Limited Edition Weber Original Kettle Premium 22" in RED!! Order by May 12!

[Troy S]

@Jon and Walter -- I hate that you guys received damaged kettles. Man, I was really hoping that everyone here would report good news with theirs, since the WKF group on Facebook is pretty vocal about them. I hope you'll receive pristine ones.

Jon, I hope you tried talking to a different Weber representative. I saw a guy on the WKF group on Facebook talk to Weber about his and they sent him a new one.

 

[Jon Alex]

@Jon and Walter -- I hate that you guys received damaged kettles. Man, I was really hoping that everyone here would report good news with theirs, since the WKF group on Facebook is pretty vocal about them. I hope you'll receive pristine ones.

Jon, I hope you tried talking to a different Weber representative. I saw a guy on the WKF group on Facebook talk to Weber about his and they sent him a new one.

The representative asked their manager how to deal with the issue and came back with the recommendation to send it back to Amazon. I've done that now. Will receive a new one on the 28th now. I'm holding on to the one I have (I have 30 days to return the original) in case the new one has issues with other parts.

Can't wait to try it out. This grill will be used along with my blue one. On that note I hope they make the blue ones again...

 

[James Lake]

My baby Roxanne came in today, guys! My first ever Weber kettle grill. I've been wanting one for a long time, and glad I made the choice on this one! It's gotten much of a bad rap on the "weber kettle fans" group on Facebook, but mine is beautiful and I can't wait to use it tomorrow! I'm going to cook a party pack of Johnsonville Beddar With Cheddar sausages, three chuck steaks and two top sirloin steaks.

I hated putting it together, though.

I guess you could always pay for the assembly at the store.

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[Chris Allingham]

I guess you could always pay for the assembly at the store.

Those store assembly guys are not big on attention to detail...or reading assembly guides.

 

[Alan D]

Saw one of these assembled at BBQ Galore today...I don't know, it didn't do much for me...the lack of the GBS grill is a letdown.

Did myself a huge dis-service by looking at the Summit Charcoal...I brought back the brochure and showed my wife and she said, "can you get rid of those old BBQs that you don't use to have space for it?", but I told her I wasn't decided on buying it yet...she said I sounded like I really wanted it...LOL (yeah, I won't lie, I do...)

 

[Walter R]

Well, Amazon sent a replacement in 2 days and this one is perfect. They did add a second box for shipping. Kudos to Amazon for taking care of it quickly. I order a lot of stuff from them (through this site) for my home and business and they do generally have great customer support when things go wrong.

Can't wait to get her fired up! And Thank You Chris for all you do!

 

[Troy S]

@James ~~ LMAO! That is something I would do, honestly. When I put together my WSM back in June, I had the middle section upside down and had to redo it. Sometimes I'm surprised by how I'm even able to dress myself some days.

@Walker ~~ Awesome! I'm glad things worked out! Enjoy!

I'm three cooks in on my red kettle and I have a couple of thoughts.

The criticisms that people have made about some blemishes on their red kettles are extremely valid, especially when these claims have been made by connoisseurs who collect Weber products like these kettles. I usually have OCD about such things, but this is different, for me. I did my second (and you could arguably say third, too) cook on my kettle yesterday and inspected it. The paint job on mine is not perfect. There are a couple of blemishes (black dots here and there, maybe a couple of 'dimples' on it), but... as long as the grill doesn't fall apart 30 cooks in, it doesn't bother me. This is my first ever Weber kettle. I'm already loving it. I smoked two racks of baby back ribs on it yesterday, and then I fired up some coals (a little under 3/4 full) in the chimney and grilled two chicken breasts. They both came out great!

But going back to my mindset... the criticisms are valid. It should arrive in pristine shape. But it's a grill and it's going to get filthy unless not used. I have my outdoor cookware in my garage. Bought a $1.50 Backyard Grills cover for my red kettle.

Y'know what I might love the most? How quickly this grill cools down after you shut down the vents. My old grill, a STOK drum charcoal grill (a fantastic grill, by the way, even if it isn't a Weber), took forever to cool down. Of course, I used the STOK for most of the summer when it was extremely hot out, and I've only used my kettle in this cool weather, so I guess the true test will be next summer when it's hot and I'm grilling 73/27 burgers.

I'm just curious to see how long this paint job on the kettle will last. Hopefully forever, but you know how that goes.

 

[Timothy F. Lewis]

Troy, you will have a wonderful relationship with your “Redhead”! Don’t you worry about learning the curve with it, you will figure everything out. My only suggestion is order a set of the incredible 304SS baskets for it!

 

[Jon Tofte]

Looks GREAT Troy! I think the Red Kettle is off to a awesome start, so just use it and enjoy it!

 

[Chris Allingham]

I'm just curious to see how long this paint job on the kettle will last. Hopefully forever, but you know how that goes.

Remember, it's not paint, it's a porcelain enamel finish--powdered glass that's fired at high temperature and melts to form an extremely durable surface. There have always been slight imperfections from time to time...many of the old Weber gas grills have black dots in the red finish. Not sure about the current process, but in years past the kettles were coated in black inside and out, then the final color applied to the outside only. So you can imagine how a little dot of black could somehow make its way into the process. And to be candid, I know we expect "perfect", but we'd pay much higher prices if Weber was producing "perfect" and that would be a whole different problem.

 

[Alan D]

Remember, it's not paint, it's a porcelain enamel finish--powdered glass that's fired at high temperature and melts to form an extremely durable surface.

It's still paint, no matter how you look at it. Ok, it's hardened with some heat, it's still paint.

 

[Chris Allingham]

It's still paint, no matter how you look at it. Ok, it's hardened with some heat, it's still paint.

Well, I don't think that's accurate, but I didn't mention it to get into a technical discussion about coatings.

The reason I point out the difference is because we occasionally have members that spray paint grills as part of restoration projects, not realizing that they're porcelain enamel finishes that just need cleaning, not painting.

 

[Alan D]

Well, I don't think that's accurate, but I didn't mention it to get into a technical discussion about coatings.

The reason I point out the difference is because we occasionally have members that spray paint grills as part of restoration projects, not realizing that they're porcelain enamel finishes that just need cleaning, not painting.

Chris,

Not to downplay Weber, the finish they use is a good finish. We could say the same thing for a car finish though, it's also hardened with heat and is a good finish.

To testify to Weber's finish, i have a 30 year old Kettle that is still in pretty good shape, IMO...could use a cleaning, let alone a buffing, but it's still pretty darn good after 30 years.

I just kind of chuckled when I read your comment, it made Weber's paint sound like some type of NASA engineered material.

You make a good point.

 

[Timothy F. Lewis]

Now from an art material dealer standpoint you are both right.
BUT,
With very few exceptions, porcelain enamel is NOT paint, enamel is glass. My wife does enamel artwork, I have consequently learned far more about enameling than anyone not in the enameling business.
Automotive enamel does not chip the way the finish on high temperature enamel does. It is not fired to the same hardness by anyway means.
Pitting occurs when there are small pockets of either air or reduced amounts of the enameling powder on the surface. Old wood fired Chinese cloisonné (don’t ask) is a far more complicated firing sequence than a kettle but,the theory is basically the same. Apply ground glass pigments to the substrate and heat, different colours in cloisonné require differing temperatures and proper sequences when firing. “Overfiring” which may also happen (also causing pitting) is caused by minute airpockets blowing through color layers. In wood and coal fired kilns of the 18th and 19th century were less constant in heat maintenance, another source of pitting.
So, there’s a handful of reasons why pits WILL occur. Given the sheer volume of enameling done every day a thing the Weber company, a few pits can be expected. All that said, I firmly believe that there is no better quality control than Weber’s.
No, I’m not on the payroll either.

 

[BFletcher]

The moral of the story is this helps me feel perfectly content with my black Kettle, lol. Although, I might get excited about a pristine vintage red.

 

[Bob Correll]

Although, I might get excited about a pristine vintage red.

Please allow me to rub it in.
I got lucky a couple of years ago.

 

[BFletcher]

I got lucky a couple of years ago.

That's what I'm talking about; that's awesome!

 

[Jon Tofte]

Please allow me to rub it in.
I got lucky a couple of years ago.

THAT is definitely sweet! Still, I personally also like what I have seen so far of the new special edition. Want to see one in person, but none at our Lowe’s or Home Depot tonight.

 

[Timothy F. Lewis]

Hey Bob,
Raspberries!


Seriously though, good for you!

 

[Jon Alex]

Well more sad news. I received my second red limited today from Amazon and it too has a 1 1/2" x 3/8" porcelain chip along the edge of the lid. Not as large as the first one but pretty bad. I'm bummed. Not sure what to do. I'll call Weber again and ask of they could ship me a new lid under warranty. I'm not going to have Amazon ship me another one. Called the local Ace Hardware and asked if they had any in stock (they are a decent grill dealer) but they had no idea what I was talking about.