"Would love recommendations for a built-in gas grill"

Boneless ribeye

(a Sunday night answer)

We’re in CA, but got a built in Lynx grill and made a slightly raised shelf to sit our Weber bullet smoker. There’s a bit of countertop in between. We just use the included covers for bad weather but don’t have the snow and harsh weather that you do. It’s been 4 years and I love them both and recommend them.

Lynx are all stainless steel and quite rugged. It took me a while to overcome my urge to clean mine each time back to new condition. This had the effect of making me biased toward not wanting use it and get it greasy.

Tuning the burners is recommended to get the most stable simmer. One can do it oneself with a screwdriver.

The weather cover is the best I've ever seen on an outdoor piece of equipment.

Cost-wise, it will help if one is a friend of Sec. Mnuchin.

MIne is not built-in, but is 'mobile.' All that stainless steel is heavy. The wheels are up to the task.

I am on Long Island and have an outdoor kitchen with a 36” Lynx built-in grill. We use it about seven months a year. Once we pass Thanksgiving, we cover the entire outdoor kitchen and reopen in April.

i have had some issues with the Lynx, so I can’t say that I am 100% pleased, considering the money I paid. The electrical connection for the rotisserie crapped out twice, the briquette trays didn’t last, that sort of thing. The cooking is fantastic though. I have one infrared burner and two regular ones, which I think is ideal. We aren’t a big family either, but 36” provides lots of space. You may find that you use the grill more than you think.

I don’t have a smoker, but the Lynx does come with a smoking box.

One bit of advice, although you didn’t ask. If there is any way that you can put a sink into your outdoor kitchen, do it. Having access to water is truly a game changer. I think it’s even more important than having a fridge.

WeWent with the Artisan grill and are very happy with it 2years in. No problems, including no rusting and i am in SW FL 3 blocks from the water

We have both a Kamado Joe(2 of them) and a Recteq(used to be Rectec). Rectec is a pellet grill. Would recommend both. Can't help with gas as we don't grill on gas.

After buying a Primo while building - my husband decided to buy two Primos instead of a primo and a gas grill. We love the primo. We selected it over the Egg as it is oval so you can divide the firebox and have half direct and half indirect (smoke) cooking options. Of course you have the entire grill as direct or indirect. We bought a paint gun stripper that we use to light the hardwood charcoal so it heats pretty quickly. Primo is also made in the USA if that is important to you. They have great customer service as well. It is something I would suggest looking into for your smoker. We also have a traeger pellet grill at our second home that we are still experimenting with. It performs very well and worth looking into as a smoker particularly if you only plan to use it occasionally. You set it and pretty much forget it. It also does a good job grilling chicken/steak/burgers/veggies if you like a smoke flavor. We had a weber smokey mountain bullet smoker but found it was difficult to hold heat for longer smokes. Good Luck and enjoy your outdoor kitchen. We love ours - we are in Florida so it is year round for us.

If money wasn't a limiting factor, I'd love to have a Kalamazoo. I have been drooling over one of their hybrid grills for years. But it is hard to justify that price tag. But one day ...

We've owned Weber, Fire Magic, Lynx and a few other brands over the years. One thing I found is that it doesn't seem to pay to spend a lot more money on a grill. The Fire Magic never performed as advertised and I think it cost us around $7K ... a waste of money. They all seem to rapidly decline and start breaking after about a year of use. We grill a lot.

My next strategy might be to buy basic cheap grills and just replace every 2-3 years!!

DH deals with the smoker is mostly happy with his green egg, but is looking at the other brand with the oval design for more flexibility.

We have a Saber. Dh chose it...it’s our first one, and I basically think it’s awful. But...having read @chispa ’s comment above...maybe they just all have issues? It certainly “looks” good, and seems substantial...but we’ve had it ever since we built our outdoor kitchen 4.5 years ago and the igniter gradually became more and more difficult to use until now...when we just say eff it and light the gas using a lighter. 🙄

I read every review out there and got a Lynx grill. We just got our backyard bbq space finished about a month ago. The bbq guys site was EXTREMELY helpful and their customer service is amazing and answered all my questions about
All the grills out there. I also went to two local showrooms and felt trapped because their selection wasn’t all that good and because each one only carried certain brands. Which is why I went through bbqguys

I have professionally installed every grill on the market for over 20 years. i would highly recommend a Fire Magic Aurora 660. It's about $4500 and well worth it. We have had several installed for more than 14 years with no problems. The over engineered Aurora 660 is a nice sized family grill with the best rear rotisserie available. Fire Magic also offers all the storage doors and drawers to match and lots of cooking accessories ie. smoker box, pizza stone, griddle, sear station, wood chip box. You can not buy a better grill in my opinion.

@nini804, the igniter has died on every single grill (cheap or expensive) we have owned! We keep a bunch of those long necked lighters in a kitchen drawer for exactly that use!

I have the FireMagic Echelon 660. It's pretty terrible. The burners are exceptionally difficult to light without leaking a bunch of gas, and when they do go, BANG. There's a bit of a trick to mostly get them to light quickly but it's a real pain in the butt. A friend of mine has one too and his is the same. $700 weber gas bottle grill was better.

Also the glass window is a total gimmick/scam. It clouds over immediately and is then never useful.

@ranchtastic oh man, thanks for your feedback. I spent my morning researching Fire Magic grills and was starting to lean toward the Echelon!! I was really interested in the digital temp display, 3 separate heat zones, and the ability to set a desired temp for each zone... :(

@Maverick Landscaping, Porch and Patio Thanks for your feedback! I was looking at the Echelon this morning--that is a step higher than the Aurora, right? Do you have any thought on Echelon vs Aurora? Someone above mentioned hating their Echelon. On the Echelon, I was really tempted by the digital temp display, 3 separate heat zones, and the ability to set a desired temp for each zone.

My top contenders as of now are Lynx Sedona and the Alfresco--probably 36". The thing I like about the Alfresco is the ability to add the inset smoker/charcoal box, also option for an in-set deep fryer. I think I would really use those things. Does anyone have any opinions on the Alfresco? I know @cpartist above mentioned loving their Artisan by Alfresco; I looked at that one too, but it doesn't have the ability to use the accessories I mentioned.

@nycbluedevil_gw Thank you!! The 36" Lynx is high on my list. I definitely plan to put a sink in our outdoor kitchen...I agree that it will be really useful. I'm torn on whether to install a mini-fridge though. With the way we cook and hang out in the back yard, I don't see myself using it for condiments or drinks.

@chispa wahhhh. Oh well, better to know the truth--thank you!!

@blinktmb, I feel your pain! We are also going to be needing a new grill in a few months and after our experience with several brands over the years I have no clue what we will buy. As I said earlier, we will probably spend way less this time around and plan on replacing every few years.

Another thing that has broken in several grills - last 2 models sold us on the easy to open/close lids with no slamming, but the springs broke in both of them after a short time. One of those was the Lynx.

@blinktmb I see the temp zones as a gimmick. I've never once used them. They're wildly inaccurate. You basically have to get a feel for the grill through trial and error.

If food flavor is important then I'd strongly consider a good pellet grill. As easy to use as gas (actually more accurate temps on the better ones), much better flavor for grilling and you can smoke on them.

Twin Eagles - Kind of the best of the best. Pricey, but worth it if you use it a lot.

MAK - The best for smoking, quite good for grilling.

Memphis - AVOID. Their quality has tanked over the past year with a building chorus of complaints of problems on top of problems.

@ranchtastic that's very helpful feedback, and makes sense now that I took a minute to think about it! @opaone I am looking into getting a smoker/charcoal grill as well! But definitely want a gas grill for easy weeknight dinners. Thanks for the recs!

"But definitely want a gas grill for easy weeknight dinners. Thanks for the recs!"

A gas grill is not really much easier or any easier than a pellet but then gives everything a gassy taste. With good pellet grills available a gas grill just doesn't really make sense anymore.

The fridge is really useful. Besides drinks, you can keep side dishes cold while you prepare food. And its great, for me at least, to have an overflow fridge, especially around holidays. I think a fridge is really important. We keep drinks, condiments, hamburger buns and sliced cheese. It’s convenient when making burgers. It to have to run into the house to get rolls and cheese, and when cooking chicken, I don’t need to run in to get extra bbq sauce. To say nothing about drinks. It keeps traffic down.

@nycbluedevil_gw some really good points I hadn't thought of--thanks!

@nycbluedevil_gw You said you have the infrared sear zone and 2 normal grates---can you use the infrared zone for anything other than high-heat searing? The Alfresco person told me no--that's either on or off--so now I'm wondering if the space on the 2 standard burners will be enough room for everything else. Or if you sear on the infrared and then turn that one off, might that be used as just a warming zone for food that's done or food that needs indirect heat? We aren't a big steak family, so now I'm wondering if I should get the sear zone! We do mostly turkey burgers (sometimes hamburgers), chicken, vegetables....the occasional pork butt low and slow.

I know I could just sear on standard burners with very high heat--is the infrared that much better for that sort of thing?

We were considering a Lynx (natural gas) but heard lately there have been issues. Alfresco is more than we want to spend. Had a Delta Heat in last home. No problems but didn’t seem to have even heat after a couple years. Anyone have experience with Coyote?

I was also looking at the Coyote S series 36" grill, anyone with experience?

Have had the Coyote 36” S built in model for a year. Love it. But it tends to run hot, so you have to remember to compensate.

V Lyn, how do you compensate? Just by turning the burners down, or does it run too hot even when turned down?

Turn the burners lower than you might be accustomed to. Use only the burner(s) you need (e.g.: don’t light up everything if you are grilling only two burgers). Offset cook if needed.

So far so good with our Coyote. If you have a searing burner, oil the screen occasionally.

Lynx vs XO vs Coyote to pick from?