Hey, just so you know ... this post is now about 15 years and 1 month old. Please keep that in mind as it very well may contain broken links and/or outdated information.

We got our very first gas grill as a wedding shower gift over 12 years ago and it served us extremely well. As part of our backyard renovation project that we started last fall (and is almost done!) we decided to finally get a new one.

After shopping around and doing some research, I chose the Charbroil Infrared Commercial Quantum series. The model I got has four burners (40,000 BTUs), a side burner (13,000 BTUs), and 580 square inches of cooking space.

The manual estimated the assembly time at a mere 30-45 minutes, which turned out to be extremely optimistic. It took me about 4 hours to get the entire thing put together (including unpacking and cleanup time), but I also did it all by myself. You can see assembly pictures here.

After assembly, I fired it up at full power for about 20 minutes to burn it in, so to speak. 🙂 It can put out some serious heat! The metal grates shield the flames from the food, converting the convection produced by the gas flames into infrared (or radiant heat). I had all four burners up past 700 degrees in just a few minutes. The side burner also came with a griddle (pancakes, anyone?).

Tomorrow I’ll give it a shot with actual food and see how it comes out.