We had a black Genesis for 11-12 years. The grates needed replacement maybe every 5-6 years -- and that was not using a cover or taking exceptional care of them in humid Gulf Coast weather. Not a big deal, and the box itself was solid as ever. They make a good grill. It is tempting when you see larger grills for half the price, but lift the lid and look at the build and weight -- you'll get less than half the life out of it. About a month ago, we discovered the burners were in need of replacement. We could have replaced them -- I am starting to think you can keep a Weber working for a lifetime if you are willing to replace parts occasionally. But we had already decided that it was time to get a new grill and would not do more repairs. We bought a new one - -in part to get a larger one now that the boys are teens and have teen boy friends (we need to cook more burgers than before ;-) ). Our new one cooks front to back, which is good for when we are only doing something smaller like burgers for the 4 of us, but we never had an issue with the side to side. Both can work well. Hope that helps.

Wallace, These grills from Sam's Club are made by Grand Hall, who also makes the Kenmore Elite line of gas grills for Sears as well as marketing their own brand under the name "Grand Cafe". You can contact them at the following: Grand Hall USA, Inc. 10280 Miller Road Dallas, TX 75238 800-770-9769 M-F 8:00am to 4:30pm CST or 214-349-1097 http://www.grandhall.com/home.html But I don't think they make a NG conversion kit for the Members Mark / Bakers & Chefs grills. I know they do for their own line of grills "Grand Cafe". But parts between the different lines of grills they make I don't think are compatible with each other. There are also a couple other threads in this forum about converting this grill to NG, that you may want to check out for information. Both of the links I've posted have lots of information. The first one is mainly about converting grills from LP to NG. The second link listed, has lots of information about these grills in general and I think it has over 100 posts in it, so plan on taking some time to read it all. http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/bbq/msg0822100824089.html?9 http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/bbq/msg09144256657.html?42

We use ours all the time. Even though my kitchen is right there, if we are entertaining outdoors it would be really inconvenient to have to go in because I need something done on the stove. If we do steaks, I'll use it for frying onion & mushrooms. We also use it to do corn on the cob a lot, or any sauces or gravies needed. I couldn't imagine not having one.

The unit seems nice enough, especially for the sale price of $499. But, I look at what the grill has to offer and it's features, and I would be very hard pressed not to spend another $100 and go with the Members Mark from Sam's Club. Both the Kenmore grill that you are looking at and the one at Sam's are made by Grand Hall, so the quality is equal. The one at sears seems to have a few things I would not like. The plastic casters for one, they seem to remind me of cheap office furniture casters. Also, the grates are porcelin coated iron, the Members Mark is three seperate grates made of SS, so nothing to chip. The BTU's seem to be about the same for the side burner and rotisserie, but the entire grill is only 40K BTU's. That seems to me to leave only 18K for the three main burners, only 6K each! That seems alot less than the three 18K burners that the Members Mark offers totaling 54K just for the mains. If you really wanted to sear a steak nicely, I think the Kenmore might not do it very well. The included smoker box is nice, but that is an item you can pick up reasonably anywhere. I see a little SS on the lid, panel, and doors, but that seems to be about it. The Members Mark has SS hood, side shelves, side burner and practically everything you can see. The exceptions are a few items made from steel and the lid has cast alluminum ends similar to the Kenmore except they are not painted like the Kenmore seems to be. I do like the slide out tray for the lp bottle on the Kenmore better than the exposed one on the Members Mark, but that is probably a personal preference. The draw back is that you have less interior space underneath for storage of rotisserie, griddle, smoking chips, etc... In my honest opinion, it seems the Members Mark from Sams club is a much better value for only another $100. Even if you don't have a membership that's another $35. Still worth it! I am not trying to push the Members Mark (actually I own a Virco and love it), but for the difference in features and $$ I think the Members Mark is one hell of a grill for $599 if that is all you can spend. Now, of course, if you've got $799.........Well, the Virco can't be beat! (You Virco guys new that was coming) If you haven't seen the Members Mark from Sam's, I highly suggest you check it out. I have included a link below of Alek's site. A very happy MM owner who has an excellent site on this grill that is very informative. Good luck on your purchase. Oh, by the way, if you haven't seen pictures of the Virco, you can see those at MY web site! http://www.equinoxcs.com/Grillingweb/index.htm Here is a link that might be useful: Members Mark from Sams club