Last year for wood slats and lid handle?


 
Found an older 3 burner Genesis with a flip up table. My question is...what was the last year Weber used wood for the slats and lid handle (wood, not the gray durawood)? My dad used to have one in the 80's and from what I recall, I didn't them like that in the 90's.
 
I am not sure exactly, but I think it was in the late 90's that they completely abandoned wood. Even in the early days, though, some models had painted gray slats while others had stained wood. There was a short time that they went to durawood (special plastic) slats until the new Genesis Silver with thermoset (also special plastic) tables came out in 2000.
 
My 1993 had real wood and I think it was around 1996 that they switched to Durawood.
 
It may be possible that the introduced Durawood as an option for at least a year or two before switching over completely. If so, there may not be a clear switch over date.
 
It may be possible that the introduced Durawood as an option for at least a year or two before switching over completely. If so, there may not be a clear switch over date.

That is how I understood it. It was an option that became the standard for a little while. Then they went to the Silver in 2000 and that was the end of slats altogether.
 
I have a 1000 which was 96 and that has wood with the wire grid on the bottom only wood on the left side. I also have an 1100 which has has the gray wood slats on the side and bottom it was purchased Date:05/15/1999 so my belief is it was a 98 model and that has wood not sure whether the 1100 was an upgraded model for that year. This grill was registered with Weber by the original owner and I had to call and get it added to my grills so I know it was purchased on that date.

Bruce might be correct there may not have been an exact cutoff date.
 
In 1998 when I bought mine I believe that the standard gen 1000 had wood and the gen 1000LX had durawood, mine is a 1000LX.
 
My purchased new in 1996 from Ace Hardware Genesis 1000 LX ($399) came with the Durawood trays and handle. Top left and two on the bottom instead of a wire rack and one swing-up table on the left. I purchased the parts and added a second swing-up table on the right in front of the tank. I looks real classy with the double swing-up tables. Even after 23 years, they still look nice; much better than the Thermoset parts on my 2000 Silver C. When they get grimey, I put them in the dishwasher. Doesn't seem to harm the Durawood at all, including the paint. Apart from the cooking grates and Flavorizer bars, which were replaced about 10 years ago with porcelain cast iron (exclusive to Home Depot at the time) and stainless steel versions, nothing else has been replaced. Both have held up pretty well. Even the igniter is original, although it takes more than one click now because the top of the gas catcher has slowly eroded away a bit over time.
 

 

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