022. Overall, we found that the core function and design of grills we’ve covered in the $400 to $900 price range hasn’t changed.
Salvaggio has found that cleaning hot grates more easily damages the porcelain coating on cast iron, allowing rust to form. And though stainless steel grates are more rust-resistant than cast-iron ones, it’s still a good idea to follow this cleaning advice to keep them in tip-top shape. In terms of size, performance, and value, it’s hard to beat the Monument Grills 4-Burner Propane Gas Grill. This attractive grill has a sleek stainless steel exterior, and it features four burners across its 513-square-inch main cooking area. It has porcelain-coated cast iron grates, and it even includes a 12,000-BTU side burner and a rotisserie kit. Despite all these features, it’s still extremely reasonably priced, costing hundreds less than many other models we tested.
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 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 E-325s looks sturdy and well built, and it has some new practical features that further justify the higher price tag.
That way, you could easily 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 entire Spirit II line interfaces with Weber’s iGrill 3 smart thermometer (a separate purchase); this can alert you, through an app downloaded to your phone, when your food has reached certain temperatures. For now, we think a simple probe thermometer, like the ThermoWorks Dot, could alert you in a similar way for less cost.
On the Napoleon grill, meanwhile, some of the front burgers were nearly raw in the center, while the rear burgers were well-done. If you’re a self-proclaimed grill king, weber bbq you need the crown jewel of gas grills—like the Summit S-470 from Weber. This stunner of a gas grill gleams in stainless steel or looks elegant in black porcelain.
Camryn Rabideau is a freelance writer and product reviewer specializing in home, kitchen, and pet products. In her 6+ years of experience as a product tester, she’s reviewed hundreds of items firsthand, and her work appears in publications such as PEOPLE, weber portable grill The Spruce, Homes & Gardens, and more. Camryn is also the proud owner of a small homestead in Rhode Island, where she spends her spare time gardening, tending her many animals, and working through a never-ending list of home improvement projects.
The Char-Broil Performance Series 2-Burner Gas Grill is another option that didn’t quite make the cut for our top picks, but it’s still worth mentioning. This grill is one of the more compact options we tested, with just two burners and 300 square inches of primary cooking space. It’s lightweight and mounted on four caster wheels, and while it was extremely easy to put together, we found it was a bit wobbly during operation.