“Those early articles actually had instructions for digging a pit in the ground—a small pit,” says Moss. Those pits echoed the 19th century communal pit barbecues that eventually morphed into modern backyard grilling. Even so, weber charcoal grill “there’s a bit of a mystique in the shape,” says Kempster. “It’s a hard shape to manufacture because it takes really, really big presses to draw steel.” The design was also totally different than the boxy grills of the day.
And never, ever use your charcoal grill in an enclosed space. Burning charcoal produces carbon monoxide, an odorless, deadly gas. Indoors, it can overwhelm and kill in minutes, without warning. Finally, after weber charcoal grill all our tests were done, we did routine maintenance, emptying the ash catchers, brushing the grates, and washing out the grills. But those judgments would have to wait until we got our hands on the things.
Tim Heffernan is a senior staff writer at Wirecutter and a former writer-editor for The Atlantic, Esquire, and others. He has anchored our unequaled coverage of air purifiers and water filters since 2015. In 2018, he established Wirecutter’s ongoing collaboration with The New York Times’s Smarter Living. Add the extra money you pay for the Napoleon grill over the Weber kettle that it emulates, and the Weber model’s superiority is even starker. We also interviewed senior product managers from almost every major grill maker at the 2017 Hearth, Patio & Barbecue Expo in Atlanta in early March 2017, including representatives from Weber and Napoleon.
For one, the screws are not much bigger than those that hold eyeglass frames together. When you think about the ash catcher’s job—to capture hot ashes and embers—the tiny screws don’t inspire much confidence. Also, the instructions are faulty, suggesting that you need to insert the screws yourself—after fruitlessly searching for them in the parts bags—when in fact they’re preinstalled on the vent assembly. For the same reason, don’t let your charcoal grill sit out in the rain, as the resulting lye will quickly corrode any metal it touches. Instead, bring your grill into a garage, put it under an awning, or tent it with a grill cover .
But we also opened our search to include charcoal grills of different designs. The fact that the kettle shape dominates the charcoal-grilling field doesn’t necessarily mean it’s the ideal. Most charcoal grills have two dampers, one near the bottom and one at the top, which work in tandem to direct the flow of air. Kamado grills also have two dampers, they tend to have a more airtight design, and most hold more charcoal than a conventional charcoal grill. It takes some effort to light and arrange the charcoal, and you have to empty the ashes regularly.