rorosz, I have two Weber gassers in my herd. I have a Weber Genesis 3000 which is 15 years old and a Summit that is 7 years old. Each has burners going different ways Genesis has them going east/west, and the Summit has them going north/south. Each layout has its + and -'s in my opinion. Other than the fact one has 3 burners and one has 6 burnrs they cook the same. Webers hold pretty predictable temps depending on the number of burners lit which is a huge plus compared to most grills. The 15 year old Genesis has only required replacement of the flavorizer bars during ownership and looks almost as good as the day it was put together. If you are concerned about hood height and the Weber on doing Rotis 20 lb Turkeys don't worry. I do them all the time and never had a glitch yet. IMO Weber has one of the better Rotis motors out there. Geared just right. I for one think infrared is a viable cooking method however I don't think you will be happy with IR on a lower end grill $400-$500 dollar range. No I'm not a grill snob but I am realistic. A charbroil red isn't and American Outdoor Grill or its more expensive cousin Fire Magic. Now if you want something that can really cook low and slow with temps down around the 210° range or sizzling hot with temps in 1000° range take a look at a ceramic cooker. BGE, Primo, Grill Dome, Kamado, and to a lesser extent Imperial Kamado. Course you will be cooking on lump charcoal but the flavor is awesome. Concerning your original post I feel a Weber grill would be the perfect fit for you and will answer the bell for you for many many years. If you decide on a Weber compare the grills at HD, Lowes and a True Value. Each store seems to have Webers with different specs concerning cooking grates (material) and flavorizer bars (material). Also you can get most Webers in propane or Natural Gas variants if you desire. Very Respectfully, Jeff

We went to a couple of barbeque places today and ending up buying the extra large Big Green Egg, and I think we will be very happy with it. Kevin thinks it will be great for parties, and now it will be even easier for us to cook for a crowd. Since we now have three charcoal grills, we can use separate grills for separate dishes which will make it easier for us to make multiple dishes at once, even if they require different temperatures. We also have the electric smoker, and I have to say that we get a more intense smoke flavor from that than we do from the charcoal - or at least it permeates the meat more. For smoking chilies, only the charcoal will do the job the way I want it. The BGE that we bought also has a pizza stone and can be used for grilling pizza - something that I've been wanting to do since first visiting the pizza making forum. We bought some outdoor lights for our pergola, and I think they will provide way more light than we required, but at least we can lower the wattage when we want to. I haven't bought anything for lighting the fountain yet because I want to have that installed by an electrician on an exterior wall of the house. I'm hoping to light much of the back yard that way and have it on a dimmer. I don't really want underwater lights in my fountain at this point but will talk with the electrician about that. I'm thinking that I will get my yard lit in stages and start off with getting some outdoor outlets installed at strategic points so that lights could be hooked up later. We went out for dinner this evening because I wanted sushi! We haven't assembled the Big Green Egg yet. Lars

"Not only moisture but heat retention. Insulated metal cans don't compare. If they did there would be no market for ceramic cookers." fyi: http://bbq.about.com/od/charcoalgrills/tp/Top-10-Kamado-Grills.htm Traditionally Kamado style cookers have been among the most expensive charcoal grills/smokers on the market. Originally made with a heavy ceramic shell, these grills seemed fragile (though they are not with proper care) and priced much high than the typical metal kettle grills. The Char-Griller Akorn is a kamado style grill. It has all the fuel efficiency, high temperature cooking abilities, and low and slow capacity that the much more expensive units do, but at half (or even less) the price. So what's the catch? While competently built, and more than capable of keeping up with he competition, this model lacks the construction quality and long term durability of those pricier other grills. The question you have to ask is, do you buy a cheaper grill to get into this style of grill, buy something more basic and far less money, or go big and buy one of those ceramic grills everyone raves about. If you google BGE v. Akorn you'll find this pretty much sums up the hundreds of posts from real users on both sides (Amazon was helpful when first looking due to larger sample size). And in the words of the OP: "We don't BBQ much except for our quarterly family gatherings (approx 25 people) and everybody is a foodie these days." And yes, the Akorn pizza stone works fine or you can use the smoking stone for pizza. Being a foodie doesn't make one any smarter, more frugal or knowledgeable about markets than the next person.

I did not flirt, as far as I know - I doubt that would do me very much good! I made cornmeal pancakes on my rectangular griddle this morning (which weighs over 10#), and I'm a bit glad that my new pizza pan will not weigh that much. I might even switch to using my comal plus the new pizza pan when making pancakes, and then I can use two front burners. I used to make them in my 10.5" cast iron skillet, and that was not ideal because of the steep sides, although they did cook well, one at a time. Kevin's new mug is all metal, I think. When I make tea, I use the red teapot that Sheshebop sent me, and it holds 21 oz. I use one teabag for that much water, and the cup/mug that I use holds 7 oz., and so that makes three cups/servings. On days that I work, I drink one cup of tea at home and then one at work, using a teabag at work. So one pot of tea lasts three days, but I have to store the tea in the fridge and then microwave it on subsequent days. On days that I do not work, I drink two cups (14 oz) of tea in the morning, and that is all the caffeine that I need. On vacation, I will sometimes drink coffee, especially in places like Hawaii and Italy. I was not impressed with Costa Rican coffee - I thought the coffee in Antiqua, Guatemala was better. I drink coffee in New Orleans also, but not in Texas. The Kona coffee in Hawaii was the best I've ever had, and it is not possible to find the equivalent here. Even the coffee beans that we bought on Maui were not as good as the coffee we got at restaurants/coffee shops on Maui. I think the best beans do not leave the island. The coffee we had in Italy was almost as good, but it probably came from Africa - Ethiopia most likely.