Member's Mark 4-Burner Outdoor Gas Griddle

Most 4 burners are in the $300-$400 range, so for $199 shipped to my house for free it is a great deal with a few exceptions. Over I would give it a 7.5-8 out if 10! There are a few things below to watch for though. First, it is heavy and definitely a 2 person job. It took my adult son and I around 1.5 hours to put together start to finish (and we’re both pretty good at building things). I recommend using a screwdriver bit on a drill at a very low setting (chuck adjustment) so you don’t strip the screws - it will save you a lot of time. Second, when we seasoned the grill it made a mess the first time, there are definitely hot spots on the grill above the burners, there’s a trade off between the thickness of the cast iron - too thin you get hotspots and too thick you use too much energy to heat the cast iron. After the initial seasoning it seemed to work fine. My first cook after seasoning included bacon, and the coating of the bacon grease really seemed to help. You never want the top to get super dry or your “seasoning of the grill dried out”! This grill gets really hot, so be careful of burning you food because you may if you turn it to high (much better problem to have vs not getting hot enough). Finally, I would give the grill cover itself a 3 out of 10! They should have out better Velcro on it to keep it in place. There are a few small Velcro tabs on the inside and they don’t work well. They should have made the cover longer as well since it doesn’t protect the wheels and I’m afraid they’ll rust over time. We had a storm a few days after setting it up and despite using the Velcro it the cover still blew off. This caused water to settle on the top of the grill and filled up the oil drain box. If this happens, you need to completely dry the grill and then turn on for a few minutes so any water left evaporates - if you don’t soon after you get water on the grill it will most likely rust since it is cast iron (even if you have seasoned it)! My last piece of advice is only use it on days that you have time to let it completely cool down when done so you can cover it so it doesn’t get wet and rust. While this is a really good grill for the money overall, remember cast iron grills need more care than their much more expensive cousins - stainless steel grills. With a little care you won’t be disappointed!

I love this grill, perfect size works well with a couple of small issues is why I am not giving it 5 stars. First off, thank you to the designers for using the same size screws even though in a few spots, I wish they had used longer screws. Especially the side trays keep getting loosened after a while. Love the extra storage shelf. I wish the side trays were foldable but not a big deal especially considering the price. The BIGGEST issue I have is with the loation of grease catcher. It is in a very bad location which means I have to be extra careful when using the entire grill surface cooking stir fry or the likes. It is very easy to drop pieces of food in the hole, I wish it was closer to the top or bottom rail. Also, what is up with the small size of back/side rails? Another concern, for whatever reason, the top two thirds or the grill heats up very nicely but the bottom does not. I have yet to figure out why that is. I cannot believe that is by design because I end up losing a third of the grill surface due to a lack of enough heat. Finally, I wish there was some method of marking temperature on the knobs or a built in (or separate) thermometer to get an idea of the surface temperature for cooking different foods. But obviously this is not a deal breaker. Despite the many seeming complaints, and for the price and function I would still very highly recommend this grill.