Wow! Nice to see so many fans of the grill I just purchased! I had Tuesday off (June 18) and was getting ready for a party that night. So I went to my local San Leandro Costco to get chips etc. Well, there on the floor were four Virco grills, one out of the box. I took one look, and wished I had brought my truck. I was back later that day with the truck and brought one home. IMHO a full size pickup truck is needed to carry this thing. I also had some ignitor problems but after adjustment of the gaps they all seem to work ok. I also fiddled with the connectors underneath the control panel and that seemed to help. I also found some fraying of the glass fabric cover on the ignitor wiring to the rear rotisserie burner, where it exits the back of the cabinet. I moved the whole cable up a bit to expose an unfrayed portion to the metal edge. I'm planning on wrapping the cable with some heat resistant tubing where it goes through that area, to prevent more fraying. I had a similar problem with a table-top patio heater I got at Costco a while ago. The ignitor cable frayed and shorted out on some metal. Easy enough to fix once I discovered the cause. I cooked a rib steak on it last night and it came out great. It was kind of hard to see some of that beautiful stainless get carbonized, but what the heck, it's a BBQ grille. The right door on mine has a very minor crease in it,which it took me a couple of days to notice. I'm not about to return this behemoth because of that! The burners all seem to function perfectly, with nice blue flames. Oh, I don't think the handle and the shelf are interchangeable. The spacing on the bolt holes are wider for the shelf than for the handle. Still have to hook up the rotisserie motor. I'll probably do a chicken tomorrow. All in all this is a beautiful, extremely well made grill. I've been using charcoal for years... I have a Kingsford egg shaped grille that I use to roast chicken and turkey. It comes out great, but I'm tired of all the smoke inhalation I inevitably get doing this. I also have a New Braunfels horizontal smoker with separate fire box. I have been consistently disappointed with the dried out results I get with this one. It's also very labor intensive, adding just the right amount of wood/charcoal and trying to keep the temperature even. I'm keeping both, because sometimes you just want that real smoke, but the Virco Classic will be my main grill. Faster and cleaner! Oh, and thanks to those who posted the info on the natural gas conversion. I'm going to order one of those kits right away. I'll have to run the gas line a considerable distance to the patio, but it will be worth it in the long run. One minor complaint: the wheel locks are very hard to get at... but they do work. Just for grins, I took a magnet to the whole unit. It's nearly all 304 non-magnetic. The only magnetic parts I found was the surround for the ceramic rear burner, and some nuts holding the chassis bolts under the cooking unit. As for the stainless burner tubes not holding up to heat, I hope they do ok. After all, they use stainless steel for automotive exhaust systems... which contain a lot more corrosive gases than propane.

The trays should not be flat. They have a slight drop on either side, but grease will run down and/or can collect with drippings and catch fire. You can look at the Members Mark it has ceramic all across and close to the grate. You then have the issue of grease build up at that point, but maybe that meets your needs/expectation better? The Grates are pretty simple design like all other grills. I honestly don't know what you will find as an improvement over stainless steel grates? See all the info on cleaning on this forum, or just burn it to ash and brush it off. There is at least one grill that has a ceramic element (like the rotisserie) at the bottom and a patented grease burning process. It is much more money, but hey if you got it!? See allgrills.com selection.

I keep reading that flare ups has a lot to do with the type of grill and what it has over the burners. I bought a grill with an infrared zone that is supposed to get up to 1800 degrees. I haven't used it yet because we still have to build the island. So, I wouldn't think that the 700 degrees would have been too hot for burgers. At higher temps though, the cooking time obviously varies, so maybe you just waited too long to turn them? On my current cheap grill that I'm using, I pre-heat on the light setting, and then I cook on the same setting otherwise the grill won't sear the meat. I turn it down after both sides of the steak is seared, and then let it cook a little slower because of problems with flare ups. On burgers, I pre heat on the light setting, place the burgers on for a minute or so, and then reduce the heat to prevent flare ups as much as possible, and I usually check them often for flare ups(they always have several). I'm hoping my new grill will not flare up as often. The disfigured grates has me a little concerned. The grill should have grates designed to withstand the temps it can reach. What kind of grill is this?

They make combo gas/charcoal grills but I dont think they are any good. I like my Weber Genesis SS. I have had it 2.5 years and cook on it year round. From everything I have read Weber is a great brand it is clearly the best grill I have ever used. This time of year is good for getting a better deal look around and see if you can find one on closeout for fall. Weber has excellent support for parts so I plan on keeping mine going for many more years to come.