I would love to see a photo of that supposedly stainless cabinet on your Silver A Summit. My brother has a Silver B Summit (same grill with a side burner) and the cabinet is definitely not stainless. Now that being said. His needs to be overhauled. I bought ALL the parts needed to do it for him at Grillparts.com (flavorizer bars, complete burner set and complete igniter kit and casters) $275 delivered to my door. IMO far better than messing around with a new Genesis. You'll have a better grill when you're done than that Genesis (as long as the fire box is intact and heck even if it's not.................call Weber and tell them you need a new one. Put the new one aside until if/when you need it. They're still supplying that fire box and it is the ONLY weak spot on that grill. I would not waste my $$$$ on the Genesis
I never said it is all stainless. Only the doors and the top of the lid are stainless. I like the look - I realize that its really no better than the other options unless the every part is stainless However, I've never had a corrosion issue. I design metal things for a living. On the silver summit series of that age just about any part on the cabinet can be easily and fairly cheaply made at your local sheet metal shop in any material you want including stainless - pick your alloy! That is also true of most of the pieces that make up the central grill box if you want to take the time to do it. I used to live in Chicago so I know that nothing like that is done cheaply there. However, Atlanta is a diferrent story. I had some custom flashing fabricated for my house at a local sheet metal place - a lot of it - for less than $100.
I agree with you about overhauling what I have. I've already done it once about 8 years ago. It doesn't really need that now. But since Weber has stopped making the parts for it I figured it might be a good time to replace some things so I could get another 5 years out of it. I don't need much. The cover issue has frustrated me. The grill sits on my deck and is prominently visible from ever window in the back of the house. It would be nice if it looked right. I could wrap it in a blue tarp from harbor freight and that would do the job but it won't look good. Finding a cover that isn't way too big has been frustrating. I've been looking for months and the suggestions I got in the other thread were all thought about, considered and discarded a few months ago.
I'm planning top re-engineer the the little stainless baskets that surround the sparkers. I am tired of their very short life and very high cost. I'm thinking of using a piece of stainless tube with a stainless steel screw as the element for the spark to jump to. When the screw gets corroded I can just remove it and put in another one. I would also like a stainless drip pan - I always forget to remove it and they rot out quickly once the grease eats through the aluminum liner.
I have saved every set of flavorizer bars I've had when they were replaced so I can pick through those and put together a good set. I need to re-engineer the part that covers the cross tubes - that was never a good design. The cross tube cover portion is what rotted out on all of my sets.
The only part that I really need (other than the cover) is the pressure regulator. Mine is 14-15 years old. Regulators have very delicate parts in them. My grill has the symptoms of a regulator going bad - weak performance of the burner tube furthest from the gas line. The burner tubes are all only a few years old and clean so they are not the problem. I figure replacing the regulator is a cheap and easy job. A new maxitrol natural gas regulator is about $30, about $20 on ebay if I can be sure I'm getting the right part number.
I ALWAYS look at the options being clearanced around labor day and see if there is anything that I like. This year I was drawn to the Genesis at the HD that has been marked down a lot. As I've mentioned its propane and I want NG so there was no point in even considering it if it can't be cheaply modified to NG.
For what its worth I decided last night to stick with what I've got this year and just fix the issues. I can buy that 7131 cover you suggested at HD and take it back if it looks too shabby.