This is a rant, but it's also a discourse on an emergent, tacit conspiracy of manufacturers--possibly an actual, signed secret contract, or possibly an unspoken, unsigned secret accord or collusion--to offer an array of inadequate consumer goods in order to ensure "churn", the replacement of goods in the shortest possible time.
This happens with cars. This happens with houses. This happens especially--I noticed this weekend--with BBQ grills.
Outdoor things should ONLY be stainless because rust exists. Yes I know, you put a cover on it. But when you're done cooking, you have to let your HOTSTEEL grill cool down for 2 hours before putting a cover on it. That is stupid, and maybe it starts raining on you before you get a chance.
That's why you do stainless and it it rains on it, who gives a S?
And if it's stainless throughout, you can even leave the grill OPEN to the elements and it won't matter either.. the rain will actually help clean the grill later
A grill is SO dirty, that what you want to do is dump the cold ashes in the woods somewhere, take out a garden hose and hose the whole thing down, let it soak and then clean it. or if you have a pressure washer.....If you do this to steel you rust it.
Stupid!
What do people want in a grill? Do they want to just make hamburgers and hot dogs?
Well, if so, they can get a george forman table top thing.
But wait, they might want to do shish kebabs...that won't work. What if they want the grill flavor from charcoal? What if they want smoke?
Pretty much everyone wants the same thing--to grill and to smoke; to slow smoke, to griddle outside...they want something VERSATILE
I think there's a difference between "fashion" and "function"
People will always want fashion--meaning different looking stuff, in order to show off their own personal styles
But FUNCTION? people want the same.
They want an appliance that will grill AND smoke, and they don't want it in their house because of the smoke. So it's always an outdoor thing. Stainless
But no. 90% of grills are designed to rust to death over 7 yrs time
The ONLY thing that people might want that is different from each other is size and aesthetics. So I'm not talking about those things. Rich people or those with lots of friends might want a big expensive one. Other people might want a small functional one. But here's my gripe
Some are made of steel and some are made of stainless steel, but the stainless steel ones have steel parts, ensuring that if that part rusts, the whole thing is worthless. So stainless is more about the aesthetics unless the entire thing is stainless
Steel grills being made of steel is why they end up at Salvation army--the bottoms rust out.. Steel RUSTS! so why are they making an outdoor thing out of STEEL instead of stainless. Galvanized is not an option because the galvanization degrades with heat and puts out dangerous fumes. Some galvanic processes (coated not dipped) causes cancer.
So you have steel and stainless. Judging by the costs I've seen, even expensive grills are made of regular steel, so I don't see that stainless being more expenisve is the dividing factor
People want the same thing but they are forced to make choices that necessitate they buy additional things or appliances
If you get a grill, you don't always get a smoker. You can get a grill AND a smoker, even though they are essentially the same thing. It's possible to make a grill that IS a smoker but you dont' see these things a lot even though they are doing the same thing. The industry is FIXATED on a particular DESIGN PATTERN
If you get a grill that is charcoal, you don't get the option to use propane. You can get a propane AND charcoal hybrid grill, but you don't get the wood chips hopper. You can get woodchips and electric, but you don't get electric grilling only option, or propane also?
Why in the fucks is there NOT a grill that does ALL THREE and also does SMOKER? Is this so hard? Apparently it is.
What people want, is a smoker-grill that is temperature controlled (meaning: electric--that's the only way), that can do woodchips, charcoal (that you put under grill), with optional propane under it. They want the flame blocker / heat distributer and they want to be able to smoke on low temp. And finally they want it to be stainless steel all throughout. These things aren't hard but you cannot find a grill that is this versatile
Also it should be insulated to keep the costs low and the temps stable. That means that the exterior should be double paneled with some high temp injection of vermiculite/perlite, or vacuum. This grill will be costly but some grills are over 1000 dollars and there is no reason it should cost that much, when you look at the replacement parts
I am just sick of going from big box store to store and finding that not a single grill does what I want it to do and I don't want to buy a grill AND a smoker but I may have to. That makes me angry.
Yes there are grills that are smokers but apparently you have to cook on your knees or something. Because the geniuses didn't make a stand for it and though that the smoker couldn't for some reason be taller than 5'...not sure why THAT is. But you just have to add a stand for it yourself. Also, it's steel, not stainless. Dumb
That's just the grill industry. Now do cars. Now do computers. etc.
It's so cynical but what you're saying is true
Planned obsolescence. “Why cure the patient when you can have a customer for life?” model. Everything. Think about going to older, historic towns where homes were made with solid, old growth wood or brick; not the modern shit. Now go look at crap now: plywood, particleboard, shingles that have to be replaced every storm season. It’s designed to fail.
Exactly why we built out a custom brick grill/oven. A great outdoor kitchen! Wood or lump charcoal burner.
Brick plus stainless innards. You and Epoch are convincing me.
Fire bricks, 500 degree÷ mortar, stainless grates, stainless rotisserie spit. A dream on the vision board come true. Powered by wood.
Make your own, stack bricks into a larger design. If you needed a crappy electronic, and it being automated, buy it.
But couldn't you, build your dedicated brick structure, using what, a removable cast iron tray, for the charcoal, it also being your smoker that you light and control. Then buy additional rigging for your heated gas grid above it, and it would need just a few connections, the gas arms running across the brickwork with another connection to your propane tank under the cast iron tray or outside your brickwork structure, it needs a basic sparker to light the flame arms, and for your gas flow settings high to low. It completely housed in a larger durable weather proof cover. You could make a spit if you think big enough. What it wouldn't be is auto. But it all layered into your barbecue/grill.
Most people buy it, but I've seen quite a few bespoke ones, designed purposefully for restaurants, or engineered at home. There are the electric and gas ones. But sometimes traditional is the best with meats, it tends to be charcoal, or gas if you wanted it cooked quicker.
Who knows what you want, inside or outside. But there are also bespoke ones. They just cost far more.
I'm getting to this point, Ep0ch of doing exactly what you suggest.
And just as my F you to the industry, building it out of reclaimed stuff from habitat from humanity and giving them the diff of what I would have spent on a high end stainless grill (upwards of 2k)
Old methods, traditional smoking and charcoal pits work great.
But you can build something real nice. Using brickwork. Having a barbecue in a segment, and gas in another. Under a bigger cover of durable flame weathering sheet metal. Or you can combine previously a bit riskier. Not impossible. Materials aren't expensive. Probably less than those barbagrills, hell you get some nice ones. But they don't last like a dedicated purpose built brickwork station, forever. You could make it big enough housing a spit. Using a removable tray for charcoal, or wood, probably cast iron, but bricks also work, and then cleaning them out. Enclosed into brick with cover and obviously any gas and holding arms. Beautuful. Stuff on clearing is probably good for soil, instead of disposing.
Be just like the Wilds. Where they made a flame pit. Few sticks later and after the hunt. No you can make them really nice and quite cheap. Bespoke is quite the premium. But there are loads who offer it.
I was shocked that not all tools are stainless steel. All my kitchen appliances are. Wtf . You pay good money expecting tools to last forever and then they rust in a year.
I bought this german made slip joint pliers, and this is a really good hand tool
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00BJ4OSOA/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
but I dropped it out of my toolback onto my gravel driveway once, and coulnd't find it...and then it rained and then I found it 2 days later, and it had rusted!! And to make it worse, the sleeve of the handle basically slipped off like the adhesive got wet and died.
I thought, this is a 45 dollar piece of fucking shit here. I cleaned it up, grinded off the surface rust and repainted, and then used epoxy to reattach the handle rubber sleeve so it will NEVER come off again (epoxy) and i was like 'well why the F didn't they do what I just did in the FIRST place??'
why didn't they coat it in por15 before assembly? why didn't they dip coat it in silicone? for 45 you expect this much. You have to expect that tools are going to be dropped in mud and muck and you want to be able to just wash them off and have them be good as new
I know!! It is so frustrating! You have to spend as much time cleaning and preserving your tools as you do using them!
I wonder what people did in the old days??. They didn't always have petroleum based products.
I couldn't agree more. We went through this a couple times over the past 10 years and it was shocking to me that, as you spent more on a grill, rather than it going up in quality and/or functionality, instead you just got a bigger sized version of the exact same thing. There has been almost no innovation in gas grills over the past 20 years. The only innovative outdoor cooking changes in the past 10 years have been all the electric/temperature control Traeger pellet grills. The problem with these is that you may as well just buy a stove for the outdoors, because you have a damn electrical cord plugging into your grill, which, to me, completely defeats the purpose of having a grill to begin with, not to mention completely negates the prepper value of having a grill (in case the power goes out for a month or something). If you wanna buy a nice grill, go back to 2012 and buy a Weber. What they made back then was high quality and the price was about 30% lower, now a lot of the metal components have been replaced with plastic and there has been no new innovations, the frame feels more wobbly, and it is 50% more expensive.
I feel your pain, this is an industry ripe for innovation. Somebody (perhaps one of us) needs to invent some new form of gas grill that is very heavy duty, has better insulated properties, perhaps somewhere in between what you see with the standard gas grill and what you get with a big green egg, and with materials that are made to last and not be easily broken, but which are easy to clean.
Around here, everyone brags about the "big green egg" grills. They pay like $500 for them and brag about how hot they can get 'em.
You could design and market a premium grill that yuppy faggot hipsters will spend $500+ on to try to make up for their lack of masculinity.
I believe in just building your own grill or taking someone's old junker for parts and welding the rest of it.
That's a good idea honestly (building one).
DIY. Find a big 1/2 barrel (50L) beer keg. Used one. I think it will be less than $100 or even free. That kegs made from good thick austenite food grade stainless steel. Cut it as you need, add a legs and you will have eternal BBQ.
Also, you could use a drum from washing machine, but they made from thinner stainless steel.
Stainless steel looks like some banned material for making goods (especially cars, but it is separate story). Yes, it is more expensive, but it is not a problem if you want a really reliable outdoor thing.
I have a stainless steel 55 gal drum, but I don't know how to cut or weld. I've thought about this but what suits me more I think is the brick option that others mentioned because if I do the brick option I can add a pizza oven.
Stainless steel could be easily cut with regular angle grinder with disk for stainless steel (most disks today stainless steel capable). Welding is same as regular steel, just use apropriate welding rods, or stainless steel wire for MIG. You could use regular CO2 for MIG welding if you have no argomix or argon. Seam will be slightly weaker, but more than enough for stove. Stainless steel is very nice material to work with. Just remember that stainless steel hardens with slow cooling and softens with fast cooling, opposite to regular steel. So, drill, mill and turn with low RPM, otherwise it will be hardened and you will dull your tool.
Brick option is good, but you need stove bricks and figure out what clay/cement to use. I tested different mixtures gluing two bricks and trowing them to the fire and then to the water. Then tried to break the assembly and choose best one.
I want to buy a welder and start making my own shit.
I also stockpiled a bunch of electronics to start designing my own circuit boards.
I want to get a 3D printer too.
Sorry OP, I didn't read your post yet. I will when I get more down time.
First thing I thought about was the word "Obsolescence." That subject is what your post is about.
You pretty much got the post by the title and obsolescence. The rest of it was me being a whiny bitch for spending a shitton of time looking at grills at lowes homederpo wallhalla and tractor supply....and earlier at sportsmanswhorehouse...and NOT buying a grill
I watched this video yesterday.
You're right about the ones at corporate hardware stores being junk. Maybe you can just build your own fire pit or grill?
Here's three designs. I like the concrete block one the best for ease, cost, functionality.
Build Your Own Backyard Concrete Block Grill: easy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsx7tXs3wW0
A DIY Backyard Grill Cart With Concrete Top (Sorta) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6bojlffP8g
Crafts With Cement - Outdoor Kitchen From Red Brick https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHx7bn9Bep4
This time of year, people are always throwing away the shitty grills you don't like because they rust or the grates do. I always pick them for parts. I have lots of regulators, grates, handles, thermometers, knobs, burners, valves i've picked from busted grills on the curb. I have three grills I'm restoring or picking for parts on my patio, LOL.
Get creative and design and build your own grill. This is all assuming you have more than a small apartment patio to work with.
I feel your pain fren. Most consumer shit these days is meant to be disposable. The old saying rings true “if you want something done right you have to do it yourself.” If you want it to last, and be easily repairable, you need to make it yourself. Personally I’ve wanted a grill built out of a cool car front end ever since I saw one in Gone in 60 Seconds, although I won’t be as foolish as the crew was and use actual rubber tires that melt from the heat. Solid metal wheel that can be painted and made to last, thanks. Companies that focus on quality these days are as rare as rocking horse shit and it doesn’t seem to be getting any better. Anything you make well will be churned out in a Chinese sweat shop for peanuts with hour brand misspelt on the chinesium parts.
be the change. build and sell the grill you want to buy in the world :) probably get some interesting branding mileage out of "Conspiracy Grills" or "Redpill Grills"
Get a Napoleon Prestige Pro or Weber Summit.
I'm thinking of throwing my hands in the air and getting a Bradley puck smoker and a propane /charcoal grill hybrid
ONE OF A KIND! BBQ Grill Made with a 55 Gallon Barrel | Full Build https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AuUSM7YMZOc
Get the Titanium 125 flux core welder from Harbor Freight for about $200 plus $100 for gloves, mask, gear, supplies for grand total of $300. Now you have a welder and safety gear and supplies to start metal fabrication.
Titanium Flux 125 welder from Harbor Freight https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4EB2bMi2ndI
If there's a metal scrapyard in your town, take a trip there saturday morning and see if they'll let you buy some stuff to build a grill with. They'll probably be happy to help you. Turn an old refrigerator into a smoker. or a 55 gallon drum.
Tickle and Howard Build The Ultimate BBQ Grill | Moonshiners https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FEdhvKzaxL0
Primo Oval XL kamado grill. Buy once. Cry once.
I do have to grind off and replace the lid seals every couple of years, but that's all the maintenance it gets. No cover.
You really seem to have struck a nerve on this forum.
sounds like an excellent DIY project as others have already suggested. later on, you can turn it into a startup or just open source the whole design and assembly.
So buy quality and take care of it
Wow I saw this and thought...there's so much shit like this. For instance we were looking at new sinks and faucets because we're redoing our kitchen (cheaply) but we found American made cabinets that are all wood. Which is apparently extremely rare. For a decent price. Now here comes sinks...well they all have shitty reviews. So do the faucets. So we said fuck it and got what we liked. Everything is most likely bound to break or fuck up. It's such a joke. My husband and I actually always point out our really great buys. (Things that last and work very well) Some cheap headlamps (with the middle strap) that they stopped making, our shark vacuum, all of our Makita tools, and there's really a lot of other items too...but I can't think of them off the top of my head. When you start looking, you'll also realize 90% of things are made in China. 8% in other countries...and maybe 2% here. We always buy American where we can. Then we avoid China where we can too. Anywhere but China at this point. Typically the other countries still make better items overall from our experience. Also, if you've ever replaced an old item (say a ceiling fan) you can notice how well made things were in the past. They might be ugly and old, but they're built like fucking tanks. Every ceiling fan now is a flimsy piece of shit, no matter what you pay.
Also forgot to add ..grills are almost all shit. We found a relatively cheap one at Sam's club a few years back that does gas, charcoal, and has a smoker section and a sear spot. It was quite a deal for $350 and it's lasted us 4 years or so. It's rusty, but what grill isnt...Most "stainless" is not even legitimate stainless anymore. Everything rusts, nothing lasts. If it's magnetic, it's not legit for the most part.