One big grill vs. two small


 
Well Bruno, it’s nice to hear someone else admit to putting something on just for the fun of it! I might spin a chicken tonight because, I just feel like that might be fun! I’ll start it early, it’s only 15 degrees out there right now!
 
Related to what @LMichaels said a couple replies in, I have a new Genesis S-345 and it’s kind of a gas hog. Last summer on vacation, I cooked 5 quick meals on my Traveler and still had propane left in the 1/lb can. I‘m not sure I could complete 2 of those meals on my Genesis for that, definitely not more than 3. However, I still like it and it’s what I wamt. It gets a lot hotter than any other gasser I’ve owned and does a lot of searing steaks I’ve smoked on my pellet grill. Not that most here don’t have a spare tank or two, but running multiple gassers usually would mean needing 2 hooked up all the time then wanting another spare or two. So, that’s something to consider too.

Myself, I would make the decision based upon 2 things. What cooking requirements do I have (sear burner, side burner, 2 zone, etc.) and how often will I be cooking for more than will fit on the grill that meets those specs. I run multiple grills just to cook a couple steaks 🤪 I’ll use my WSCG or gasser to cook lunch while my MAK is smoking dinner. So, if it’s 3-4 times a year you need more space, buy what you want for everyday based on specs and find something affordable for overflow, but make sure you use it enough to ‘know it’ before you need it.
 
Another option worth mentioning is something like the CaterGator. It resembles a vertical cooler that keeps a bunch of trays of food hot. Not sexy, but it costs less than a grill, travels like crazy, stores easily, and offers tons of flexibility (Thanksgiving, as an example).

I got mine from the curb. It is a very specialized piece of equipment, but it is very good at what it does.
 
IMO, the reason to get a bigger cooker is to make direct/indirect zoning easier.

The actual cooking area of a 3 burner Genny or a 22 kettle is plenty big four most people. But once you allocate 1/3 to 1/2 of the cook top area to a mostly unused direct area, the grill gets small.

My next grill will be a four burner Genny. Three grates wide. Use one grate for direct heat, and you still have two grates (same area as a 3 burner Genny) to actually cook on.

If you have the budget and deck space, sure you could also add a Q grill. But that would be one big one small. Two smalls does not do it for me.
 
Scott Smith said:
Another option worth mentioning is something like the CaterGator. It resembles a vertical cooler that keeps a bunch of trays of food hot. Not sexy, but it costs less than a grill, travels like crazy, stores easily, and offers tons of flexibility (Thanksgiving, as an example).

I got mine from the curb. It is a very specialized piece of equipment, but it is very good at what it does.
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Scott, could you post a picture of that, so I know what to look for on the curb.🤣
 
Scott Smith said:
My question is simple - If you need the capacity, will you be happier with one big Weber gas grill, or two small ones?

I can actually see a lot of pros and cons to each setup, and I was wondering if anyone had actual experience or suggestions.

In my case, I also own a pile of about 50 concrete building blocks that I use with grates and regular wood/charcoal. That setup scales up and down for crowds from 50 to 500 by simply making a longer grill.

Way back in my days working at Cub Scout camp, we would do a family night dinner for about 700 each week on a row of cheap propane grills that the camp had. An adult manned each. This worked like crazy.
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Scott, 700? Each week? Who the heck paid for all that food?
 
At one time I had a Silver B plus a 5 burner Jenn-air. Seldom used the big grill-only for large cook outs. Never used both at the same time. I would opt for two smaller grills because of the versatility.
 
Jon Tofte said:
My answer to a number of people who have visited here and posted about the prospects of restoring one of those huge 6-burner last generation Summits has often been this: "Why not get 2 nice Genesis grills instead? More cooking room on two of them than any Summit. And, like Bruce and some others have mentioned, you get twice the flexibility.
So, if I had to pick from one big grill or two smaller ones, I would choose the two. But three, four, five, six...would be better :coolkettle: !
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How about 2 big ones, or a big and a small one, or imagine the possibilities…yes eight or ten is better. I had to be dragged kicking and screaming to incorporate gas grills into my inventory, now I’m glad I did.
 

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Joan said:
Scott, 700? Each week? Who the heck paid for all that food?
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A lot of them were little kids that didn't eat much. If I recall correctly (from like 25 years ago), we did six weeks with about 200 campers each week. Family dinner/campfire night was midweek. The parents would buy tickets at the beginning of the week for like $4 per person - just enough to cover food. So, 200 campers, 400 parents, 100 siblings, $2800. The parents had already paid $200 for the week, so the $20 dinner was a bargain for them. The Boy Scout sleep away camp across the lake had a very big account with a supplier that we piggybacked onto. The $2800 could have been comped for all I know - it was a drop in the bucket compared to what we spent to feed the teenagers breakfast, lunch, and dinner all summer long. A semi truck came to the camp each week with food. We got good terms because we ordered a lot of simple stuff that never changed, didn't fuss, paid on time, had the teenagers unload the truck, etc.

Families would park and line up along the trail toward a line of like 12 propane grills. Manning this required all of our over-21 staff. People would stroll past and grab exactly whatever they wanted right off the grill - hotdogs and hamburgers. We also had powdered juice drink and like 5-gallon buckets of cole slaw, potato salad, etc. set up on some picnic tables. There might have been dessert and one or two other items. After that, the campers entertained their families at a campfire. This pattern would repeat each week. Everybody looked forward to it.
 
Thank for the replies. So far, I still can't decide what to do. I ended up keeping my two small Genesis Silver A's and then buying the bars and grates to get my Genesis Silver B going as well.
 
Scott Smith said:
Thank for the replies. So far, I still can't decide what to do. I ended up keeping my two small Genesis Silver A's and then buying the bars and grates to get my Genesis Silver B going as well.
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I would think a Silver A plus a Silver B would cover from a couple burgers to a decent spread.
 
JSaus said:
I would think a Silver A plus a Silver B would cover from a couple burgers to a decent spread.
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Agreed, but my situation goes like this - I am heavily committed to Silver A. I have enough parts (new and recycled) to hopefully keep them going for another 20 years. My rotisserie fits Silver A. I picked the Silver B up from the curb and threw it on the roof rack not realizing that it was not a Silver A. Then it turned out to be a perfectly functional grill with no issues and about 50% remaining on the flavorizer bars and grates. I think the homeowner was simply moving. So now I have a really nice big grill that is mostly useless for parts, too nice to discard, and hard to give away to normal friends/relatives (Anybody want a 20-year-old grill that will need $$$ in slightly obscure parts in a year or so?)

So eventually I got tired of looking at that Silver B on my deck and bought the parts to fix it up.
 
Bruce said:
Good job Scott. But, I think a Performer would help to balance off that deck.
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You, buddy, are an enabler! But, thanks for the help on the refurb of my only gasser.
I think some people just don’t quite understand the need for a broad scope of grilling tools. Read “Grills”. They all work in specific arenas of excellence.
 
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