Broil King 997647 Imperial XL Natural Gas Grill with Side Burner Review

Customer Ratings:

After having Weber grills for over 20 years, (3 grills) I decided to try something else, all the hype and being a brand new model we were excited about our purchase. I bought it on aimtofind.com last April 2012. When it arrived we removed it from the many packages, it was shipped on a palette. Once assembled it looked beautiful, I was not able to get the side burner to work and a year later it still does not work. In the last few months the frame has sagged, none of the doors or drawers open properly and in general it looks awful. Keep in mind we live in SW Florida and the grill is covered after each use. We do use this grill 2-5 times per week as we have all previous grills. The stainless steel around the exterior of the grill has permanent burn marks, one of the lower control knobs has completely lost its color. Getting past all that, the food does not nearly have the flavor that my Weber grills had.

If this was a 200-300 grill it would be at the end of the driveway for garbage pickup. I gave away all my previous Weber grills to family and friends who still use them to this day, this one I would not give to anyone. If you ask why have I not complained to the manufacturer, we have a few times including an email to the president of the company.

We have yet to have a response.

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Finally took the plunge and went with Natural Gas, by far a great decision as my Town (as many are) is doing rebates that offset 50% of the installation cost. Keep in mind, your plumber will need to come back and adjust the regulators some weeks after you start use (my guy advised me and came back out for free.)

The grill:

Packaging was simply amazing! This enormous and complex grill system showed up about 80% assembled with just a few simple steps to complete assembly. Packed, palleted, freight shipped across three outfits and showed up absolutely immaculate!

Assembly:

Easy to consume diagrams, a little common sense and patience and we were finished in about 60 minutes (we had planned on three hours based on other reviews.)

Use:

The grill heats amazingly fast, and once you set the temperature it is easily the most stable grill I have used. Broil King uses different grilling surfaces on each side, so you have virtually unlimited options for preparing any meat, vegetable or fish.

Insane amounts of storage.

It is almost as if the designer anticipates their customer will eventually want to enclose the unit in an outdoor kitchen/Cooking bar. My builder/mason tells me that is a no brainer with this design and achievable without the thousands for outdoor stainless cabinetry which keeps most folks from doing as much. So that is on the list.

Value:

I studied six months on this purchase. I am highly confident two months use in that I made the best decision. I know folks who the comparable products via the Big Box Stores and feel like I am at least a thousand dollars ahead of the game in the quality/price/capability trade offs.

Recommendation:

Great value, solid instrument, I would recommend to a friend or family member.