Here is my 2 cents. I Don't own either. But I do have a 22 1/2 kettle. I had this same dilemma with a bday present for my brother. I wound up going with the 26.75 kettle. I Did this for several reasons. 1 are tables that big of a concern to you? If so you could come up with one and sit it next to your grill. 2. I am a die hard chimney man and didn't see the gas assist of the performer as that big of a plus. What if you go to grill and the bottle is empty? you'll have to use something else anyway, plus the gas bottles are another expense(chimney is one time purchase, just use paper of some kind to start it) 4. The kettles without the tables are going to be more portable. If you want to take your grill camping the performer is pretty much out of the question. As would be the one touch platinum in my opinion. I say if you're going with 22 1/2 go one touch gold. There are even Weber genuine table accessories you can get for it. If you see yourself as wanting to bbq or host bbq and grill parties go with the 26.75. Got to say when I helped him put his together I was very jealous.
One Touch Platinum vs Performer
- Thread starter Michael L.
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I get you on everything John, except the Performer in no way eliminates use of a chimney.
That's all I use with or without the Performer.
The gas flame under the chimney is really convenient to me. I always have a gas bottle on the shelf. And you really only need the gas on for about 5 minutes. You don't need to leave it on any longer that it take to start the coals. You shut it off while the chimney is engaging after that.
If they were making that 26.75 kettle when I was buying my Performer I might have gone that route. That said I still like the convenience of the features.
Get your point though.
That's all I use with or without the Performer.
The gas flame under the chimney is really convenient to me. I always have a gas bottle on the shelf. And you really only need the gas on for about 5 minutes. You don't need to leave it on any longer that it take to start the coals. You shut it off while the chimney is engaging after that.
If they were making that 26.75 kettle when I was buying my Performer I might have gone that route. That said I still like the convenience of the features.
Get your point though.
Michael L.
TVWBB Fan
I'm going to reply to two posts with this one reply.
John - I totally get where your coming from. Before I bought my performer I was a total non-believer. The tables weren't a big selling feature for me as I stated earlier in the topic. I currently have a 6 foot table and another small circular table that I used for cooking with my old "crazy ex-girlfriend" grill. And that was the same argument I made about NOT buying the performer. So yeah.. you could just put a table next to it, but it's nice to have one already there. It rains a lot in oregon and during the "off" season I clean off the deck. So it's nice to not have to get out a bunch of stuff to cook a chicken breast.
Same thing with the starter assist. I use it with a chimney. And yeah, I could use the cubes, or paper, or something else, but again... it's convienence. I've never liked the bit's that go flying around after using newspaper, and I hate it when I'd go out to get started and realize I forgot my starter cubes, and had to go back inside. Are these huge issues? No, but this was a luxury purchase for me. Now everything I need is in one spot. I don't have to go inside, or in the garage, looking for newspaper, looking for vegetable oil to wet the paper, looking for starter cubes, looking for matches, or anything. I just take my charcoal out of my tub, pour it in the chimney, set it over the gas tube, and turn it on. 5-7 minutes later it's ALL rip roaring red hot. Ready to go.
How much time am I saving? ...eh.. I don't know.. maybe a few minutes. Are there other ways to cure what I'm talking about? Probably... but it's nice to have it all ready in one spot for you. If it took me 6 minutes to get ready before, then now it's taking me only 3. 3 minutes might not like a whole **** of a lot of time saved, but saving 50% feels a lot better.
And portability was never a concern for me. I couldn't imagine packing up a 22.5" kettle in my car for camping anyway.
As far as Dave and his cost for gas goes. You must be in a different part of the world than me. I bought the coleman campstove canisters for $2.80 each. I'm still on my first canister and I've fired it 5 or 6 times so far. I have no idea how much is left in it, but 5+ starts for $2.80 is totally worth it for me.
I do wish you could raise and lower the grates. My old Kingsford barrel grill could do that, and I liked it. But.. what can you do?
I used to make two piles of coals in that thing, and take out one of the three cast iron grates in it. Then I could put my meat on a grate, put it directly over really hot fire, and slide it over to a cooler side when I wanted indirect heat.
I just with that Weber made cast iron grates for the Performer. I know about the gourmet system, and I now about the 4 piece CI grates available, but personally I don't like the big cross bars that go through the middle of the grates. I'd much rather have the Lodge ones that are no longer in production. If I could find those, then I would be ecstatic!!
John - I totally get where your coming from. Before I bought my performer I was a total non-believer. The tables weren't a big selling feature for me as I stated earlier in the topic. I currently have a 6 foot table and another small circular table that I used for cooking with my old "crazy ex-girlfriend" grill. And that was the same argument I made about NOT buying the performer. So yeah.. you could just put a table next to it, but it's nice to have one already there. It rains a lot in oregon and during the "off" season I clean off the deck. So it's nice to not have to get out a bunch of stuff to cook a chicken breast.
Same thing with the starter assist. I use it with a chimney. And yeah, I could use the cubes, or paper, or something else, but again... it's convienence. I've never liked the bit's that go flying around after using newspaper, and I hate it when I'd go out to get started and realize I forgot my starter cubes, and had to go back inside. Are these huge issues? No, but this was a luxury purchase for me. Now everything I need is in one spot. I don't have to go inside, or in the garage, looking for newspaper, looking for vegetable oil to wet the paper, looking for starter cubes, looking for matches, or anything. I just take my charcoal out of my tub, pour it in the chimney, set it over the gas tube, and turn it on. 5-7 minutes later it's ALL rip roaring red hot. Ready to go.
How much time am I saving? ...eh.. I don't know.. maybe a few minutes. Are there other ways to cure what I'm talking about? Probably... but it's nice to have it all ready in one spot for you. If it took me 6 minutes to get ready before, then now it's taking me only 3. 3 minutes might not like a whole **** of a lot of time saved, but saving 50% feels a lot better.
And portability was never a concern for me. I couldn't imagine packing up a 22.5" kettle in my car for camping anyway.
As far as Dave and his cost for gas goes. You must be in a different part of the world than me. I bought the coleman campstove canisters for $2.80 each. I'm still on my first canister and I've fired it 5 or 6 times so far. I have no idea how much is left in it, but 5+ starts for $2.80 is totally worth it for me.
I do wish you could raise and lower the grates. My old Kingsford barrel grill could do that, and I liked it. But.. what can you do?
I used to make two piles of coals in that thing, and take out one of the three cast iron grates in it. Then I could put my meat on a grate, put it directly over really hot fire, and slide it over to a cooler side when I wanted indirect heat.
I just with that Weber made cast iron grates for the Performer. I know about the gourmet system, and I now about the 4 piece CI grates available, but personally I don't like the big cross bars that go through the middle of the grates. I'd much rather have the Lodge ones that are no longer in production. If I could find those, then I would be ecstatic!!
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