The Bottom Line
- Heavy duty burners and cooking grates
- Good BTUs for the size
- Independent ignitor for each burner
- Removable full size drip pan
- Cart is not welded but held together with steel screws
- Porcelain enamel coating over most components needs extra care
- Largely Aluminum construction
- Poor construction quality
Description
- Three 15,000 BTU porcelain enameled cast iron burners for a total output of 45,000 BTUs
- 12,000 BTU brass side burner under a cover
- Some stainless steel parts including a hood center piece, control panel and cabinet doors.
- 456 square inches of primary cooking space for a total cooking area of 630 square inches
- 3 electronic ignitors lets you light any one of the three burners
- Heavy porcelain enameled cast iron cooking grates
- Large, removable drip pan for easy cleaning
- Good is dual layered to hold in heat better. Hood is vented so it won't hold in a lot of heat.
Guide Review - Charmglow Gas Grill by Brinkmann
This grill is a good demonstration that you can do more with less. Since this grill has only limited stainless steel parts (hood section, control panel and front cabinet doors), Brinkmann was able to use a better set of burners and a solid set of cooking grates. These parts are porcelain enameled cast iron, so while they have good cooking properties they do need a little extra care.
This grill does have a few nice features like an electronic igniter for each of the burners allowing you to light the burner you want without having to first light the left burner, like many grills in this price range. You also get three 15,000 BTU cast iron burners instead of the typical 12,000 BTU. This gives the grill 45,000 total BTUs under a primary cooking area of 456 square inches. This is a pretty good ratio. You also get a full sized, removable drip pan so this grill is easer to clean. Listing at $299USD this is a good grill in the price range and probably one of the better ones. If you go to Home Depot to look at it you'll see it sitting next to the all stainless steel Charmglow by Nexgrill. The Brinkmann is a better unit in my opinion.
The primary weakness of this grill, like most in its price range is the cart construction. The whole thing is held together with steel screws which can rust over time. I would think you'll get a good 5 years out of this grill, but keep it covered and watch for rust.
