Gas Grills: What 30 Spec Sheets Actually Say

11 listings give a warming rack separately and the stated area sometimes counts it; and of the 18 stated BTU figures, 8 of 11 on grills of three or more burners can only be per burner.

What we analysed, and how

This report covers every gas grill our site has reviewed and kept: 30 grills from 18 brands, sorted into the class by Amazon’s own category for each product, not by the category its review was filed under. For each there are two independent transcriptions of the listing, the review’s specification table and Amazon’s detail page, and a figure is called agreed only when both state it and match. In this class the checking finds something that agreement cannot: two sources can agree on a number that means two different things.

Cooking area is a number that means two things

29 of the 30 state a cooking area, from 150 to 900 square inches, a median of 489. The first thing to know about that number is that it is not one quantity. Some listings state the area of the main grate, and some state the main grate plus a warming rack, which is a shelf above it that keeps food warm and is not a place to sear. 11 listings give a rack area separately somewhere in the listing or our review. Of those, 7 listings (6 distinct grills) also give the main grate on its own, which lets us see which the stated area is: 4 state the main grate plus the rack, one product (2 listings, one grill under two ASINs) states the main grate alone, and 1 matches neither (the stated figure is larger than the grate and rack the text itemises).

The practical effect is on comparisons. The Charbroil Classic and MASTER COOK page sets two three-burner grills with the same 30,000 BTU side by side: the MASTER COOK’s stated 472 square inches looks 31 percent larger than the Charbroil’s 360, but 472 includes a 133 square inch rack, and the main grate is 339 square inches, 21 square inches smaller than the Charbroil’s 360. A shopper comparing the two stated figures would be misled by a number that is not wrong. Only 7 of the 30 listings give us enough to tell which a figure is, so for the others we say only that the figure is the maker’s and that it may or may not count a rack.

Heat output: a total for some, one burner for others

18 listings state BTU, and the numbers fall into two groups. One group sits between 5,500 and 15,000; the other between 30,000 and 60,000. The gap is not between small and large grills. It is between two ways of stating heat.

Take the 11 distinct grills that state BTU and a count of three or more burners. 3 give a figure that works out at 10,000 to 11,300 BTU per burner if it is a total: the Charbroil Classic and the MASTER COOK at 30,000 for three burners, and a 34,000 BTU three-burner (the Charbroil is listed under two ASINs, counted once). The other 8 work out at 1,500 to 4,950 per burner if read as totals, which is 15 to 50 percent of the 10,000 the three-burner grills state. A four-burner grill stating 8,500 BTU in total would have burners of about 2,100 BTU each, a fifth of those, so the figure is far more likely to be per burner or for the main burner alone. We cannot tell which from the listings, and neither can a shopper.

Heat output has no standard denominator, so the measure that makes grills comparable is BTU per square inch of grate. For the grills whose figure reads as a total, it is 64 to 83 BTU per square inch. If the other figures are per burner and are multiplied by the burner count, they come to 54 to 101, a range that overlaps the first and is our inference, not a listing’s statement. The important thing is that without knowing which reading applies, the difference between a 30,000 and an 8,500 BTU grill may be nothing at all.

Weight, and dimensions that do not fit their labels

22 state a weight. They run from 7 to 109 kilograms, a median of 31, and the middle half runs from 20 to 44. The heavy end is premium cabinet and outdoor-kitchen grills, a Napoleon at 109 kilograms among them, and the light end is the tabletop grills at under ten. The cart grills of three or more burners that state a weight run from 20 to 70 kilograms.

Dimensions are less trustworthy than weights. 6 of the 22 grills with three or more burners list a depth larger than their height, which for a cart grill means at least one label is on the wrong measurement. The MASTER COOK shows how it happens: its own bullet gives the grill as 46.46 inches long, 20.87 wide and 41.14 high, and Amazon’s table lists a depth of 41.14 and a height of 20.87, the values attached to the wrong labels. Take any grill’s dimensions from its own text before you measure a patio against them.

Burners, price bands and what the burner count predicts

27 state a burner count: 3 with 1, 2 with 2, 8 with 3, 10 with 4, 1 with 5, 3 with 6. Area per burner is steadier than area: the median is 137 square inches per burner, and the middle of the distribution is 122 to 156. That is a narrower spread than the area on its own, which runs from 360 to 665 across the middle half. Price bands are on record for 23 of the 30: 2 in $30–75, 6 in $75–200, 10 in $200–500 and 5 in the $500+ band. Of the 9 grills of four or more burners with a band, 9 are in the $200–500 or $500+ bands. A band is a range, not a price, and it moves.

What the listings leave out

Fuel is stated as propane or gas on 29 of the 30, and one is a gas and charcoal combination. Of the 30 grills, 8 state no weight, 12 no BTU and 3 no burner count, and a cooking area is the one figure nearly all of them give and the one we could least rely on without checking what it counts. Two listings of the same Charbroil Classic grill carry the same figures under two ASINs, and two Cuisinart portable grills carry the same 150 square inches and 5,500 BTU, so the class has fewer distinct products than 30 suggests.

How to use this

• Ask what the area counts. If a listing gives a rack, subtract it; if it gives a total, use the main grate for comparison;
• Ask whether BTU is a total or per burner. A figure under about 15,000 on a grill with three or more burners is almost certainly per burner;
• Divide before you compare. BTU per square inch of grate and area per burner are steadier than either headline number;
• Take dimensions from the text before measuring a patio: 6 listings label height and depth the wrong way round;
• to narrow by your own answers, use the grill finder; to see how grills compare in size, read our grill size guide; and for the whole type, see the gas grill reviews.

Figures are the manufacturers’, as published on each listing and quoted in our reviews; none was measured by us. How we work · Affiliate disclosure