Welcome to Our Charcoal Grill Buying Guide

If you are shopping for a charcoal grill, you know there is nothing like the taste of a charcoal grill or wood-fired Grill.Now the only question is probably 'which one do I buy?' Well, we wrote this guide to help you find the answer. First we'll talk about why the food is so good on charcoal grill (for anyone still trying to decide between gas and charcoal grills), then we'll go into how to decide what you need, then we'll go over some manufacturers to help you decide how to find what you need.

The Charcoal Grill

What about charcoal makes the food taste so good? Well, this question depends. On one hand, many people use composite charcoal (the stuff you get at the grocery store) and use lighter fluid. To some extent, the taste will be the glues in the composite charcoal and the lighter fluid burning off. But the people who grill with hardwood (all natural) charcoal can tell you – the taste is still there. What happens is that as you charcoal grill, the drippings from your food fall onto the coals and evaporate back up to the grill surface. Result? Excellent tasting, charcoal grilled food. We realize choosing a charcoal grill can get confusing, especially with all of the different grill manufacturers out there. This charcoal grill buying guide is our way of trying to help you find the perfect grill.

Charcoal Grill Pricing

Pricing is where most people start their decision making process. Unfortunately, thinking about dollars first and charcoal grills second can handicap you before you even start. The best way to go about buying a charcoal grill is to figure out what you want, then assign a value to the features you want, then factor this into the price of the grill. The following aspects are important:

• What you cook: Consider what you are grilling. Hamburgers and steaks take up less room than racks of ribs or drum filets. If your grill is too small, you might not be able to cook your favorite foods. If your charcoal cooker is to large, you may have spent more than you need to.

• How many people you cook for: If you only cook hamburgers for one or two people, you don't need a 60 inch charcoal grill. On the other hand, if you cook ribs for 20 people, an 18 inch grill is going to ensure you are still grilling long past kick off. Again, if you cut size to save cost, you will likely be unhappy with your investment, and if your grill is too big you will find yourself going through far more charcoal than you need to.

• How long do you want to keep this charcoal grill: If you plan to buy another grill in 3-4 years, then paying extra for stainless steel may be throwing money away. However, if you want a charcoal grill that will last 10 or 15 years, a porcelain coated, thin steel grill is not going to cut it. The materials that will last are stainless steel, thick powder-coated steel, and aluminum. These materials cost more, but they extend the life of your grill and require less maintenance. The less expensive the material the more parts you will replace and the sooner you will be replacing the charcoal grill itself.

• What features are important: If you like to charcoal or wood smoke, you need a firebox. If you never smoke your food, the firebox really does no good. If you are an experienced charcoal griller, you may know exactly how much charcoal to use for each usage, but for the rest of us, adjustable cooking grids can make the difference between a just-in-time save or an over- or undercooked meal.

• Once you get an idea of how important these things are to you, you can begin doing research on which charcoal grills being offered, prices out there, and how much each feature will cost (roughly). You will then be in a much better position to decide how much you should spend on your next charcoal grill.

Charcoal Grill Manufacturers

And now, on to the manufacturers. The following snippets are from the CEO of our company, and we hope these will give you at least a starting point before you browse our extensive offering of charcoal grills:

• The Pitmaster Smoker and Charcoal Grills are some of our most incredible barbecue grills. You can order these grills with just a charcoal grill,with smoker box,gas grill atttached,all stainless. If you don't feel like smoking or slow cooking, or if you want the versatility, then gas/charcoal hybrid grills let you fire up the gas grill on the other end to cook your steaks with the infared burners in about five minutes -- look out Ruth Chris!

• The Cajun Charcoal Grill is a family run business and has been around for over 25 years. You can add a rotissary, a smoker box, water steamer pan, and even a gumbo pan attachment for doing that favorite hickory smoked gumbo. I personally have cooked everything from a deboned hog to a hickory smoked pizza on this extrodanary grill from cajun land.

• The Outdoor Concepts Charcoal Grill is truly an outstanding grill because of the price point. If you are looking for the average size, all stainless charcoal grill (with adjustable charcoal tray and drip pan) for under $1000.00 then this one is for you.

• The Portable Kitchen Charcoal Grill has been around longer than just about everyone else. This all aluminum charcoal grill usually lasts for 40-50 years. Each time we put these grills out in front of our retail stores, people rush in to tell us how old their Portable Kitchen Charcoal Grills are.

• The Weber Charcoal Grill is basic but great. Everyone is familiar with the kettle style charcoal grill ,and the price point can't be beat. If you need a bare bones grill, these charcoal grills are as good as it gets.