After waiting over 6 weeks with no delivery date in sight, I called Costco Corporate. As usual, they were excellent (I talked to the buyer who handles these grills) and gave me a delivery date to our local (Bakersfield, California) Costco. 4 days later, my wife and I "christened" our new grill with 3 New York steaks. They were perfect. The flames on my outside burner did not change as I turned the knob from high to low, so I called the number in the Manual (it's even on the grill) and they said I needed a new valve and would send it out as soon as I faxed them a copy of my receipt. Great service - no questions - just do what needs to be done. That was a nice sign of a service oriented manufacturer. Anyway, I'm anxious to chat with those of you who have this grill - or one of the earlier versions - as this stainless steel thing is a little new to me. Have a few questions.

Amazing! I was at my store today and still all they have is the Kirkland. Don't they have the best Salmon? We pick up one of those huge filets once a week. We marinate it in soy, fresh garlic/ginger, and a splash of balsamic vinegrette (I think that's all), cut it into serving sizes and grill it directly. So good. I'd never dream of doing that on my old grill and it's so nice to not have to smoke up my kitchen.

Hi LiveBlues! I am new to the Stainless grills as well. Grew up in Louisiana where we did a lot of deep pit - and if you cooked OVER a fire it was called "grilling" not BBQ. In any event, the one major thing I have learned is about the cleaning. Maybe like you, when I grilled, the drippings just went into the briquettes or lava rock (which were black or grey anyway) and were finally burned up in the heat (ie: the drippings never really showed). But I had a little trouble getting used to seeing the drippings falling onto my nice, clean, shiny "flame tamers" under the grill and over the flames. After going thru the painful process of cleaning them each time, I finally decided to just let them burn off and started cleaning the grill via the instructions: right after cooking - when the grill is still hot - take some water and a metal brush and start scrubbing the grill. It works great. Everything comes off so much easier and looks like new. In mine, it all drops down to the grease tray below which I just take out and remove the tinfoil I have lined it with. It's recommended to use a cooking (hot) mitten when cleaning because of the steam. Anyway, hope you enjoy your stainless.

Converting to NG was quite easy. You will need to obtain a hose to hook up the grill to your gas line. I purchased mine at Home Depot. It is made by Charbroil, is a 12' long hose that attached directly to the grill on one end and has a quick disconnect fitting on the other end. The fitting has a female 3/8" pipe fitting on it, so if you have a standard 1/2" pipe stub, all you need is a reducer and some thread tape. I personally didn't use a regulator. Some people feel it is helpful in maintaining a certain pressure, but I haven't seen a need for one. I installed a gas pool heater a couple of years ago and didn't put one on there either, no problems with that. After all, I think that is one thing the gas meter does for all of your appliances anyway. The kit that you will get from Virco should contain all new valves with the orifices in them already. I am not sure why they do that, the valves seem the same and the orifices just screw in. You will also get a new "cage" for the side burner that mounts underneath it. The easiest way, for me at least, was to first remove the knobs from the front of the grill (after of course turning off, disconnecting, and removing the lp tank). Then, if you look under the edge of the control panel, you will need to undo the lp hose, the fitting for the side burner, and the fitting for the rear burner. Once you remove these, then disassemble the ignitors. This is done by simply unscrewing the buttons and removing the batteries, then unscrew the plastic nuts that hold the ignitor assemblies to the front panel, remove the assemblies from the rear of the panel and let hang. Now, you can remove the four screw (two on each end) of the front panel, and the panel will come off. With the panel off you can now replace the valves. You will need to disassemble the side burner to replace that orifice, it is pretty strait forward. The rear burner orifice needs to be replaced as well. Just remove the cover on the rear of the bbq (two screws). I Hope this helps, I am sure you will find it easy.