Take a look at the Members Mark $599 model as well if you have a Sam's in your area (same manufacturer as the Kenmore). Since you indicated you would spend up to $1000 I would strongly recommend the Virco for $799 that you see in other discussion here. 32" grilling surface with 3 heat zones and a 4th side burner and 5th ceramic burner for rotiserrie. Comes with heating rack, and nice cover as well. All stainless thick stainless steel welded construction and pullout grease tray (easy to clean, but all SS if you want to do it later ;-) This is not rocket science and since the parts are fairly simple/straightforward components, name brand is not nearly as important as seeing how well it is constructed. If you don't have a Sams or Costco, then take a look at the JennAire at Lowes. A cut above the Weber grills that I could look at first hand. Stainless steel in alot of places there it needs to be there.

I bought a Napoleon up405 grill recently and was not impressed. I bought it sight unseen from arizona grills. It came in a sealed box that showed no signs of being previusly opened. The top had a minor gouge in the finish, I might not have noticed this except they circled it with a white marker and marked it "MD" . One of the so called solid surface side shelves had a big chunk broken out of it. The way everything was packaged this had to have happened before it was placed in the outer box. Solid surface does not mean solid surface like your kitchen counter. It means an 1/8" thick hollow piece of molded plastic. Kind of cheesy looking. The sear plates would not fit into the base without some serious force. I had to grind some notches to clear the ribs in the casting. The ignitor has a small blade type electrical connection, The wire from the grill end of the ignitor had a round connector. (Radio shack fixed that). The handle is held on with #10 carbon steel screws. The warming basket hangers were also #10 carbon steel as were some of the base mounting screws that projected into the firebox. I replaced all of these with 1/4" stainless. I would not expect any small carbon steel parts projecting into the firebox to last more than a year. The plumbing included a 3/8" copper tube with 6 right angle bends. Copper gas lines are not allowed in many areas, 3/8" line is kind of small for 45,000 btu and all the bends just make it worse. I used 3" length of SS tube and crossed over to 1/2" SS flex line. The frame that the firebox sits in is powder coated carbon steel. I have some doubts about how long that will last in the gulf coast climate. The cooking grates are stamped stainless steel. Some people may like them. They seem to have more contact area with the food and are harder to clean than round rods. The burners are heavy SS tube and work fine. The sear plates seem to cause more flareups than the ceramic bricks I used to have. The aluminum casings are flawless. hinge pins are SS shoulder bolts, very sturdy. I E-mailed Napoleon with this list of gripes but didn't get a reply. I expected better for the money. One of the problems with buying sight unseen over the internet.

Hi there! I am new to this forum but was happy to hear you grill your turkey too. I am relatively new at using the gas grill. Grilling period, really. A friend bought her husband a new one and gave us the old one to practice on to see if we enjoy it. It's Great!! I don't know if you do yours the same but we use a 13lb.er. I use Hickory or Apple but Hickory is my favorite so far. I like to soak the chips overnight and then about 20 minutes before I'm ready to put my bird on I preheat the grill on high on both sides. While it's heating I fill the cavity of the turkey with fresh herbs, chunked onions and cloves of garlic and lemons. Tie the legs together, fold the wings under and then rub a bit of olive oil and fresh cracked pepper over it. Move all the stones to one side, place half my chips on top of my stones and shut off the other side. Turn 'on' side down to med. On the rack on the side that has no fire or stones I place a v-shaped rack that I place my bird in breast side down. Close lid and leave for one hour. Then, remove bird and v-rack. Lift grill rack and replace with new chips on side that has stones and fire. Replace both grill rack and v rack. Replace bird, breast side up. Close lid 1 hour and 15 minutes. Done. Very important to have bird at room temp before you begin. It is the most beautiful mahogany color! We did it last Feb. when it was snowing and it smelled so good!! Let bird rest 15 to 20 min. Use that time to finish side dishes. This will be the moistest bird you have ever had. We love grilling cheese rounds, veg, especially zucchini and eggplant. Onions! All you need is great olive oil and your in business. Fruits too. Peaches, pears, pineapple slices...it's all good!!

My vote is for a dehydrator, and it doesn't have to be big OR fancy. Check prices on a NESCO American Harvest. They are often found at Wal-Mart and Ace Hardware stores and you can easily expand their capacity by purchasing extra trays. The temperatures of most home ovens don't go as low as is needed and can actually "cook" the food you are drying, rather than dehydrating it. This results in the outside being hard and the inside moisture can't expel properly through this hard crust. When you store improperly dried foods they will mold and will be wasted food. Not all foods dry at the same temperature. It's important you dry meat at a much higher temperature than say herbs like chives. -You will also use less utilities using a dehydrator. They take very little electricity; and because they have a fan in them, you will get more even results. The fan is almost as necessary in good dehydrating as the temperature. -When I find great bargains on frozen vegetables, but don't have the room for storing them in my freezer, I dehydrate them and put them in dry storage. -Overripe and discounted fruit is quickly made into fruit leather (aka roll-ups). These are not only great as a snack food, but can be used as the base for fruit sauces. -Sweet potatoes are cooked, mashed, and dehydrated on the fruit leather sheets. When crispy, they are pulverized in the blender into sweet potato powder. By adding the powder to hot water you get "instant" mashed sweet potatoes. -Apple season is upon us and I find all the free-for-the-picking apples possible. Apple slices are a great snack food, but I also use dehydrated apple slices for making applesauce and apple pie filling. Dehydrated apple cubes are added to quick breads and homemade granola. -A dehydrator is a good way to avoid wasted food. Instead of vegetables languishing in the crisper drawer, dehydrate it. Those discounted containers of mushrooms are quickly dehydrated. -It is amazing how many dehydrated tomatoes you can store in a quart jar. Make your own tomato powder and you can use it for making tomato sauce or tomato paste. -We use zucchini slices instead of potato chips. Dried cucumbers are also good used with a dip or crumbled on the top of a salad. -After the holidays, when cranberries are at nearly give-away prices, I dehydrate as many bags as I can find. -Small cubes of COOKED lean meat can be dehydrated and are great added to homemade soup mixes, tossed in soup or casseroles, etc. -If you soak nuts overnight in lightly salted water (they will be just starting to sprout), then dehydrate them until they are crispy-dry. Nuts processed this way are easier to digest and will keep longer in dry storage than fresh nuts. I purchase the bulk of the nuts I use when they go on sale after the holidays and prepare them this way for storage. -If you get a dehydrator, I'd also suggest purchasing a cutting mandoline for cutting slices quickly and evenly. It makes quick work of many foods you dehydrate. -The other thing I'd suggest is a good book on the subject: *How To Dry Foods - by Deanna DeLong *Mary Bell's Complete Dehydrator Cookbook - by Mary Bell *Making & Using Dried Foods - by Phyllis Hobson I no longer do home canning, but concentrate on dehydrating and dehydro-freezing for food preservation. Check your local library for books about dehydrating. You will also find great information at the link below. -Grainlady Here is a link that might be useful: National Center for Home Food Preservation - how to dry