Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

First off, I have to tell you that this is the first grill I have ever used. As a single woman, I was never interested in grilling until I bought a house two years ago and built a deck in the backyard. With all that outdoor space to enjoy, I just knew I needed a grill for entertaining (and feeding) family and friends. I thought I might buy a grill and just let my dad or brother handle the grilling, but much to my surprise I really got into it and loved grilling hamburgers and hot dogs on this Weber kettle grill for my first backyard party just yesterday! I did a lot of research prior to purchasing this grill from Amazon. I chose a charcoal grill over propane because I didn't want to deal with propane tanks (a friend had his grill go up in flames because of a loose hose and nearly burned his house down--No thank you!), I like the taste and smell from charcoal grills more, and most importantly because of the cost. It was less expensive to get a nice charcoal grill like this one than to get an equally nice propane grill. The entry cost into grilling was more reasonable with a charcoal grill. This freed up funds to get some important accessories, which I recommend to anyone buying this grill: a chimney starter, grilling tools like tongs, fork, etc, a steel brush to clean the grates, the Weber Fire starter cubes, and some heavy duty mitts to protect your hands and forearms while grilling. I purchased all these from Amazon at the same time I purchased the grill. As for choosing a which charcoal grill to get, I chose this model over the lesser expensive model because of the ash catcher, and I'm glad I did. The grill arrived in its original box and was easy to put together on my own, with the exception of attaching the ash catcher itself. But I just kept trying (and referring to the picture-only instructions) and eventually got it. It was put together in about 40 minutes, and that was putting it together myself. One of the best things I did was lookup videos online about this grill to see how it was used and put together. I learned about closing the vents on the lid and on the bottom to reduce heat, and how to quickly get the charcoal ready for grilling by using a chimney starter and Weber Fire Starter cubes (which I highly recommend getting). As my brother and dad arrived to my house yesterday for our Memorial Day BBQ, each were skeptical about this charcoal grill because they have propane grills at home and like the convenience of them. "It will take an hour to get to coals ready," said my brother. "Those burgers are way too thick to cook through. They'll be raw in the middle," said my dad. Both were surprised when the charcoal was ready within about 20 minutes using the chimney! And after getting some nice grill marks on both sides of the burgers, I put the lid on and closed the vents to let them finish cooking the middle of the burgers in a lower heat. The burgers turned out perfectly! The best compliment was Dad and others asking me how I grilled these thick burgers so well without burning them to dust. LOL! It's all in the vents! And I think investing in an awesome grill helped, too. My brother and dad both were asking about the grill by the end of the party. I think they might be considering trading in their propane grills for their own Weber kettle grills soon. ;) Lastly, just a bit of advice to any amateur grill masters like myself out there... Do yourself a favor and start out with this grill. All of the excellent reviews tell you that it's a good grill. The fact that so many experienced backyard chefs keep returning to their Weber kettle grills is very telling. Also, be sure to look up recipes at YouTube. I searched for "hamburger on charcoal grill" and found lots of videos with great advice on getting perfect burgers. And bonus! Nearly all of the people in the videos were using a Weber kettle grill. :)