I love my 26.75" kettle. Very versatile. I can easily smoke 3 racks indirect. Has plenty of space for grilling. In my mind, better to have the space and not need it, than the other way around.
I use a 9" pie pan wrapped in foil. I change the foil every several cooks. I also scrape the grates after each cook. Before each cook, I let them heat up and give them another scrape. That's it besides cleaning out the ashes.