Grill Reviews

Imagine cooking a slice of bell pepper, or for that matter, a hamburger patty, on the grill. When you're done, you have light or no searing on the bottom, but your bell pepper's soft, and the hamburger patty is cooked through. You might have light searing on the top, if whatever you're cooking was thick enough to touch the top. But whether or not your food is thick enough, radiant heat from the top will cook it.

Overall, this grill is a poor choice. If you want to drain fat from your food, consider pouring the fat out of the frypan when you're done on the stove. Don't waste your money on this grill or any other. On the other hand, if you want to cook a pancake, you could probably use this grill to good effect.

Putting it together (if you can call it that) took 15 minutes. It's essentially together in the box, you just need to turn a few screws to assemble the base. The grill itself is fully assembled for you - you just lower it on the base and you're done (you need two people to do this, though. The grill is heavy).

The grill grates are made of cast iron covered in porcelain .... I've used it for a couple of months now and haven't scratched the porcelain. The grates are in two pieces making it a joy to clean - each piece fits in the sink and can be cleaned individually. If you're not grilling all that much at a time you can just use one grate and then cut your cleaning in half. The drip tray is exceptionally well designed and easy to clean as well.

The Silver A has two burners. Indirect cooking works fine, but Weber's Silver B is larger and has 3 burners, meaning that you can use the center section for indirect cooking and have heat on both sides. With the smaller Silver A I turn the food around midway through cooking to make sure that it cooks evenly. This isn't a big deal, but if you do a lot of grilling this might be a point in favor of the bigger Silver B.

I have a family of 4 and have never found this grill to be too small. But if you do a lot of entertaining, you might want the extra room in the Silver B.

One more point, Weber makes a smoker tray for the Silver B, but not for the Silver A. This again is no big deal, I just make a smoker pouch out of tin foil. By the way, the grill is made with a tight fitting lid so that smoking works wonderfully. I often make beer-can chicken with smoked mesquite chips. It's the best tasting chicken I've ever had.

There are other grills out there that look like the Weber. I saw one at Sears. But just lifting the lid - you can tell the difference in quality. The Sears lid wobbled and felt half as light.

The Weber costs a lot more than Charbroil or Sears. But you're going to have it for awhile. Treat yourself and get a Weber.

The Silver B is probably the better (but more expensive) choice for most people. But the Silver A is the best economy priced model on the market and perfect for anyone who does not need a lot of extra grill space. I bought the A model, so that tells you something.

Both the A and B earned the distinguished "Best Buy" rating from Consumer Reports. And both were graded for overall satisfaction with other brands that cost more money. The Weber Genesis grills are the cheapest grills for their level of quality and a good buy. (The top rated model was the $2,200 Weber Summit). They could easily sell for $100-$300 more than they do.

The Weber Genesis Silver grills are built to last a very long time. They have solid frames, stainless steel burners, porcelain-coated lids, etc. My grill looks like it will last 20 years. They come with an unusually long warranty. On the other hand, some of the cheaper other brands will rust out in a couple years and cook unevenly. The Webers are worth the extra money.

The Weber "flavorizer bars" are the secret to even, tasty grilling. They cook well.

My model has cast iron grates, which I prefer for better searing. But the porcelain-coated grates are easier to clean.

For most people the Genesis Silver B is the safer purchase, because it's larger. And you get more grilling and shelf space. You never know if you will need the extra space over the next ten years. Get the B if you expect to host parties and family gatherings, or if you have a large family.

The Genesis Silver A is better if you are looking for a more affordable grill. It really is a great value. You would be much better off with the Silver A than some of the other cheapo brands.

I bought the Weber Genesis Silver A because my small family does not need the extra space of the Silver B. We do gourmet cooking for ourselves, not a big party. It still looks big to me.

The Weber Genesis Silver grills are the best for taste and value in the long run

The brush itself is very good. Sturdy and well designed. The handle is long enough to let you scrub the grill while it's still warm and strong enough to let you use some elbow-grease. The bristles are densely packed for better scrubbing. If they were longer you could get a bit more of the grate at one time, but I don't think they'd scrub as well (since it's the tips of the bristles that do the real scrubbing and not the sides). The curved scraper does a good job getting each individual rail of the grate clean too.

I have only two complaints. First, the wood can get pretty dirty after a while and is hard to clean. Second, this isn't the best price I've seen for this brush. I've seen it at almost half price at the local [store]. In general, I'm very happy with the prices on Amazon, but I was disappointed when I saw this for much less at the store.

Anyhow, if you're buying a grill (like I did from Amazon) then definitely get yourself a good brush like this to keep it clean. If you're still using steel wool to clean the grill, you'll like this much better. Don't use it to clean the dog...long story.

Hope this helps and good luck with your purchase!

It really does do a great job of cooking, as good as the larger Webers, just for a smaller crowd. We had a Mulberry tree trimmed in our yard and I saved all the chipped up wood to use for smoke flavoring. You still need a charcoal fire for heat; just throw in a handful of chips before you put the meat & corn on the cob in and close the top vent down to make it smoke. Mmmmm, Mmmmm!

You can eat like a gourmet anywhere you tote this to! Just add a cooler full of longnecks.....

I took it back and got this Weber. I LOVE it. It cooks great. Steaks for two, burgers for four, chicken drumsticks for up to six (depending on how hungry you are).

It seems to cook pretty evenly, without hotspots other than right in the center of the grill, and if you are only cooking one piece of meat, the center is fine.

I have to agree that it would be nice if there was an ash dump, but here's a thought--your BBQ is small--WAIT UNTIL IT COOLS, take out the grill, hold the grill over your dumpster, turn the grill upside down. All done!

*****Final Thoughts*****
This is a great grill, and it cooks well, but don't plan on feeding the 5,000 because its just a little guy. Despite negative reviews regarding convection, this grill cooks very well, and evenly. I have to agree on the ash emptying level, but I think it's easy to deal with.

I rate the One-Touch Platinum four stars because the kettle grill is as fantastic as indicated by the 5 star reviews on this website. Therefore, I will not repeat all the reasons that others are already stating why this kettle grill is the best in its class.

From my review, you can learn to avoid the 2003 model and buy the later 2004 model. The difference between the two is that the 2003 has a light gray table that is nearly solid in color. The updated model has a pebbled gray and black sturdier table top.

I would also like to add that I rate Weber's customer support a 5 on a scale of 1 - 5. I had no problem getting their assistance to replace my grill. They were polite, helpful, and concerned. Visit there website to get wonderful recipes, learn how to decided which grill is best for you, how to use your grill, and so much more.

I will be back to rate the 2004 model after I have used it several times.

Have fun grilling and eating with friends/family this summer!

Michelle Rathke

The grill looks good, and works better. The wheels are durable plastic and so is the table. The rest is aluminum and is quite strong. The storage rack holds a 10lb bag of charcoal, the chimney lighter, a bag of wood chips and a few other odds and ends. The hooks in front are nice for the utensils.

The last Weber I had wasn't this nice, so I am grateful for the extra attention that was put into this grill such as the vent on the lid has a handle that doesn't get too hot and the handles at the bottom for the bottom vents, plus the workspace and bottom rack for storage.

If you like to charcoal grill or want to get back to it, this is the grill to start with. You will be glad you did.

Despite reviews I was anticipating a rough clean up, and looking at the thing when my steaks came off made me think it would be even worse... But I was proved wrong. The included spatula made it SO easy to clean. Bits that looked hard and caked on came off in a second. Grease trap was easy too, and when I was done I just stored everything in the bun warmer untill next time. Fits great in my small apartment, but is big enough to cook a meal for two. I can't wait to try more stuff on it. Highly recommended

Grilling meat to half its capacity, the results are a little better with the meat browning a little bit. However you have to wonder why use such a large grill for a little bit of meat?

Looking at the wattage, this is only a 1500 watt unit, which is the same as my toaster oven and probably most other smaller grills. The wattage must be limited because of household safety for most kitchen circuits. This is probably why this unit has a hard time to cook a lot of meat.

My question to the manufacturer is why did you ever design a large unit if you are restricted to only 1500 watts?

If you plan to buy this unit for your weekend parties, my advise is DON'T buy it. You will be very disappointed and embarrassed by its grilling quality.

On the other hand, this unit is great for making bacon. The bacon is thin enough so it won't cool the grill as you fill it to capacity. However, this is a pricey bacon cooker.

I have enjoying cooking on my grill and so will you.