450 degrees in just a few minutes (could go higher, but that was more than I needed just testing it). I did take a quick look yesterday at the Kirkland model while picking up food and a grill utensils for Memorial day. Noted the folded metal corners, screws, etc. which made me more appreciative of the Virco quality in welded stainless steel (lid, lip, etc..) that they ground to a perfect edge and fit. One minor thing that I did not like were how easy the utensil hooks can swing out. I will look for a rubber gromet or something like that to slide over the end to keep them in place. Did I mention this unit is heavy? Not near the 450 lb that the Costco claimed, but Virco did not skimp on stainless steel. Double wall doors, lid that feels immense, and a minor detail, but I really like the stainless steel skirt at the bottom as it makes it look permanent vs. portable (even though it has locking casters), and how about that cover bsbbq?! Fully insulated with velcro ties. For those interested, Costco has a Hoffritz (hoffritz.com)6 pc. stainless-steel and black santoprene (like rubber) grill set that includes a large turner, tongs, biiiig fork tipped knife, grill brush, basting brush, and a 10 x 16" (I think) grid grill. Sorry to push Costco, but I checked Walmart while getting some other stuff, and just two pieces (with wood handles) were more, so I am glad I waited.

A few years ago, I was in the market for a gas grill. I lived by my self, so I didn't need a very big grill. I did some research, and I wanted a grill that would last a long time, and would work well. I had a limited budget, and like I say, I didn't need a big grill. In short I wanted a high quality grill at a modest price, something with excelent value. I had been eying lots of large Stainless Steel grils, ones at Costco and such, however they were too big and expensive for me at the time. Eventualy I found a Ducane "Take It or Leave It" grill that Costco was selling on their web pages for something like $200. It had Stainless steel cooking grates, stainless steel LA-VA-GRATE, stainless steel tube burners, and a heavy cast aluminium body. I had heard of Ducane previously, judging them somewhat by their price tag, and apprent reputation for quality, I had figured this was the best choice for my grilling needs at the time, I really figured this grill would last me pretty much a life time. I figured when I outgrew it's size I could use it as a portable grill. After I had my grill for just a few weeks I had convinced my father that it was a good grill. Especialy since he travels south in the winter time, and this grill would be portable so he could use it when he and my mom travel. I had basicly based my recomendation largely on Ducane's apparent reputation for quality and my intial experiance with this Ducane grill. Well after about a year of owning this grill I came to the conclusion that the Ducane "take it or leave it" grill sucks... It is nearly impossible to keep lit if it gets even a little windy. Only about 50% of the cooking surface gets hot enough to sear a steak, the other 50% is barely hot enough to cook anything. The LA-VA-GRATE burnt through on it's bottom after just two years of realtively light usage. Other then that the grill is till fine, but those three things are like really disapointing and enought to make me wish I had never purchased this grill. Quite frankly I don't remember what kind of Waranty is/was suposed to be on my "Take it or Leave it" grill, and I never did try to get Ducane to replace the LA-VA-GRATE... Basicly my initial and only experiance with Ducane grills is less then sastisfactory. I would not recomend a Ducane based on my experiance with there low end "take it or leave it" model. Since the overall consturction of this low end Ducane grill is simmilar to the construction of their higher priced grills, I am highly skeptical of the value of there higher price grills as well. I know my father is even less satisfied with his Ducane then I am with mine, and he'll probably never listen to me again on any recomendation for a grill. Since then I've gotten married. My wife and my father will probably never let me forget this past grill pruchase. Even without their help I know I will never forget this purchase, and I would never by another Ducane grill.

Yeah... a little late to the game here for the original posters, but it's just a fundamental difference in opinion between the actual "cooks" out here who have the desire and or skills to make use of features in high performance pro-style ranges, and the other camp who more-or-less just use ranges to "reheat" foods and boil water for pasta, frozen veggies, etc. Apples and oranges. Any poster who uses an electric cooktop or (gasp) flat surface range and is content with it does not in any way intend to use a range/oven to produce professional-type cooking products. Baking perhaps... but not cooking. Find a thread posted by amateur chefs and/or professional chefs who cook at home if you want informative opinions on pro-style ranges ... IF you intend to use them as they are intended to be used.

We've hired two. Each cost $125.00 per hour. In our case essentially both were a waste of money. The first one was well known, had kitchen's featured in magazines, won contests from Subzero and similar companies. She actually had great ideas but was constantly screwing up. She mis-measured on several occassions and I was never confident it was right. She would produce drawings that were impossible to visualize (the peninsula ended up overlapping a window in one drawing). I had requested over and over a prep sink in the island. The drawings came back without it and when I called her on it she said she didn't think it was needed but would request it be added. She had the drawings redone, and subsequently billed me the time to redo them. She called one day in the beginning and told me she stopped at the flooring store to look at floor choices (this was before we even had a design) and I was billed for the time! Keep in mind this was NOT something she asked me about in advance. We ended up parting ways after she became ill and couldn't continue with the project, which kept me from having to fire her. I knew she was capable of some beautiful work and I wanted it to work with her so badly that initially I kept making excuses for her . In the end, I spent about 2k and basically had nothing to show for it (except some ideas) Her plans had the beautiful elements & materials I wanted but not the additional space. The next one was a very nice lady with good ideas but they always exceeded our budget. We spend about 1600.00 with her. She made up a plan that had "some" of the space we wanted but in the end the budget would not allow us to add on the space and keep the materials we wanted. I could accept that, however knowing it in the beginning would have saved us a lot of $$-- Both designers knew out of the gate that our main objective was to add space and that if we were going to invest in construction of an addition, I needed the kitchen to have the elements and materials I really wanted. I truly believe the 2nd designer thought she was working within the budget and didn't purposely decieve us, where I believe the first one was milking us for any time she could but wanted to give us a knock your socks off kitchen in the small space we already had. The nice thing about independent designers was that they aren't married to a specific brand. The first designer worked a lot with a local custom cabinetmaker and for about 12K we were getting painted white cabinetry that looked beautiful! I later went to Home Depot for a "free" design, (which by the way was not free unless we paid for an in home measurement, at least in my area)and the KD there used our construction design to quote cabinets for us and a medium quality was about 25k!) So I think you end up paying for the designer one way or another~ We never ended up doing our kitchen since our wants exceeded our means. We've decided to move all together and while we can't "design" the kitchen we can possibly make some modifications and i am already stressing about the whole process all over again.