we got a snazzy Broil King thingy as a housewarming gift from the inlaws. It works really well - OH was a bit nonplussed at the prospect of plugging it into the house before setting fire to it (the house was already plumbed for natural gas) - so much so that the first time I lit it she took the kids out of the house and across the street in case the whole thing blew up .

OK, so it wasn't my money, but if I was buying a replacement I reckon Broil King offers pretty good value for money if your eyes are popping at the cost of Weber or Napoleon grills.

The only slight embuggerance is the cast iron grills - as Oink notes, they do tend to rust if they're not taken care of. We use ours year-round: there's something quintessentially Canadian about standing knee-deep in snow to turn the steaks on the grill. One day I'll get round to replacing the grills with stainless ones; for now, it just means getting the rust off and re-seasoning them if it's been unused for a while in wet weather.

I used one of those Dremel things to get rid of the rust. I highly recommend using eye protection though.

Weber vote here.....we got one about 4 years ago and its amazing, we just gave it its annual clean and it looks as good as new!!!

Mine has porcelain coated cast iron grills. No rust problems there.

We have a Broil King which has a winder to raise and lower the coals and an electric chicken rotator thing. It's pretty high tech, iirc it was about $300 from the Home Depot (in Canada, no doubt it'd be $175 in Buffalo).

Thanks for all opinions. Now is it worth investing the extra dosh for stainless steel grills?

No, cast iron is the way to go. The metal is soft so it transfers the heat evenly. A burger in the corner cooks at the same rate at one in the centre.

As mentioned, they will rust, but my secret has been to use it regularly and not clean it after each use. The grease from the cooking keeps the grates well oiled. Each time I start it up to use it again, I let it burn to 600 f. and clean it off at that time.

I think you and Souvy would get on just fine.

Sorry, I can't let that go. Hardness or softness has nothing whatever to do with thermal conductivity. Stainless steel has a low thermal conductivity so I agree with your conclusion, just not your logic.

I'm sorry if I seem quite forceful here but, reading the prior posts, it would seem that Secam is using a propane gas barbecue. Assuming that to be true, it makes **** all difference what the grill is made of, food will still taste as if it was cooked on a gas stove indoors. There's nothing wrong with that, if you're stuck having to deal with electric cooking indoors then it'll be an improvement, but propane cooking is to barbecue as golf is to sport or wanking, well, you probably get the idea...

Not forceful at all. Quite discrete by your standards. It's just that in Canadian winters it's a bit dodgy to nurse the coals to effectiveness without freezing off a bollock.

In France I wouldn't dream of a gas BBQ. And don't have one.

Oh. I don't smoke food in the winter, 3-4-3 ribs would, I suppose, take 12-16-12, but simple hot barbecue, mustard lamb or any kind of kebabs, I've never thought of not doing it. I like barbecue, I don't mind trudging into the snow for good purpose. Why anyone would go outside to cook on gas escapes me though, it seems such a macho thing, "I've cooked a sausage and I've done it outdoors". Well, hooray, but you've been eating sausages all winter, they taste the same, by what miracle do you think they arrived on your plate?