Weber Original Kettle Charcoal Grill for Outdoor Cooking and Barbecue, 18-Inch, Black

This is a great do everything grill and smoker for a small family or individual. It's a versatile size that allows you to grill around five pounds of meat using a 50/50 split between direct fire and a cold spot, and smoke meat by stacking coals on one side and placing the meat of the opposite end. The smaller size allows more efficient use of coals. If you need to cook for a large group quickly, then you can cover the entire bottom with coals. If you are just cooking one steak, then you can double stack the coals on one end of the grill directly under the steak. The vents are perfectly sized to allow enough air to keep the fire burning while stopping flames for smoking meat. The legs and handles are durable and insulated. The overall design is simple and easy to clean. The materials are high quality and strong. If you clean the grill and kettle with soap and water and dry and store after every use, then it will last almost forever. If you neglect it and never clean anything, then the kettle will last for about a decade and the grills will need to be replaced every two or three years. The only improvement I would suggest is to include two carry handles instead of just one. The fact that this doubles as a grill and smoker makes this a good bargain and very capable.

This grill not only looks good; but, works great. It was easy to assemble. Has a good cooking height. It doesn't have bells or whistles and it doesn't take selfies. A good investment worth the extra bucks. Plenty of room to cook on

A nice mid size grill. If you’re a fan of charcoal grilling like us, this is a great unit. We had our last one over 20 years. If your a fan take care of it and clean it this grill will give you many years of grilling pleasure, the design is perfect.

I've had my Smoky Joe Jr for over 10 years now and it's still a beast that does a phenomenal job but I wanted a little bigger and not table top. This grill fit the bill AND if I'm only grilling a couple of burgers or something I just take the top off of it and park Jr onto the grate instead of pulling a table out of the shed. It took about 15 minutes to assemble, most of which was separating parts and pre assembly. My first use was a disappointment at first because I erroneously thought it was going to heat up and cook just like Jr but on a slightly larger scale.WRONG! After about a half an hour of the chicken tenderloins staying raw I popped the grate off, rearranged the coals from indirect by having them in center and meat surrounding to just the opposite and in no time the chicken was ready to flip and turned out great. Today was Bison Burgers and more chicken tenderloins (I'm the only family member that eats buffalo) and tried a direct cooking method for the bison on half the grill and indirect footer the chicken on the other half. Both worked out great, the burgers turning out juicy but well done (why I like bison) and the tenderloins were 170f inside but still tender and juicy as well. I use a Weber charcoal chimney to get things going and this grill has enough underneath air draw to where I can start it on the coals grate, unlike most other grills I've used where it has to be put on top of the cooking grate to work right. Last century I had a Genesis that lasted about 15 years and a Smoky Joe full size my X got in the divorce so I'm glad Weber has kept the durability of their charcoal grills because their gas like sure went to crap. I use another brand infrared when I cook with gas but prefer charcoal when I can. This grill looks and feels like it's gonna be different than the Jr but just as beastly year after year.

I recently switched from gas to charcoal and was eyeing up the Weber Gold One-Touch with the nice ash pan and other options, well when I looked for it and Amazon said it was currently unavailable, then went to Weber's site only to find out it was discontinued. So after reading the reviews for Silver, I decided to order it and live without the options of the Gold with some apprehension on the ash pan. During my first initial use, I experienced the blowing ash problem which others detailed in their reviews and used some water in the pan to retain them as suggested. In all fairness it was windy and I used Publix Greenwise 100% wood lump charcoal and it does burn quite hot and much of the ash was initially from some newspaper that did not burn completely yet fell through the vent. Next time I plan to use the Weber Paraffin Cubes in my Weber Rapidfire Chimney Starter, which I highly recommend, and see what the results are. I also may try a modified coffee can or something that has more depth to it, but that will still provide adequate airflow. Assembly is easy, great pictorial directions and all you need is a Hammer, block of wood and a Philips screw driver. The lower vent assembly was a little tricky for me to get completed as I found the damper/ash door had a little spring in the sheet metal and you have to put pressure on it from the top in order to slide the handle into the hole, with the spacer on the bottom being hard to hold, it required some dexterity to accomplish. I just placed a bag of charcoal on top to free my hand from holding it down. You could also bend the sheet metal to fit a little more flush but you may risk the chance of deforming it incorrectly in the process. The build of the grill is great typical Weber quality, though they got some heat a few years ago for stating "Made In USA", from what I saw and what's listed on the box states it's is Made in the USA but from a mix of parts sourced from all over. I only ever owned Weber Gas Grills and the quality on those was always quite good, I read the gauge or thickness of the metal changed, but it looks like this will hold up well for the most part but time will tell for how long. Aside from the ash pan which could be deeper, I really have no complaints and am happy with my purchase. I do now prefer cooking on charcoal, it's amazing how well it cooks and how good the results are. Still getting use to closing all the vents after the cooking is done to drop the fire and having a hot grill on the patio for several hours. A video I saw on the net said to not use water to cool or put out the hot charcoal since it will damage the porcelain finish, I tend to agree.

Great product. But, if you haven't used a regular barbecue (as opposed to a gas one) for a long time, you have probably forgotten how much a pain in the neck it is. I certainly did.

This is our 4th Weber 18" charcoal grill in 40 years. We love them. We used to light he charcoal with the lighter fluid, but once my wife became allergic to it, we switched to the Chimney Starter. We love the consistency of the heat, even with a dying fire. I like the ease of assembly and use. We use it year round, you just need more charcoal in the winter! One of my top 10 buys and will stick with Weber as long as they make them.

Why did you pick this product vs others?: Great grill at a great price. Exactly what you expect from a weber barrel grill. Small and portable, but also perfect even heat and a fantastic price. Exactly what I need for summer time barbecue.