Grills I saw at Costco


 

Jon Tofte

TVWBB 1-Star Olympian
Well, tax season is finally over:D! So, I had time to go with my wife on a trip to Costco. We had to patrol almost all the aisles, but I was at least able to take a brief look at the grills being offered. I was especially interested because of several posts here about grills others had looked at.

WANNABE Q GRILL

I saw the Nexgrill attempt to make a Q-like grill. Not really that bad in person but an ugly duckling that won't work with regular tanks. I did like the left/right burner configuration. Not enough to dissuade me from my attachment to Q's or to recommend one over a Q, regardless of the price.

https://www.costco.com/Nexgrill-Cast-Aluminum-Table-Top-Gas-BBQ.product.100384628.html

STAINLESS GENESIS II WITH SPECIAL FEATURES

Our Costco also had the $999 special on a stainless Genesis II. It has already been well covered in a thread started by Jon K:

https://tvwbb.com/showthread.php?77031-Saw-this-Genesis-at-Costco-today&highlight=costco

I would say that this is a good deal when you consider the extras being thrown in. For me, I would rather have the special edition Crimson open cart version with 9mm (vs 7mm on this Costco version) stainless bar grates:

https://www.bbqguys.com/weber-grill...ition-propane-gas-grill-crimson-61032201-2019

ANOTHER VERY INTERESTING GRILL

What I wasn't expecting, though, was the stainless 5 burner Signateur grill. This is apparently Costco's house brand. That gives me some worries about where you will be five years from now when you need parts, but there was A LOT TO LIKE about this grill:

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  • 304 Stainless construction. The tag didn't say whether it was ALL 304 stainless, and I didn't have a magnet or time to do a more thorough look. If it really is all 304, that says a lot in my book, especially in this price range.

    VBJI82L.jpg

  • FLAT stainless grates. This is a feature from the very expensive Fire Magic grills. I know that some of you probably don't see the point, but to me a flat stainless bar grate brings the best of two worlds: The safety and long life of stainless and the sharp grill marks that GrillGrates deliver. I would really love to have a set of these!

    bxk9PbT.jpg

  • Price - Just $659. Don't get me wrong, that’s still a lot of money, but it is a pretty tough price to beat for a new, nice-looking grill at this level, especially with 304 stainless, five burners, special grates and some very good reviews - even from Consumer Reports.

    Hq7uWVz.jpg

 
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Interesting grill. Almost certainly parts will be hard to find in 5 years. If you buy one, maybe buy two for parts!
 
The stainless grill is interesting Jon. I do like the flat grates. Cool concept although brushless cleaners like the chargon wouldn't work. Do you know if even the firebox is stainless? I'm asking because the stainless grills I've seen at Sam's all have a painted sheet metal firebox. Which is really idiotic. That Costco is a real bargain if it's ALL stainless.
 
Greg,
I am pretty positive the firebox was stainless but don't know if it is 304 or whether that claim only applies to a few visible components.

These grates like my GrillGrates I think would probably clean up best (and safely) with one of those wood spatula type of scrapers.
 
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Sam's sells a premium version very much like the Costco one for $599. Saw it there yesterday. SS fire box btw but did not do a magnet test
 
Our local Sam's has never carried anything like that. Just the cheapos that are low quality stainless and that have the dreaded sheet metal firebox.
 
While the Signateur looks nice, it has horrible reviews. Over 26 1 star reviews.
It is well built, but most of the complaints say the burner system SUCKS, and does not get very hot at all, in fact it won't even put sear marks on steaks.
If you look at the pic in OP's post, there is a huge sheet of stainless over the burners called a "flame tamer" and that is what the cause is.
Basically the whole burner tube area is covered up.
Whoever designed the grill doesn't seem to ever put it through real world use. Might look good on paper, but sucks in real life.
It also has a somewhat lousy 5 year warranty.
BTW, last time I was in Costco, there was a rep there from Traeger Grills who would not leave me the hell alone, basically begged me to buy one.
 
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I did see those reviews but also a lot of good ones. It made me wonder if it is a quality control issue or user error. It may also be a case of where a bunch of good parts don’t equal a good whole. I would just like to get grates like those and put them on one of my classic Webers.
 
I think I would go with user error. Also when I look into online reviews of anything I tend to lop off the top and bottom ones as they are typically fake. I put more weight into the mid range reviews and look for commonality. Speaking of a piece of stainless steel covering the burners.......................that is pretty much the norm for all grills
 
I think I would go with user error. Also when I look into online reviews of anything I tend to lop off the top and bottom ones as they are typically fake. I put more weight into the mid range reviews and look for commonality. Speaking of a piece of stainless steel covering the burners.......................that is pretty much the norm for all grills

Yes, but this covers almost the entire firebox area above the burners.
 
Possibly another user error issue. Weber started putting in "Heat Shields" into their E3xx grills. These are different from the FLavorizer bars and go under the burners. They are designed to shield the grease pan from excessive fire box heat and help eliminate flare ups and grease fires. They are substantially wider than flavorizer bars and maybe they have a similar system in the above grills and people are mistakenly putting them above the burners instead of below??? Just a thought.
 
I didn’t have time (shopping with my tax-season weary wife), but if I go back I will look closely and maybe post some more pictures. If in fact it uses one flat stainless piece ABOVE the burners - essentially a single large flavorizer bar - then a user would need to expect a longer than typical warmup time. The Rec Tec and other pellet grills also have a large stainless shield, but these grills are not trying for super hot searing.

I am not particularly advocating these Signateur grills - except those really cool grates:cool:. I would think, though, that with five burners that are properly working and going full speed that given a little time a searing level of heat would be achievable.
 
Sam, Very interesting and I don't blame you for holding back. My question is just how strong the grates are. Is 4mm strong enough to keep it from sagging and flexing and bending?

I see you only get one half the set at $49 as well and I also notice that it is only 5lbs. I know my RCP grates are at least double that.
 
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Yup, it does say that it is 5.36 pounds per grate, is that considered heavy or light for a SS grate? Also, I wonder what grade of SS they used for the grate...?
 
Here's a "flat grate" set made by Stanbroil that I've always had my eyes on...

https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B07C7JVJ2B/tvwb-20

I didn't pull the trigger though due to lack of reviews.

Sam,
I have never seen that one before. Thanks for sharing. The ~1/7th inch thickness gives me pause. I like the true flat rods that this Signateur grill comes with - as does Fire Magic’s grills. They look more likely to last, at least to me.
 
No problem Jon. Yah, I'm also interested in the flat bars as opposed to round ones and that search led me to the Stanbroil one.
 
As mentioned by someone else, I stopped at Sam's club earlier today.
The $599 Stainless one has an extra burner and seems well made.
 

 

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