Oh yeah, one more thing. The advantages of the table isn't just that there's a table to work on. The whole unit is MUCH more stable. It's VERY easy to move and I'm pretty sure I could sit on the thing and it would hold me just fine. I have no hesitation at all about it holding my rotisserie or my cajun bandit FULL of meat.
So to answer your question: Yes! I'm as frugal a person as you will ever meet, and I think it's totally worth it. I waited a year before I bought one and once I pulled the trigger, I didn't have a single regret about it (...other than the fact that I waited a year before I got one.)
I have a 22" One Touch Silver that I put the ash pan from a Gold on. For what its worth, I wish I had a performer. They do make a table for kettles, but I think the performer would be much better.... for me.
One other difference that is subtle (but for some tall people, critical): the grilling surface on the Performer is slightly higher than that of a One-touch.
I have had my performer since 02 and to agree with Justin W I have never ever regretted it. Every point he made as well as Kevins point about height is absolutely valid.
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by george curtis:
they do not come with a ss grate. well, unless thats new this year and i've not read that. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
My bad. I thought it was stainless. I change my opinion...the performers are total crap.
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Kevin Walsh:
One other difference that is subtle (but for some tall people, critical): the grilling surface on the Performer is slightly higher than that of a One-touch. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
I'm only 5'9", and that couple inches makes a huge difference.
For years, I thought $300 was way to much to pay for what I thought was just a blinged out Weber kettle. I've had a Performer for about 9 months now, and can't tell you how much I love it. It's just a phenomenal piece of gear.
The other day I was cooking some spare ribs on the performer using the ribolator, and was about to start up my WSM for some pork shoulders. I had to manually start the coals for my WSM for the first time since I got my performer over a year ago. Since I changed the bottom ring around on my chimney to make it easier to start coals on the performer, it wasn't that easy to get coals started in that thing.
It took me about 5 tries before I finally got the coals lit. I think I need to get me another Weber chimney that won't be messed with as I don't want to go through that hassle again.