I have a $4,000- Vielux grill. They stopped making them a couple of yesrs ago. I love the grill but I also have some regrets. On the love side: This thing COOKS! After we bought it, we went over a friends house and they just bought a grill that looked as good as mine for a fraction of the cost. I tried to make a recipe that I made on my grill. I cut fresh peaches in half, dipped the open part in sugar and carmelized the sugar, face down on the grill. (I can post the whole recipe if anyone is interested). It didn't work. The peaches got mushy, and the sugar didn't get carmelized. It didn't have the power. The differece on meats is even more dramatic. It also take less time to cook on high heat. Even heat is important too. That requires cleaning the parts where the gas comes out. I recomend finding out how hard it is to clean those parts before you make a decision. The apect that I'm unhappy about is that the cavity is so large that if I want to make 2 lamb chops, I have to turn on at least half the grill, what a waste of gas! I asked the salesman when I bought it "what if I want to make one or two lambchops?" He said that's easy, you just turn on one or two rows of heat. The problem is that one row of heat barely get the it warm, it can't char meat. Don't let them tell that it will be different with an other grill, it won't. I wish I had a grill with two cavities, like my parents had.

We had a black Genesis for 11-12 years. The grates needed replacement maybe every 5-6 years -- and that was not using a cover or taking exceptional care of them in humid Gulf Coast weather. Not a big deal, and the box itself was solid as ever. They make a good grill. It is tempting when you see larger grills for half the price, but lift the lid and look at the build and weight -- you'll get less than half the life out of it. About a month ago, we discovered the burners were in need of replacement. We could have replaced them -- I am starting to think you can keep a Weber working for a lifetime if you are willing to replace parts occasionally. But we had already decided that it was time to get a new grill and would not do more repairs. We bought a new one - -in part to get a larger one now that the boys are teens and have teen boy friends (we need to cook more burgers than before ;-) ). Our new one cooks front to back, which is good for when we are only doing something smaller like burgers for the 4 of us, but we never had an issue with the side to side. Both can work well. Hope that helps.

Care, I would find another Weber dealer. Your sales person sounds like a real a-hole... I wouldn't trust him with a quarter. I bought a Genesis 3000 when they first came out back in the 80s. I'm on my second one now, (a Genesis 1000; I didn't use the side burner enough to justify it) and it is about 7-8 years old. Still cooks great. I've never had a corrosion problem with the porcelain external parts rusting... the cover, the frame, the bottom tray. I did eventually burn through the flavorizer bars and the cooking grates on both grills; probably due to my lack of keeping them clean as anything. I've replaced both the grills and bars in my current 1000 with stainless. I've also replaced the propane hose with one that has the newer quick-connect fitting. The only other corrosion issue I've had is with the two rails that the bottom tray slides in and out on. I had to replace those. Weber sent me new ones at no charge. It looks to me as if the only significant difference between the Silver and Gold is the stainless lid, flavorizer bars and grates. Since you can get the grates and bars, I'd suggest picking based on looks... pay for the SS cover if you really like it. The Summit models have a double wall lid, which might stay cooler to the touch on the outside. But that's a lot to pay for something that doesn't really cook any better. Here's a link to compare the features: Here is a link that might be useful: There is a Compare Grills menu item under the

I would never buy another Weber!!! They R based in Palatine Il. so they R 10 minutes from me. I have had one for 11 years and have replaced every thing in it at least twice. This started the first year I had it! The guy at the counter knows me by my first name. I take it apart and clean it and then run back to Weber to purchase what ever I think is wrong and still had to call a grill service to get it to work. They tell me that they have never seen such a clean grill. I am never here when they service it so I have no idea what goes wrong. I am buying a new one this year and it will not be a Weber. I used the rotiss. 3 times and the motor froze, burning a leg of lamb and I had to go to KFC to feed the people. I was not happy! As far as the Ducane goes, I have been invited for ribs and the thing won't work and Jeff and I end up doing the things in the house in the double ovens. That would not be me choice either. There was another post here about a rotiss. for Charmglow. If you bought it at Lowes of any other store it is not the Charmglow from the past. The old Co. is now call MHP Products. Modern Home Products. I grew up in Antioch IL. where Charmglow was made and all people had them. When I was young I did the wife's hair. The Davis grill that is still up and running, on the MHP web site, after all of the years, I have eaten many great meals there as I went to grade school with all of their kids. I have no idea as to the age group here but anyone old enough to remember the Electrolux vacuum man ringing your door you might remember the name. The Electrlolux you see at Sears and Lowes is nothing more that a Eureka Vac rebadgged with the Lux name. The new Co. is called Aerus. That is the same with Charmglow, the just sold the name and use a new one. There is a change it price when you buy at the chain stores as to the Aerus sales person. Think $400 to $2,000. I sold Lux when I was just out of high school for a summer job and the top of the line was $239.75. Lux had their own finance Co. so it was just $15 a month. LOL I know this went off track but I am having broadband problems and just wanted to reply 2 the 2 questions on this forum.