I can't help on how to use it, but why is there a grill in your great room? Did it used to be a kitchen? The hood is glorious!

Is this an enclosed room or an outdoor living room (large porch)? If the former, do you have room to create the latter for at least your hood (perhaps with a newer grill or fireplace)?

I actually had a friend that had this but it was in an indoor patio space , hard to describe. They found it made the whole house stink when used so a year later had it removed to the outside.IMO it looks silly where it is and completely useless so I would remove it and mount your T.V in that space much better than where it is

Holy crud, I would absolutely get that thing up and running. But I'm also in coastal New England with fairly limited comfortable grilling weather.

I remember these installs, very upscale at the time. Find the grill a new home adjacent to your patio. The hood would be fab in a very large kitchen, or to hold "grow lights" for exotic plants. Indoor BBQ's now require a "dry extinguish" system (Ansul) to meet code. I love your home.

It is a beautiful piece, the copper is one of a kind. I just cannot see grilling in your front room even with the hood. I would leave it, take the the grate off, replace the grate with a solid piece of granite or something and turn it into a bar. Your living room is fantastic.....Don Draper would feel right at home...as long as there is lots of liquor.

This Reminds me of many of the homes in the neighborhood I grew up in. (I'm also mid century;) I love it too, but not so much there. It is a prize, If you have a good usable alternative space for it, I would remove carefully and re-locate.
On the other hand, finding an unmolested mid-century house is a score, and I think I would at least give it a chance there, use it several times and see if it smells/smokes up the house and is convenient.

Otherwise, I like the idea to move the TV there as I don't like them over
fireplaces either. The aquarium idea is also a good one, as is the wet
bar...

OMG we had one of those in a previous house! Not quite as big. We loved it - didn't use it much, but it was a really neat thing to have.

Cleaning out the squirrel fans overhead ... which obviously hadn't been cleaned since the house was built in the 70s, wasn't a whole lot of fun, but still, it was great to have an open BBQ indoors in miserable weather and our 6 months of winter.